maj 2009 - Posts

VGA settings in Windows 2008 Server Core with VMWare tools installed

Posted 23 maj 2009 15:32 by Jens Jönsson

When you have installed WMWare tools in your Windows 2008 Server Core running as a VM on your VMWare ESX system (See my guide how to here!), you can change resolution and fine tune VGA settings by following this guide (Yeah, I know it's not a installation with a GUI !):

  1. From your Server Core command prompt start regedit by typing: REGEDIT
  2. Browse to the following key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video
  3. You should see some subkeys named by GUID. Browse to the 0000 subkey of the one with the 0000\Volatilesettings subkey (There should be only one containing the subkey VolatileSettings).
  4. Here you find records for resolution (DefaultSettings.XResolution and DefaltSettings.YResolution) and colordepth (DefaultSettings.BitsPerPel). Change these according to the settings you want, remember to choose decimal value.
  5. Remember to change the record Acceleration.Level to 0. This is the same as Display Settings / Advanced Settings / Troubleshoot / Change Settings / Hardware Acceleration = Full.
  6. To use the settings logoff. You can use the command: shutdown /l (lowercase L)

Enjoy your new settings!

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How to install VMWare Tools in Windows 2008 Server Core

Posted 23 maj 2009 14:15 by Jens Jönsson

If you're running Windows 2008 Server Core on your VMWare ESX system you also need to install VMWare tools as this upgrades drivers etc.

Here's how I did it:

  1. Log in to your Windows 2008 Server Core virtual machine using the administrator account
  2. From your VI client right click the virtual machine and choose: "Install/Upgrade VMWare tools". This will mount the VMWare tools CD in your virtual machine.
  3. From the command line in your VM switch to the CD-drive (D: or what ever drive letter the CD is mounted as).
  4. Run the following command: msiexec /i "d:\VMware Tools.msi" (Remember to substitute d: with correct drive letter)
  5. Click "Next" to start installation
  6. Choose "Typical" and click "Next"
  7. Click "Install" to start installation
  8. Click "OK" when the warning about old Internet Explorer appears
  9. Click "Finish" to finish installation
  10. Click "Yes" to reboot

It's important not to choose any other installation type than "Typical" as the installation will fail....

Another way to mount the VMWare Tools CD is to edit settings for the VM. Under "CD/DVD drive 1", click on "Connected" in "Device Status" and click on "Datastore ISO file" in "Device Type". Browse to local datastore/tools-isoimages and choose the "Windows.iso" file as this contains VMWare tools.

Update:

On vSphere (ESX v4.0) the 32 bit version of the tools are named: VMware Tools.msi 64 bit version of the tools are named: VMware Tools64.msi

 

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