VMWare ESX – Windows XP Installation

mick — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:49:21 +0000

We needed a xp pro pc running from the datacentre for downloading and local maintenance. No problems I thought however by default XP doesn’t seem to recognise the hard disks :

"Setup did not find any hard drives installed in your computer"

Well after googling the problem I stumbled across a website by Techhead and an article explaining how to proceed. A couple of notes you need to be aware of before proceeding.

1. VMWare offers two types of hard disk controller — choose LSI

2. Of the drivers available for these controllers there are two for the LSI chip. Try the old one first … oo and if you use the new one by mistake. Trash the vm and start again.

3. The mouse is seriously sluggish until VMWare tools are installed (even then it’s not the fastest thing).

Okay on with the detail

Step 1:

Download the appropriate floppy disk image of for the hard disk controller you wish to use.

They are available as :

Old LSI Logic XP Driver (recommended)

Newer LSI Logic XP Driver

Bus Logic XP Driver

store the image along with your ISO’s you use with your ESX server.

Step 2:

Create the virtual machine choose Windows XP Pro (32bit).
Connect your Installation CD/ISO file.
Choose the disk controller you want to us – VMWare recommend Bus Logic, it would appear that the LSI is quicker.
Ensure you have a floppy drive created and associate with the appropriate driver .flp file (DO NOT CONNECT YET).

Step 3:

Power on and when prompted hit F6.
Connect the floppy drive and back in the VM hit return.
Follow the prompts to install Windows.

Step 4:

Step 5:

If this box is anywhere near the internet AntiVirus; Firewalling and Windows Update immediately !

Good luck.

Mick