Windows Vista

The Code Master Challenge - Windows Vista coding contest announced

Eric Hammersley — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:31:00 GMT

Granted this doesn’t open until 2006 but I found it interesting. Bookmarks people!

http://codemasterchallenge.com/index.html

Windows SDK Beta 1 is live - Psst.. That's what they're calling the Vista SDK

Eric Hammersley — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 18:37:00 GMT

The SDK documentation for Windows Vista Beta 1 has been released. Browse on over to what they are calling Windows SDK Beta 1 and check it out.

If you’re into the bleeding edge or need to get the jump on Windows development in Vista this is where you need to be.

Windows Vista Beta 1 - Self Guided Tour posted on TechNet

Eric Hammersley — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 17:24:00 GMT

Microsoft has posted a Self-Guided Tour of Vista Beta 1 over on TechNet. It hits the key points and goes over some the more “interesting” features of Beta 1. I have a question though.

Why did you (Microsoft) write this “Self-Guided Tour” and post it with crappy 4–bit color screenshots?

I am completely baffled by this especially since one of their major talking points is the new fancy graphics and screen effects.

If you have a beautiful new car do you drive it around town filthy? Of course you don’t, you want it to shine in all its splendor.

Windows Vista Beta 1 - Forum created for discussion of install and general beta testing issues.

Eric Hammersley — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 16:48:00 GMT

~~Many thanks to the South Central Indiana .NET Users Group (SCI-NUG) who have provided a forum for discussion of VMware and VPC installation of Windows Vista Beta 1.~~

~~If you have questions or are having difficulty with your installation or wish to discuss general beta testing issues with Vista please feel free to stop in.~~

~~You can visit the forum here and you do not need to register in order to post to the Windows Vista Beta 1 topic area.~~

I apologize but the forum is no longer available.

Windows Vista Beta 1 - Installing on VMware ESX Server v2.5.1 build 14182

Eric Hammersley — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 14:58:00 GMT

Posted on behalf of Michael Bayes

Mike e-mailed me a day or so ago and we started discussing the install of Vista Beta 1 on VMware ESX Server 2.5.1 build 14182. As I have discussed before I love VMware but their ESX and GSX server products always lag behind the Workstation product in both virtual hardware version and driver version. I’m sure there are reasons for this and that’s Ok… really I don’t mind that much.

Anyway, Mike was kind enough to share his experience with installing Vista Beta 1 on VMware ESX Server v2.5.1 build 14182. I’ll hit the highlights for you.

His VM setup was 512MB of RAM, 8GB Harddisk and it’s running on a dual processor host. The install ran normally with the few exception already noted here in previous posts. RAW disk formatting and virtual disk size at least 8GB or more. Where he ran into problems is when he went to install the ESX version of the vmxnet network driver. We’ve been here before haven’t we? Well the catch with ESX server is that the version of vmxnet driver packaged with their VMtools software is version 2.0.0.1 while those of us on Workstation are using v2.0.0.5 of the vmxnet driver. No matter what method was used the vmxnet driver v2.0.0.1 packaged with ESX Server 2.5.1 won’t work with Vista Beta 1, at least not that he could find.

Here are the workarounds he provides:

If you own or can obtain the vmxdriver v2.0.0.5 from VMware Workstation v5 VMtools then it will install in Vista under ESX Server and all is well. You could always download the trial.
If you cannot obtain this driver then you can use vlance and install the driver available here: http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/V4.51.zip.

On another note Mike explained he uses SMP on ESX server and allocated 1 processor to Vista Beta 1. He installed with one processor and once complete shut the guest down, gave the VM a second processor and turned it back on. Vista recognized the “new“ processor, switched its self around (kernel) automatically to support both processors, rebooted and Vista came up with two processors. Piece of cake!

—

That’s all there is to it. Sounds like a Vista Beta 1 install on ESX server is almost as easy as the Workstation install. Thanks to Mike to taking the time to share his experience.

Windows Vista Beta 1 - Virtual Hard Disk size and it's relation to the dreaded "Setup was unable to locate a locally attached hard drive suitable for holding temporary Setup files." error.

Eric Hammersley — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 16:03:00 GMT

Seen this?

Many have reported this error and others have drawn the correlation between the error and the size of your virtual HD. I’m going to bring the two together.

Since we are talking about Beta bits there are several “issues” to work around in order to get a good install of Vista Beta 1 up and running. In previous posts you’ve read that there are several workarounds for the “RAW” disk problem. You can basically “Choose your own adventure” by either formatting with XP or 2k3, diskpart with SHIFT-F10 or just let the installer do it all but with a kind re-boot in the middle. They all accomplish the same thing.

