Try to install openSUSE 11.4 as VM running on VMWare Server 1.0.10 under WinXP

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I am trying to install openSUSE 11.4 as a virtual machine running on VMWare Server V1.0. VMWare Server is running under WinXP 32bit.

I configured the VM with the following settings:

10GB disk
512 MB Ram

The installation starts from the DVD after inserting the disk. OpenSUSE setup appears, i do not touch the default resolution 800x600. Every thing is looking good. After setting the language, the installation process continues. Then a problem with the screen/resolution/graphical adapter appears. After a while I cannot read anything from the setup screen, everything is unreadable. I remember I had those problems already with 11.3 but I did not follow this issue an took openSUSE 11.1 instead. With 11.1 I could follow the installation instruction till the end and I got a running system.

Any idea what is going wrong with my installation?

Best regards, Michael

#2

You probably need to install the VM’s drivers for the Guest. But to be honest I don’t know how you do that in a VM at install.

#3

That would probably help. But I don’t know how to do that during setup either.

#4

Maybe do a text install?

#5

I tried it already. That turns to a black screen. I am really confused. I already set up some virtual machines for and with VMware Server. But the last openSUSE editions behave strange to me.

#6

On 08/16/2011 10:46 AM, michael grabietz wrote:
>
> I tried it already. That turns to a black screen. I am really confused.
> I already set up some virtual machines for and with VMware Server. But
> the last openSUSE editions behave strange to me.

Installing 11.4 on a VirtualBox VM works just fine. They also work with KVM. It
seems that VMware is the odd one.

#7

Been a long time since I’ve touched VMware Server, and for that matter v1.x.

I can also imagine that your display issues might be related to the open source VMware tools that are automatically installed when openSUSE installation detects it’s being installed on a VMware platform, there are issues when the Tools don’t match up right with the VMware Server software you’re running. To address this, during the package selection option during the install, <de-select> the VMware Tools package. Later, you might want to install VMware Tools from your VMware Server instead of the openSUSE repository.

HTH,
Tony

#8

On Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:46:03 +0000, michael grabietz wrote:

> I tried it already. That turns to a black screen. I am really confused.
> I already set up some virtual machines for and with VMware Server. But
> the last openSUSE editions behave strange to me.

Is there some reason you’re not using the last/latest version of VMware
Server? 2.0.2 is current IIRC, and that may help get past this hurdle.

Jim

Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

#9

Hello everyone,

Yoohoo! My first time ever trying a Linux installation. Thus I know absolutely nothing about Linux or the OpenSuse version of Linux.

I am using the latest VirtualBox 4.1.4 and at the moment I am installing OpenSuse 11.4 to a VirtualBox VM under Windows XP. The installation media which I am using is the 11.4 i586 DVD (in my computer’s DVD drive of course) and the NonOSS Addons CD (in my computer’s CD drive). The only issue I encountered had to do with configuring the VM for my computer’s CD and DVD drives. My computer’s physical CD and DVD drives under Windows XP are as follows:

Hard Disk – SATA Port 0, blank and unformatted, set in VirtualBox to be a dynamic drive, type VDI (default).
CD – IDE Primary Slave with drive letter X.
DVD – SATA Port 1 with drive letter Y.

I wanted to use similar settings when I configured the VirtualBox machine and before installing OpenSuse, so I tried the following:

Hard Disk – SATA Port 0, blank and unformatted, set in VirtualBox to be a dynamic drive, type VDI (default).
CD – IDE Primary Slave mapped to the physical CD drive X, with the NonOSS Addons in the drive or nothing in the drive.
DVD – SATA Port 1 mapped to the physical DVD drive Y, with the OpenSuse 11.4 i586 DVD in the drive.

Using the above settings in VirtualBox results in a “no boot media found” or whatever the message was when I started the VM. The issue here apparently is that the VM isn’t smart enough to check the DVD drive on the SATA Port 1 for bootable media since the VM’s logic only checks for any bootable media on SATA Port 0, then on the IDE master/slave channels, but doesn’t check any SATA Ports higher than zero? This is just my best guess, which I haven’t bothered to take the time to confirm. If true, then this is a bug with VirtualBox.

Anyway, the solution for this issue in VirtualBox is as follows, assuming that your physical computer has either two CD or DVD drives, or a DVD and CD drive, and assuming that you likely will want to install the NonOSS Add-ons at the same time as you install OpenSuse:

In the VirtualBox settings for the OpenSuse machine, simply configure the storage settings as follows in order to make sure that the VM checks your DVD or CD drives for bootable media:

  1. No matter what, you want to attach your computer’s physical CD/DVD drives to IDE channels so that these drives will get checked by VirtualBox for bootable media when you start the VM.
  2. Attach your physical DVD drive with the OpenSuse DVD in it as an IDE Primary Slave. If your computer doesn’t have a physical DVD drive, then you would attach the CD drive with either the OpenSuse Net or Live CD in it as an IDE Primary Slave.
  3. Attach your additional physical CD or DVD drive with the OpenSuse NonOSS Add-ons CD in it as an IDE Secondary Slave.
  4. After you fully complete installing OpenSuse (beware that OpenSuse reboots and it appears to be running the installation again, but you will note all of the checked off steps and that OpenSuse at this point is doing its final configuration of the setup), you can shut down OpenSuse and then configure your CD and DVD drives as you wish under the VirtualBox Storage settings for the OpenSuse virtual machine. But before doing so, it is a good idea to create a full clone of the virtual machine and name the full clone “OpenSuse with Add-ons Initial Installation”. Doing so will create a duplicate OpenSuse VM which you can run if you mess up while trying to update OpenSuse before installing the VirtualBox Guest Additions for OpenSuse.

Doing the above in the VirtualBox settings for your OpenSuse VM works like a charm. Starting the VM causes the VM to detect the OpenSuse DVD and start the installation. The only caveat is that you have to click Ok or hit the Enter button to close the popup windows about the display bit depth and mouse pointer integration. But those issues are resolved after updating the OpenSuse installation first, and then installing the VirtualBox Guest Additions for OpenSuse. Note that you must precisely follow the instructions in the VirtualBox help or PDF manual with regards to first updating OpenSuse before installing the VirtualBox Guest Additions. Those instructions can be a bit ambiguous (just like the Oracle in The Matrix since the instructions don’t explain how to log into Terminal as Root) for first time OpenSuse/Linux users, so that is why I recommended creating a clone of the VirtualBox OpenSuse initial installation.

Well, I hope the above helps others!

–GoneToPlaid

P.S. My OpenSuse installation as a VirtualBox machine completed successfully.

#10

On 2011-10-05 20:36, GoneToPlaid wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> Yoohoo! My first time ever trying a Linux installation. Thus I know
> absolutely nothing about Linux or the OpenSuse version of Linux.

Welcome here!

> Well, I hope the above helps others!

Good… but you should have posted this as a new thread.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

#11

Oops. I discovered that one has to attach the DVD/CD drives as IDE masters in order for VirtualBox to try to boot from them.