Vm bios

jamesp1983

I just found a handy feature that I thought would be helpful for others:

You can force VMware to boot the VM directly into the BIOS, rather than trying to beat the bios delay.

Select the VM --> Edit Settings --> Options tab --> "Boot Options" --> Force BIOS Setup section --> check "The next time the virtual machine boots, force entry into the BIOS setup screen."

(I'm not sure how commonly this setting is used, but i thought someone could use it).

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MentholMoose

Yes that is useful. In the same place (in vSphere client) there is a BIOS delay option that can also be useful (I usually set my VMs with a 5 second delay so I can get into the BIOS or boot menu).

bertieb

Yep, its a great tip. If you have a bit of an 'evil but in a good way' persona, much fun can be had by watching a junior trying to catch the BIOS of a VM on boot but not telling them this exists for at least an hour... muhahahaha

vCole

bertieb wrote: »

Yep, its a great tip. If you have a bit of an 'evil but in a good way' persona, much fun can be had by watching a junior trying to catch the BIOS of a VM on boot but not telling them this exists for at least an hour... muhahahaha

haha!

Also, not sure if anyone is aware of the option to hot add CPU/Memory on Windows 2008/Linux distros on that same tab. Handy

jamesp1983

vCole wrote: »

haha!

Also, not sure if anyone is aware of the option to hot add CPU/Memory on Windows 2008/Linux distros on that same tab. Handy

The hot add option is pretty sweet.

jamesp1983

bertieb wrote: »

Yep, its a great tip. If you have a bit of an 'evil but in a good way' persona, much fun can be had by watching a junior trying to catch the BIOS of a VM on boot but not telling them this exists for at least an hour... muhahahaha

i'm going to do that now. I've been training some REALLY new guys so that could be pretty funny.

Darril

Glad I ran across this. Reading it sent me on a hunt that may be useful to others.

If you want to get to the BIOS on Windows Virtual PC (on Windows 7), you can press the Del key during the boot. That sounds simple enough, but the problem is that it doesn't work if the Integration Components are installed and enabled. On most of my VPCs, the Integration Features on the Settings page is set to Enabled at Startup so dancing on the Del key never works. However, after deselecting Enable at startup for the Integration features, I was able to get into the BIOS on the VPC.

Darril Gibson

Devilsbane

Darril wrote: »

Glad I ran across this. Reading it sent me on a hunt that may be useful to others.

If you want to get to the BIOS on Windows Virtual PC (on Windows 7), you can press the Del key during the boot. That sounds simple enough, but the problem is that it doesn't work if the Integration Components are installed and enabled. On most of my VPCs, the Integration Features on the Settings page is set to Enabled at Startup so dancing on the Del key never works. However, after deselecting Enable at startup for the Integration features, I was able to get into the BIOS on the VPC.

Darril Gibson

Off topic, I know. But do you have any idea why they changed all of the interfaces when they migrated Virtual PC? I used to use the old version here and there (but preferred VMWare Workstation) but I just can't stand the new interface with Windows 7. They really over-complicated things and added minimal new features.

Darril

Devilsbane wrote: »

Off topic, I know. But do you have any idea why they changed all of the interfaces when they migrated Virtual PC? I used to use the old version here and there (but preferred VMWare Workstation) but I just can't stand the new interface with Windows 7. They really over-complicated things and added minimal new features.

Sorry, but no, I don't know why. It may have something to do with Windows XP Mode It has taken me a while to get used to it too, but since I do so much with Microsoft products, I really need to use it. As an aside, you can use either Windows Virtual PC (the new interface required for Windows XP Mode), or Microsoft Virtual PC (the older interface) on Windows 7. Sadly, neither supports 64 bit guests.

Darril