[an error occurred while processing this directive] Technical Notes - Setting Up a Windows 2000 Virtual Machine Using an Existing Dual- or Multi-Boot Installation on Computers with ACPI Features [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]
 
Setting Up a Windows 2000 Virtual Machine Using an Existing Dual- or Multi-Boot Installation on Computers with ACPI Features

The Windows 2000 kernel supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management (ACPI), the new power management interface that is replacing APM.

If you have installed Windows 2000 on a computer with ACPI features and then try to set up a VMware Workstation virtual machine running from a raw disk, this can cause VMware Workstation to crash with an error "Error CPL0 Stack, Shutdown" or with "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE."


Source of the Problem

This problem is most likely to affect laptop computers but may also affect some newer ACPI-capable desktop computers.

The actual computer hardware supports ACPI, while the virtual machine environment does not. The ACPI HAL that was installed automatically when Windows 2000 was installed on the computer will not run in the virtual environment within VMware Workstation. (The HAL, or hardware abstraction layer, is the low-level part of the Windows 2000 operating system that is specific to the hardware it is running on.)


Determining Whether This Affects You

To find out whether you have an ACPI HAL installed on your computer, check the properties of the HAL.DLL file.

  1. Change to the directory that contains the HAL.DLL file.
    cd c:\winnt\system32
    where c: is the drive letter where your winnt directory resides. Use a different drive letter to match your configuration, if necessary.

  2. Locate the HAL.DLL file. Right-click the file name and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

  3. Click the Version tab, then click Internal Name.

  4. If the internal name is HALACPI.DLL, this problem affects you.

There is a separate power management issue that can affect a virtual machine with a Windows 2000 guest operating systems running from a virtual disk. That issue is documented in this tech note.


What You Can Do

If you have the ACPI HAL installed, VMware recommends that you install your Windows 2000 guest operating system in a virtual disk, rather than running it from a raw disk. If you install Windows 2000 from scratch into a virtual machine, then the correct HAL is automatically installed.

If you do want to run a Windows 2000 guest operating system from a raw disk, you can resolve the HAL issue by installing two HALs on the computer. One will be the ACPI HAL that is already there; the other will be the standard, non-ACPI HAL. You can then choose which HAL to run at boot time.

These configuration changes should be undertaken only by advanced users of Windows 2000. It is possible to cause your computer to fail to boot or otherwise misbehave if the changes are done improperly.

To do this you will need a Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM.

The following steps apply to Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows 2000 Advanced Server.

  1. Shut down your host operating system and boot Windows 2000 natively.

  2. Open a command prompt.

  3. Insert your Windows 2000 installation CD in the CD-ROM drive.

  4. Extract the uniprocessor HAL.DLL along with NTOSKRNL.EXE and rename the extracted files as follows:
    expand D:\I386\HAL.DL_ C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\VMHAL.DLL
    expand D:\I386\NTOSKRNL.EX_ C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\VMOSKRNL.EXE
    where D: is the drive letter used by your CD-ROM drive and C: is where your WINNT directory resides. Change the drive letters to match your configuration, if necessary.

    Note: Be sure to expand the files to the file names starting with VM to avoid overwriting any existing system files.

  5. Change the file attributes of your \boot.ini file to make it writable.
    attrib c:\boot.ini -s -h -r

  6. Open the boot.ini file in a text editor such as Notepad. In the next several steps, you will add a new option to the configuration selection screen that appears as Windows 2000 boots. At the end of this document are samples of a boot.ini file before and after these modifications.

  7. Copy the line that begins with default= and paste it at the end of the file.

  8. Modify the line that you copied, deleting default= and giving it a clear description that indicates you will use this configuration with VMware Workstation. For example, Windows 2000 Professional Virtual Machine (or whatever matches the Windows version you are using).

  9. Add the following to the end of the new line:
    /KERNEL=VMOSKRNL.EXE /HAL=VMHAL.DLL

  10. Save the boot.ini file.

  11. Restore its attributes to the original ones.
    attrib boot.ini +s +h +r

  12. Shut down and boot into your host operating system.

  13. Start VMware Workstation and boot the virtual machine using the new selection you added to the boot.ini file.


Sample boot.ini Files

Note: The lines in boot.ini should not wrap. Each line in the [operating systems] section of these samples begins with multi(0).

Sample boot.ini before modifications:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server" /fastdetect

Sample boot.ini file after modifications:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server Virtual Machine" /fastdetect /KERNEL=VMOSKRNL.EXE /HAL=VMHAL.DLL

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