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Setting Up Virtual Machines On a Dual-Boot System

It is possible to use VMware GSX Server to run one or more guest operating systems from existing disk partitions. This is useful for people who already have a dual- or multi-boot system and who want to run those operating systems under VMware GSX Server. To do so, you must:

  1. Unmap raw disk partitions from the host operating systems running under the dual-boot machine.

  2. Set up a virtual machine for each operating system you want to run. These virtual machines use an existing disk partition or raw disk. >>More about raw disks

Note: If you do not have a dual-boot system, but want to install a guest operating system into an unused partition through a virtual machine, please refer to the instructions for installing an operating system onto a raw partition from a virtual machine.

Caution: Raw disk support is an advanced feature of VMware GSX Server and should be enabled by users who are already familiar with the product.

Caution: If you have installed Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows .NET Server on a computer with Advanced Configuration Power Management (ACPI) features and then try to set up a virtual machine running from a raw disk, this can cause serious problems. This problem is most likely to affect laptop computers but may also affect some newer ACPI-capable desktop computers.

Unmapping raw disk partitions from host operating systems

To run multiple guest operating systems from different raw disk partitions, first unmap these partitions.

The existing raw disk partition(s), which you plan to configure the virtual machine, must not be mounted by Linux.

Creating separate virtual machines for each guest operating system

To configure a virtual machine to run from an existing raw disk partition:

Note: If you are running a Windows 9x, Windows NT, or Windows 2000 guest operating system, you should read the information about setting up hardware profiles in virtual machines. VMware recommends booting the guest operating system natively on the computer and creating a hardware profile for the virtual machine before proceeding.

  1. Start VMware GSX Server.
  2. Select File > Configuration Wizard to start the Wizard.
  3. Create a new virtual machine using the Wizard and select Use a physical disk when asked to choose the disk type.
  4. Click Done to create the new virtual machine.

    After creating the virtual machine, start a remote console and check the configuration by typing the following command:
    vmware <config-file>.cfg
    where <config-file> is the path of the configuration file created by the Wizard.

    Choose Settings > Configuration Editor and check that your IDE configuration specifies at least one raw disk description file. These files are named <configuration-name>.hda <configuration-name>.hdb, and so on.

    Then, if you are running a second Linux installation from an existing partition as a guest operating system and your real machine's /etc/lilo.conf has a memory register statement such as Append= "mem....", you may want to adjust the append memory parameter or create a new entry in LILO for running Linux in a virtual machine. If the amount of memory configured in lilo.conf exceeds the amount of memory assigned to the virtual machine, then when the virtual machine tries to boot the second Linux installation, the guest operating system may panic. You can simply create another entry in lilo.conf for running Linux in a virtual machine by specifying a different amount of memory than what should normally be recognized when Linux boots directly on the real machine.

Note: It is possible to specify using a raw device directly in the Configuration Editor. This is potentially hazardous and VMware GSX Server does not support users doing this. In future releases VMware GSX Server will detect this situation and refuse to power on.

Boot sequences

If you have multiple IDE drives configured on a system, the VMware GSX Server BIOS normally attempts to boot them in this sequence:

  1. Primary Master
  2. Primary Slave
  3. Secondary Master
  4. Secondary Slave

If you have multiple SCSI drives configured on a system, the VMware BIOS normally attempts to boot them in the order of the SCSI device number.

If you have both SCSI and IDE drives configured, the VMware BIOS normally attempts to boot SCSI drives followed by IDE drives, in the order described above.

The boot sequence can be changed in the Boot menu of the virtual machine's Phoenix BIOS.

  1. Power on the virtual machine, then press F2 during the BIOS boot in the guest operating system to enter the BIOS setup menu.
  2. Choose to boot from the Master Boot Record (MBR).
  3. Choose the target operating system from the list of options offered by the boot manager.
  4. The guest operating system boots.

Warning: If you designate your safe raw disk in undoable mode, you need to either commit or discard the changes to the disk in undoable mode before you reboot your guest operating system natively. This is necessary because any changes to sectors on the real disk that have been modified on the disk in undoable mode invalidate the redo file corresponding to the disk in undoable mode.

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