Benjamin Sher wrote:
>
> First obvious question: Do you RUN Vmware with hdc as raw disk with
> /mnt/windows MOUNTED OR UNMOUNTED? That is, do you have to UNmount
> /mnt/windows every time you run VMware in this case or do you run Vmware with
> /mnt/windows mounted?"
>
You can run it mounted but mount it read-only (ro) if you do. Do NOT mount
the partition rw and run VMWare at the same time.
> I am afraid to proceed any further. I tried and experimented with various
> configurations, but I think it's time for me to quit experimenting. I am just
> an ordinary user and I'd rather not jeopardize my LM 8.0 installation.
>
BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY. (Both the user.dat and the system.dat) Otherwise, you
may find yourself reinstalling Windows so you can run it on the actual PC again.
The idea is that you are going to take advantage of Window's "ability" to do
hardware profiling. When I tried it (as per instructions), I destroyed my
registry and the system performed poorly on both VMWare and the actual PC.
The idea is that you create a PC profile (a hardware config that will run on the
real PC hardware) and a VMWare profile (a hardware config that matches the
VMWare virtual hardware.) Creating the PS profile and making a profile that
will become the VMWare profile is easy, but when you boot Windows and tell it to
use the VMWare profile (booting in VMWare of courrse) it begins the hardware
detection and starts adding the drivers necessary to run on VMWare. This is
fine except that when Windows adds the drivers, it adds them to both profiles.
So as you are building your VMWare profile you corrupt your original PC profile.
You square away your VMWare profile once you get it done and reboot the real PC
back into Windows and choose the PC profile (note: if you can get the profiles
working correctly Windows will supposedly smartly pick the profile that matches
the hardware it sees at boot.) It's then you notice your PC profile drivers
have both the real drivers and the VMWare drivers. So you go into the PC
profile and remove the VMWare drivers being careful to choose "Remove driver
from this profile only" and get your PC profile all cleaned up. Once you have
your PC profile all working again, you go back to trying it in VMWare and
discover that some of the drivers in the VMWare profile are missing and now it
has some of the PC drivers. So you start the cleaning process from the VMWare
profile perspective...
while (1) {lather; rinse; repeat;} /* infinite loop */
After about the third attempt, Windows begins to fail to boot altogether due
to registry corruption. At this point, you restore the registry backup you
made before this mess got started and make another new partition on which to
install Windows inside of VMWare and run with Windows dual installed.
The short of it is that any driver added always gets added to all profiles and
any driver removed will affect all profiles enough whether or not you choose
"Remove from this profile only" such that when booting that profile the
hardware detection begins again causing all sorts of fun, ad infinitum.
Just my experience,
Woody
> I'd appreciate it if someone who has a how-to or step-by-step instructions in
> plain English for my specific situation could direct me a web site where I
> could find out how to configure Vmware properly, not only the /mnt/windows on
> a dual-boot system but all the other details that are a part of it.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Benjamin
>
>