Here’s the thing, and I’m not sure I understand why but if you create a virtual HD in VMware for your Vista install and give it anything less than 8.0 GB it will fail. 4GB the install won’t even leave the starting blocks. If you give it 6GB the install will start only to stop with the error above. Try 7GB and the error above will crop up once again. The magic number appears to be 8GB. If you give your VM at least an 8GB virtual disk it will complete the install.

Now, why you may ask. I’m interested in this as well. We know the installer checks for minimum disk space, that is apparent if you try to install with a 4GB disk. Since VMware doesn’t magically shrink an expanded disk we know it’s not about temporary disk storage during install or the completed install would leave a virtual disk file of 8GB instead of one at 2GB(if my memory serves me correctly). My guess is an installer flaw or bug. The graceful notification of a 4GB disk being too small tells me that the installer was built with a disk space requirement around the 4–5GB range. The hard crash of the installer at disk sizes between 4GB and 7GB lead me to believe it is an installer oversight/bug. Any way you slice it you must at least give it 8GB.

NOTE: This was written for Vista Beta 1. The comments below will help with respect to more current beta's.

If you are attempting to install Vista Beta 2 in VMware the reported minimum size is 16GB for your virtual disk in order to avoid the error. - Thanks Robert, Mondo and any others I missed

Windows Vista Beta 1 - VMware v5 build 13124 oddities and strange behavior

Eric Hammersley — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 14:29:00 GMT

I’ve been posting a series of Vista / VMware related articles on installation and configuration of Vista Beta 1 on VMware v5 build 13124. There are a few things I want to pass along after several days and a weekend of playing around with Vista, VMware and reading blog posts of other people experiences.

This is beta code, specifically beta 1 code. If it all works perfectly and has no bugs or errors you should immediately go buy a lotto ticket because it is your lucky day.
There is some strange behaviour with the hard disk partitioning and formatting. Many have no problems and can use the Vista installer to partition (GUI, not DiskPart), reboot and then format and install. One of my previous articles outlines the steps needed to install this way. The trick is…it just isn’t a stable method. I’ve done it close to 10 times now both for testing while writing a blog post and for my own VMs. It always works for me and works on different host machines. That’s not the case for everyone.
I posted an article about sound support in the VM. This works great for me and many other people. It is however beta code and it is obviously not working for everyone. Some people are reporting PFN_LIST_CORRUPT BSODs. This is a corrupted memory error and is usually caused by a bad driver. Other than telling you that I set aside 512 MB of RAM for my VMs a LAST_KNOWN boot is the only thing I know to do in order to fix that problem. It is a memory problem so the amount of memory you give Vista could very well throttle the BSOD as well, in connection with the sound driver of course. Since the driver is for Windows XP it really doesn’t surprise me that Vista barfs of it occasionally or all the time actually. Honestly VMware doesn’t officially support Vista Beta 1 so we don’t have anyone to blame. If someone finds a better driver for sound please let me/us know.

As for the PFN_LIST_CORRUPT, that is the glory of beta testing. All the suggestions here have worked for me so far and are consistent. Please continue to ask questions and put my suggestions to the test as you have all weekend.

Windows Vista Beta 1 - Sound support with VMware v5 build 13124 without VMtools

Eric Hammersley — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 16:15:00 GMT

In my initial post on Installing Vista Beta 1 on VMware v5 build 13124 - Initial Observations I was able to get all the VM hardware to work except the sound card. The native VMtools provided sound driver just wouldn’t install. If you look at the sound device in other “working” VMs, like an install of Windows XP, you’ll see that the VMware hardware emulates a Soundblaster PCI. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of this before but I went to the Soundblaster site and downloaded their Soundblaster PCI 128 driver myself. To avoid the crazy navigation on their site I’ve linked to the agreement screen of the driver you need. Download from Creative: Soundblaster PCI 128

I thought about repackaging the driver so it would be a clean install but I don’t want to violate their licensing agreements as far as packaging their driver is concerned. With that said you’ll have to deal with their installer… but it does work!

Windows Vista Beta 1 - Raw hard disks and VMware v5 build 13124, Why are you using Windows XP to format them?

Eric Hammersley — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 04:17:00 GMT

So I’ve been reading the posts about installing Vista Beta 1 on VMware since my initial post and observations on the evening it was released. What puzzles me is the requirement everyone seems to throw around of having to partition and format with a Windows XP disk or running diskpart from a recovery console. Unless I’m in a bubble or happen to have “special bits” (read: not likely) this just isn’t necessary to install Vista Beta 1 on VMware v5 build 13124.

