VMWare Problems

Question

Hi all   I have recently installed VMWare 4.0 (Virtual Machine). It is a software I use in college to practice using the software Windows Server 2003. They seem to work there fine on XP machines SP1 and SP2 (They also used Dell machines)   I was able to get a copy of the VMWare software from college for me to try at home. So I installed it, and installed the evaluation version of Windows Server 2003 inside the VMWare on my Computer. It worked fine for the first day. I then tried to install XP Pro on the Virtual Machine too. (I needed to have two OS in the Virtual Machine in order to test for pinging and networking services)   Halfway through installing XP Pro in the VMWare suddenly it went to the blue screen/stop error (on my desktop not in the virtual machine). As I don't know much about blue screens I could not remember the whole error message, but the line I remember was this one...   Driver_not_less_or_equal_to   ..... followed by a series of numbers   also has messages followed after saying make sure drivers updated, using compatablie software etc.   I tried to ctrl + alt + delete from the stop error but nothing happened, it was like that for about 10 minutes, so I decided to hold down the power key, and reboot again shortly.   Once I logged back in computer recovered from series error.   I decided I uninstall VMWare for the meantime to make sure I don't encounter the same problem.   I don't know if this is a hardware/software problem or there is any known issues running VMWare on XP?   However I do need this software as I am studing an MCSE course at the moment. If I really can't use it on my home computer then I will have to use the software they have at college.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   My Specs:   Dell Dimension 3000 Pentium 4   2.8Ghz 1Gb Ram (2x 512mb ddr) 160gb wdc hard drive Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2 Philips DVD+RW/CDRW Drive   Also I am using Windows XP Home Edition with SP2   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Note. This system is fairly new to me (2 months old) with a 3 year warranty. I reside in the U.K.   Any help or advice is much appreciated.   Jeff

salucchi · Answer

Hi,

Check out this link: http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_alp.php

VMWARE has an excellent knowledgebase forum. I suspect it could be your pc. I run vmware workstation 4.5 (they just released 5.0) on my Dell Precision at work with multiple O/S's and have yet to encounter any problems/issues. Check out that knowledgebase link it is very helpful.

jeffrgalang · Answer

Hi

Thanks for your reply, I have had a quick look at the VMWare forum, but have not found a solution yet, there are many similar problems listed there regarding the blue screen and stop errors but these happen within the guest operating system and not actually on the local machine.

Anyway thanks for that link, I will browse it more thorougly when I have time.

If however I cannot resolve it using that forum, do you suggest I get my system replaced or just the faulty hardware(s)?

As I mentioned earlier the system is new to me and I have the 3 years warranty.

Jeff

salucchi · Answer

Hi,

Write down the exact error you are receiving when attempting to load XP in a VM partition. Once you have this error written down check the VMWARE forum and also do a search on google for the error. You may have faulty hardware or a driver issue. Hope you find the solution. VMWARE is a great product. They just released Workstation 5. Good Luck.

jeffrgalang · Answer

Hi all   Thanks for all your support and advice! (not that many people were able to help but still thanks..lol)   Well seems like the CD I used was faulty so I used another XP cd VMWare cd etc, installed etc no blue screen, my computer running smootly again.   Jeff

Windows General

Was this post helpful?