Like many other developers, I wanted a chance to play with Windows Vista Beta 2. So I downloaded the whopping 3.2 GB DVD image (in twelve minutes). Since I don’t have a spare machine powerful enough to handle it, I decided to install Vista in a VMware virtual machine. This was, to say the least, not a clean and pleasant experience.
I opened my existing “Beta 1″ virtual machine with 256 MB of RAM and 8 GB of hard disk space, set the ISO as the boot media, and started it. Setup started, but then presented me with this:
The file WinSetup.dll could not be loaded or is corrupt. Setup cannot continue.
Disappointment took hold, but a quick Google search told me that my RAM was insufficient. So I increased it to 512 MB and the problem disappeared. With a renewed hope, I again started setup. This time setup prompted me with a different message:
A required CD/DVD device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now.
I was stuck, since choosing “Cancel” looped back to the prompt. I attempted to search online for any mention of this error, but found nothing relevant. I also attempted to locate suitable drivers, but came up empty again. So I moved on to “Plan B”.
I created a new virtual disk, installed Windows XP, and booted into it. I was able to start Windows Vista setup from there without error. I typed my product key and started the installation process. While attempting to copy files, setup threw up with this error:
Setup was unable to locate a locally attached hard drive suitable for holding temporary Setup files.
Another quick Google search revealed that this was caused by not having sufficient disk space. I remembered having this problem with Beta 1, so I tried the newest minimum. After three or four attempts, I was finally successful with 25 GB.
Once Vista was installed, it was time to remove the Windows XP virtual disk. So I copied “bootsect.exe” from the Vista DVD, onto a floppy disk, and booted with a BartPE CD. I copied “C:\bootmgr” and “C:\Boot\” to the “e” drive and then ran “bootsect.exe /nt60 /force e:”. Once I verified that the boot loader was working, I removed the virtual disk and… tada!… it worked.
VMware tools installation was smooth, with the exception of the network adapter drivers. Back when I tested Beta 1, the vmxnet driver was not yet compatible with Vista. Following a suggestion from the VMware community, I switched the card to AMD PCnet. Since I had that setup already, I chose to install the driver and let it be. But I am curious if vmxnet works now.
While I realize this is a beta test release, the setup process leaves much to be desired. Development releases should contain more information, not less. Indescript errors are frustrating and difficult to diagnose. Hopefully, the operating system itself is better in this regard.
8 Responses to “Installing Vista Beta 2 in VMware”
Hi there,
I’m having the same problem “A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing” —
I tried different drivers but with no luck. I have PVC installed and it wors fine.
Is it possible to use VPC to install vista on my HDD so I can boot from it?
Hope I was clear enough..
All the best
I would say that it’s probably not possible to use VPC to install Vista on your hard disk. Windows is able to detect and install drivers on boot for most hardware devices. There are a few devices that it cannot do this for, such as motherboard components. Those drivers are installed and configured during Windows setup because they are required to boot the kernel.
I suspect that if you tried this, you would likely get a STOP screen during boot. Remember this software is still in beta, so you may have better luck with RC1.
Hi there,
Thank you for your response.
I’m sorry I din’t explain myself properly. I have the RC1 version and tried a few times to install vista on a second partion of my HD, but with no luck. It comes up with “A required CD/DVD drive device is missing” error. I updaeted all drivers of m PC but still no luck.
When I tried it on VPC it installed fine without any errors, but VPC is very-very slow. I googled the error but still haven’t found a solution to it.
Any suggestions or ideas?
The only suggestion I can make is to try a different DVD drive. There seems to be a problem with LG readers and Vista.
Hello!
I recently downloaded Vista Enterprise edition from my MSDN subscription (a 2GB DVD iso, at least it’s smaler now
). Anyways I tried installing Vista on VMWare Server 1.0.1 and got the same message. It appears that this bug didn’t make it into the final release.
I have been trying to find more information on this issue and have been unsuccessful. Any ideas?
Ya, I just downloaded the latest version of 32 bit vista from MSDN too and it seems that the bug hasn’t been fixed. This however, seems to be a problem with vmware, not vista. It seems to not be able to use the virtual DVD drive for some reason. Guess it has to actually be a known make or something. I’d suggest talking w/ vmware to update their Vista emulation infrastructure.
One way of installing this is by creating an ISO image and loading it using Daemon Tools. Then point the drive in VMWare to the Daemon tools drive and load from that. Good luck!
Thanks Manic!
Problem solved. You’re a genius.