Here’s how to get it done using only the Vista installer.

First, create yourself a new VM in VMware with a new “raw” virtual disk. Attach your Vista Beta 1 DVD and start ‘er up.
Now, make your way through the installer until you are faced with the Hard Disk selection screen. You don’t have to click anything other than Next to make it here since the new “raw” disk file is empty and without partitions. The installer will guide you here automatically.
Right underneath the disk graphic you’ll see a New button. Click this and select the max size (or whatever you like, I only tested with max) for the partition and click Ok.
Now, you can click Format if you want then click next on the popup screen but it just won’t do anything. The thing to do now is REBOOT
Since VMware BIOS defaults to Hard Disk before CD in boot order you will now either have to change the boot order or hit ESC for a boot menu. Select your CD drive and let the Vista install load.
Now, as you click Next through the installer you’ll find yourself once again at the Hard Disk screen. Just click NEXT, not format or anything else, just NEXT.

The installer will now continue on and format and install Vista. All without Windows XP disks or recovery consoles. I’ve done this several times and it works every time. I just did it again while writing this post.

The question you may ask is: Is this really that different than pressing SHIFT-F12 during the Vista install and using DISKPART? No, I don't suppose but it is easier IMO to just use the installer than trying to use DISKPART from a recovery console. Be your own judge.

Now, installing it on VPC or Virtual Server is a whole different story, and not as easy. I’m a VMware guy myself and while I could talk about installing it on Virtual Server I’ll save that one for someone else.

If you don't get your question answered here or are having a specific problem please feel free to browse this site further or check out the Windows Vista Beta 1 forum courtesy of the South Central Indiana .NET Users Group.

If you’re just getting into Virtual Machines or want a compelling reason to go one way or another take a look at VMware’s new VMTN program. Their VMware Technology Network (VMTN) provides the subscriber with almost all of their virtual machine products like Workstation, ESX Server, GSX Server etc. on a limited “development” only license. Now, honestly I only use VMware for development. I know that some, or lots actually, use ESX or GSX server for virtualization of their servers and in that case this is not for you. If you develop on virtual machines and want to use them in a development / testing environment then you really need to check them out. I first heard of the program at TechEd and signed up the very next week.

Windows Vista Beta 1 install on VMware v5 build 13124 - Initial Observations

Eric Hammersley — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 03:41:00 GMT

My VMware install is complete and running. As I hinted to in my previous article the video display on setup and first boot is terrible. After first boot I was able to find out it was running at 4–bit color. :-) No wonder it looked bad. Anyway… it’s the VMware video.

The install went without error. Vista b1 will install on VMware v5 build 13124. Now… it’s just no fun without decent video so in comes VMtools. This is where is goes down hill, a little. First off the VMtools video driver will install and works just fine although auto guest resizing when going from full screen to window doesn’t work. That’s Ok though… no one said it was supposed to work. We’re just trying it anyway. It’s good enough to use until VMware pushes a new build to us.

Drag and Drop from VM desktop to host machine doesn’t work. Host to guest just gives the NO cursor and guest to host almost make you smile then hits you with a “Cannot get attributes” or something like that. I could only make it error out once then subsequent tries just resulted in nothing happening.

Audio doesn’t work. The driver just won’t install. I haven’t banged around on it but I did try to force an install and only received an error about making sure my driver was for a 32–bit machine.

Audio does work but I had to download the Soundblaster PCI 128 driver from Creative directly. I was unable to get the driver packaged with VMtools to work. See my article above: Sound support with VMware v5 build 13124 without VMtools I provided the link in that article for the driver that works.

The network driver WILL install. I was unable to get it to install from the VMtools setup but I was able to install it from Device Manager and pointing it to the Program Files/VMware/VMware Tools/Drivers/vmxnet folder.

I can’t decide if USB passthrough works or not. I can get Vista to see my USB printer but it doesn’t like the drivers but it won’t even bark at my SanDisk Jump Drive. Perhaps a setting? Perhaps it just doesn’t work.

That’s my initial observations. It installs with a few hickups but nothing major. I imagine VMware will have a new build out that support B1 in the very near future. Tomorrow at the office I’ll see if VPC does any better. :-)

I’ll leave you with a couple of IE7 shots. The first is of the RSS toolbar option and the second is what it does with the feed. Click for the full image. It’s pretty neat. I don’t think it will replace a desktop aggregator but it’s still cool. It’s not like the Firefox way of doing it, which I personally like. IE displays a special page with the feed on it. It may be configurable however to display the feed like Firefox does, in a cascading menu. These are just initial observations here people. Have fun with Beta 1.