No bootable disk found

Essendon

I get this error when I fire up a new Vista (experimental) virtual machine. I have ensured that:

1. Connect at power on is selected.
2. Have browsed to the location of the .iso file I am using as an image of the Vista Ultimate copy I have got.
3. CDROM is selected as the first boot device in the VM's bios.

The VM always goes straight to network boot, doesnt do anything else at all. I have thoroughly scoured the BIOS for an option to disable network boot, to no avail. It tries to do a network boot, which of course fails and it then says -- No bootable CD, floppy or hard disk was detected. To install an operating system, insert a bootable CD or floppy and restart the virtual machine by clicking the Reset button.

I made iso images using Nero (a co-worker did it for me), imgBurn and PowerISO but get this No Bootable Disk error with each image. This is driving me nuts.

By the way, I am using the free VMware server and if I create a new XP/2003 VM, they all boot up fine and I am able to install a new OS. Is there something wrong with this free VMware version or does it not support Vista, or am I doing something incorrectly?

Help's greatly appreciated.

jibbajabba

Never really used vmware server, but it appears to be working fine

How to Install Windows Vista Under VMware Server

If your iso is simply not recognised, try to use the client device instead ? Basically putting a working DVD into your local drive and use that instead .. not as quick as an iso, but maybe the iso just doesn't work ..

You said you made the iso .. do you mean you made it out of a folder structure or did you copy a DVD and created an iso ?

jibbajabba

Never really used vmware server, but it appears to be working fine

How to Install Windows Vista Under VMware Server

If your iso is simply not recognised, try to use the client device instead ? Basically putting a working DVD into your local drive and use that instead .. not as quick as an iso, but maybe the iso just doesn't work ..

You said you made the iso .. do you mean you made it out of a folder structure or did you copy a DVD and created an iso ?

Essendon

Yeah, I copied the DVD and created the iso. Doing the exact same steps as on the link you posted, I have been using VMware for about a year so I know my way around a fair bit. I will use the physical disk to see if I can install Vista that way. Any other suggestions?

jibbajabba

Essendon wrote: »

Yeah, I copied the DVD and created the iso. Doing the exact same steps as on the link you posted, I have been using VMware for about a year so I know my way around a fair bit. I will use the physical disk to see if I can install Vista that way. Any other suggestions?

Apart from using a physical disk, no.
When you open the iso with for example magiciso, or other, does it actually say that the iso is bootable ?

undomiel

I'll second Gomjaba here, give the physical media a try. It is sounding like the vm has certain objections to the isos.

blargoe

I normally don't get stuck working with it I've had problems with the latest versions of VMWare Server in general. However I'm pretty sure I didn't have any problem with Vista/2008.

apena7

From what I remember about copying installation disks of Windows, the disks are not bootable. Unless things have changed (I'm not too familiar with the current processes) or there are some workarounds available, I would stick to the original cd/dvd.

Are you able to boot from the disc on your workstation (not VMWare)?

tiersten

How did you create the ISO? It won't be bootable if you just copied all the visible files off one DVD. El Torito CDs need to have a small boot image as well which you need special tools to extract and then insert into your new ISO.

Essendon

Well folks, I tried booting off the physical disk, still says Operating System not found. I can boot off the physical disk on a physical machine. I also removed the ethernet adapter to remove the network boot option.

tiersten, I currently have the iso created by imgBurn, didnt have to choose select any files specifically, it just did it for me.

kalebksp

Do you have the cd drive set to be connected at power on?

EDIT: I didn't see that you said you did in your first post. Hmm, that's a weird one. Have you tried any other ISOs to see if they work?

Essendon

This is indeed weird. Other ISOs work, other VM's can be created and OS's installed without problems. Something to do with Vista apparently. The VM doesnt even boot off the physical disk and like I said a physical machine boots up fine with the physical disk.

kalebksp

When you use imgburn to create your image, you're using "Create image file from disk" (Read mode), not "Create image file from files/folders" (Build mode), correct?

Essendon

Correct.

hectorjhrdz

i think it should be a problem with the iso but the vmware server software.

try to build up another iso from vista DVD.

Is it possble to burn a Vista DVD? Aren't they copy-protected?

Essendon

Just built another iso, same result.
You could be right about Vista being copy protected which might be why the iso is not bootable. Any way around it? BTW, even if the iso doesnt work, the actual physical disk should atleast boot up the VM, shouldn't it? It's a legal copy too. This leads me to believe something being wrong with the VM/VMware server and not the iso(Vista).

blargoe

You sure the physical drive you're using will read the kind of DVD onto which you burned Vista, maybe one is only DVD-R and the other is only DVD+R?

Essendon

Yeah, I dont see that being a problem, blargoe.

tiersten

hectorjhrdz wrote: »

Is it possble to burn a Vista DVD? Aren't they copy-protected?

No. Windows discs don't have copy protection on them.

hectorjhrdz

actual disk should work


what VM server version are you using?

blargoe

Maybe CD is disabled in the VM BIOS? Maybe the virtual hd had something installed on it before that's making the vm try to boot from it?

Tried creating a completely new VM with different vmdk and everything?

dynamik

Have you tried simply scrapping the VM and creating a new one? I've had a couple that were quirky for unknown reasons before.

Edit: too slow

Essendon

Folks, I have created new VM's with the same result, even on physically different hard disks, all with the same result. VM doesnt boot from the actual disk either and the CDROM is not disabled in the VM's BIOS, I scoured the BIOS and besides if it shows up in the boot order, it's not disabled.

I am using the free version of VMware from their website.

HeroPsycho

Is your copy of Vista have SP1 slipstreamed? If so, might want to ensure you got the latest version of VMware Server released 3/31, as it added official support for it. Doubt that's related, but...

Essendon

My copy isnt slipstreamed, HP. I was looking at the vendor's website and will download the latest version and give that a go. Even the darn event logs dont give me any hint at all as to what's wrong.

The VCP at work is scratching his head too about this problem.

jibbajabba

Can you upload the iso and I check it here locally ?
You also haven't answered the question yet which vmware server version you are using.

Essendon

Yeah, I think I answered that question in part only. I am using version 1.0.6. I dont think I can upload the file here, besides it is almost 3GB. Can I?

blargoe

Vista support began in version 2 of VMWare Server...

Essendon

But then why would they even give an option to create a Vista VM? Another forum petri.co.il walks you through the process of creating a Vista (experimental) VM...

jibbajabba

Essendon wrote: »

Yeah, I think I answered that question in part only. I am using version 1.0.6. I dont think I can upload the file here, besides it is almost 3GB. Can I?

I rather meant onto one of my FTP so I can try this ISO myself (without giving me the key obviously)

Essendon wrote: »

But then why would they even give an option to create a Vista VM? Another forum petri.co.il walks you through the process of creating a Vista (experimental) VM...

That is why it says "experimental"

Let me know which Vista version you need to install, which architecture and what kind of license like OEM, RETAIL, VL (MSDN or SPLA) and I test it here and might just upload the installed virtual machine for you (if it works at all of course).

blargoe

I double checked just to be sure... here's the vmware guest os guide

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf

It also looks like there are newer 1.x.x releases out there as well. Maybe you just need to update your VMWare Server to 1.0.9 or 2.x. It's free, no reason not to try it... be forewarned if you go to v2 the UI changed and you may not like it as much.