home       vmx       vmdk        about this site        forum        downloads  

guestOS

VMX-file parameters

 


What happens:

Most obvious effect of the choice of a 'guestOs' is the 'VMware-tools-iso' that will be connected if you click the
"Install VMware tools..." menu option. If your guest is a Linux you will get the linux.iso, if your guest is a Windows, you will get the windows.iso. When you selected 'other' the "Install VMware tools..." menu option is not available.


The 'guestOS' choice also decides which virtual hardware is used:

GuestOS = "winnt" sets scsi0.virtualDev = "BUS"

GuestOS = "winNetEnterprise" sets scsi0.virtualDev = "LSI"

Things like this can have unexpected effects when you try to upgrade a WinNT to Windows 2003!


Generally speaking try to use the option that is the best match for the Os you want to install:
for example to install OpenBSD or NetBSD use guestOs = "FreeBSD"


The guestOS = "other" - option disables all optimizations and should be used when every other option has failed only.

 


 

 

List was created with VMserver -
guest operating system P
L
A
Y
E
R 		S
E
R
V
E
R		 W
S

5
5		 l
e
g
a
c
y		 W
S

3
2		 E
S
X

3		 E
S
X

2
5
install
uses 		ether-
net
virtual
device
type 		scsi
virtual
device
type 		default
install
uses
amount
of
RAM 		disk-
size 		gui-option

comments
darwin   x           (not available via GUI)  
dos   x   x       IDE vlance BUS 16   MS-DOS
freebsd   x   x       IDE vlance LSI 256   Freebsd
freebsd-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   FreeBSD 64-bit
other   x   x       IDE vlance BUS 256   Other
other-64   x           IDE e1000 LSI 256   Other 64-bit
Netware guests
netware4   x           IDE vlance BUS 256   NetWare 4
netware5   x   x       IDE vlance LSI 256   NetWare 5
netware6   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 512   NetWare 6
Solaris guests
solaris6   x           (not available via GUI) Solaris 6
solaris7   x           (not available via GUI) Solaris 7
solaris8   x           (not available via GUI) Solaris 8
solaris9   x   x       IDE vlance LSI 128   Solaris 9 (experimental)
solaris10   x   x       IDE vlance LSI 512   Solaris 10 (experimental)
solaris10-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 512   Solaris 10 64-bit (experimental)
Linux guests
linux   x           (not available via GUI) Linux
mandrake   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 256   Mandrake Linux
mandriva-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   Mandriva Linux 64-bit
mandriva   x           LSI vlance LSI 256   Mandriva Linux
nld9   x           IDE vlance BUS 256   Novell Linux Desktop 9
other24xlinux   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 256   Other Linux 2.4.x kernel
other24xlinux-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   Other Linux 2.4.x kernel 64-bit
other26xlinux   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 256   Other Linux 2.6.x kernel
other26xlinux-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   Other Linux 2.6.x kernel 64-bit
otherlinux-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   Other Linux 64-bit
otherlinux   x           BUS vlance BUS 256   Other Linux
redhat   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 256   Red Hat Linux
rhel2   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 256   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2
rhel3   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 256   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
rhel3-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 64-bit
rhel4   x           LSI vlance LSI 256   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
rhel4-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 64-bit
sjds   x           LSI vlance LSI 256   Sun Java Desktop System
suse   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 256   SUSE Linux
suse-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   SUSE Linux 64-bit
sles   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 256   SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
sles-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 64-bit
turbolinux   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 256   Turbolinux
ubuntu   x           LSI vlance LSI 256   Ubuntu
ubuntu-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   Ubuntu 64-bit
Windows guests
win2000advserv   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 384   Windows 2000 Advanced Server
win2000pro   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 256   Windows 2000 Professional
win2000serv   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 384   Windows 2000 Server
win31   x   x       IDE vlance BUS 16   Windows 3.1
win95   x   x       IDE vlance BUS 64   Windows 95
win98   x   x       IDE vlance BUS 256   Windows 98
winme   x   x       IDE vlance BUS 256   Windows Me
winnt   x   x       BUS vlance BUS 256   Windows NT
winnetenterprise   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 384   Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
winnetenterprise-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 384   Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition
winnetbusiness   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 384   Windows Server 2003 Small Business
winnetstandard   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 384   Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
winnetstandard-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 384   Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition
winnetweb   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 384   Windows Server 2003 Web Edition
longhorn   x   x       LSI vlance LSI 512 16 Windows Vista (experimental)
longhorn-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 512 24 Windows Vista x64 Edition (experimental)
winxphome   x   x       IDE vlance BUS 256   Windows XP Home Edition
winxppro   x   x       IDE vlance BUS 256   Windows XP Professional
winxppro-64   x           LSI e1000 LSI 256   Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
winvista   x           no defaults
(not available via GUI)		  
winvista-64   x           no defaults
(not available via GUI)		  
OS2
os2experimental   x   x       no defaults
(not available via GUI)		 against all rumours: it's possible - see forum for information on drivers and some more tricks that may be useful
VMware
vmkernel   x   x       no defaults
(not available via GUI)		 Rumours report that this is used by VMware engineers to run ESX in a VM.
Well makes sense - why not?
Recently I had the chance to test it - but failed. I guess it needs some more special parameters. Fact is VMserver and WS 5 accept this as guestOS

 

 

 

 

   home       vmx       vmdk        about this site        forum        downloads