Dell PowerEdge: How to install Windows Server Standard ROK on a Virtual Machine

Article Summary: OS installation on a VM hosted on a Dell PowerEdge system may fail, when the hypervisor is not prepared to support the installation. This article explains how to prepare hypervisor for using ROK media.

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Symptoms

During the Operating System installed on the virtual machine, the following message appears and the installation is not possible:

System verification Failure
[English]
This hypervisor is not prepared for the Reseller Option Kit(ROK) media install or you are trying to install the ROK media on a non-Dell system.
To prepare the hypervisor for the ROK install, please follow the steps mentioned in the ROK document at https://www.dell.com/ostechsheets and then try again

Press OK to restart the virtual machine

This error message is also displayed in French, German and Spanish. Clicking on restart will result in the same error message.

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Cause

You can install the ROK media only on the Dell PowerEdge systems and virtual machines (VMs) hosted on the Dell systems. If you try to install the Windows Server operating system (OS) on a non-Dell PowerEdge system or on a VM hosted on a non-Dell PowerEdge system, the installation may fail, and the system verification failure message is displayed. When the installer tries to access the BIOS of the machine to verify that the installation occurs on a Dell server, the hypervisor provides a nonmatching BIOS generating the error message.

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Solution

The solution is to allow the installer to access the physical BIOS of the server. Please follow the procedures depending on the hypervisor that you are using to prepare for installation.

1. Windows Hypervisor HyperV
2. VMware ESXi
3. Citrix Xen Server

 

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Windows Hypervisor HyperV

To prepare your Microsoft hypervisor for using ROK media:

1. Insert the ROK media, and go to <DVD drive>: \ROK.
2. Run hyperv_prep.vbe on the Windows Server OS running Hyper-V, and follow the on-screen instructions.

 

VMware ESXi

To prepare your ESX/ESXi hypervisor for using ROK media:

1. Go to /vmfs/volumes/<datastore name>/<VM name>.
2. Open the <VM name>.vmx file in an editor, and add the following line: smbios.reflectHost = TRUE

 

Detailed instructions

1) Turn off the virtual machine and from the vSphere Client go to the datastore where the virtual machine is stored





2) Right-click on the DataStore and select Browse DataStore.




3) Enter into the folder where the virtual machine is stored, in this case "Orion"





4) Inside the folder, right-click on the file "Orion.vmx" and select Download　




5) Use a text editor to edit the file, here is the original content of the file




6) Add in the last row

Smbios.reflecthost = "TRUE"

7) Save the changes and upload the file in the datastore




8) Click on "Yes" on the Upload/Download Operating Warning to overwrite the file




9) Power on the virtual machine and continue the operating system installation


 

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Citrix Xen Server

To prepare your Citrix XenServer hypervisor for using the ROK media, ensure that the XenServer version is 5.5 or later.

Following the adapted procedure for your hypervisor should result in a successful installation of the virtual machine.

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