Windows Server 8 Beta and VMware Tools ~ My blog about Active Directory and everything else

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Windows Server 8 Beta and VMware Tools

I am running VMware workstation 8.0.2 build-591240 to test Windows Server 8 Beta.  I'm doing this on my Windows 7 machine.  Right now there is no Microsoft hypervisor that runs on top of Windows 7/client OS that will support a 64 bit operating system (that changes with Windows 8)

The installation of Windows Server 8 Beta went fine and I had no issues with that.  I then tried to install VMware Tools

After the installation of VMWare tools the Windows Server 8 Beta box became unresponsive and the screen was black and the VM was unusable.  I had a snapshot so I went back to that and was able to work and test.

I looked around the VMware site and found a blog entry about running Windows 8 CP in Workstation 8

That didn't really help because my issue is with Windows Server 8.  I started reading the comments and noticed that there were others having this exact issue.  Some folks suggested enabling 3D Acceleration on the VM.


I enabled the feature and then installed VMware tools again and this time the VM booted up fine.  No black/unresponsive screen.

I hope this helps others trying to install VMWare tools with Windows Server 8.
Posted by mkline at 7:33 AM
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10 comments:

  1. window serverMarch 13, 2012 at 8:16 AM

    I am a Dell employee and after reading your blog on Windows Server 8 Beta and VMware Tools, I would like to thank you for sharing such a useful information. I think your blog will be of great help to those who try to install window server.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 13, 2012 at 1:03 PM

    Awesome Thanks - this worked a treat

    ReplyDelete
  3. Erik BussinkMarch 15, 2012 at 2:40 AM

    Hiya Mike. VMware has juste released the VMware Workstation 2012 Tech Preview (Build 646643). I'm using it to run Windows Server 8 and Windows 8 CP.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Erik BussinkMarch 15, 2012 at 2:42 AM

    Hiya Mike,

    VMware has release Workstation 2012 Tech Preview with support for Windows Server 8 Beta and Windows 8 CP. It also runs on top of a Windows 8 CP host now. It's at Build 646643.
    http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-18665

    ReplyDelete
  5. mklineMarch 15, 2012 at 4:44 AM

    Good top Erik. I'll probably wait but will upgrade to Workstation 2012 when it is released. Do you know if it will be $99 like the upgrade to 8.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousMarch 17, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    THANK YOU! This was driving me crazy

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousMarch 22, 2012 at 4:24 AM

    Thank you,
    solved my problem !!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. HollyMarch 28, 2012 at 3:18 AM

    When it had released, From that time i am excited to install in my computer. From you post i did push some information in my mind. Please any one tell me, my computer is intel i3 motherboard and processor, 4gb RAM so that it's enough to install windows8..Thanks for sharing..

    -cloud computing companies

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousOctober 18, 2012 at 10:46 AM

    THAAAAAANK YOOOOOU!!!!!! I was like wtblank?

    Your post helped me fix my annoying problem!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mklineOctober 18, 2012 at 10:48 AM

      No problem, glad to help out. I remember thinking the same thing when I first hit the error. Have fun with Windows 8 and Windows 2012.

      Delete

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