Is it possible to install Slackware 9.0 on WMware 4?
 

I'm wondering if anyone has had any success installing Slackware 9.0 (Guest) on VMWare 4.0.2 running on Windows XP Pro (Host)?

Thanks!

As a follow-up to this question, I was able to install SW9.0 on VMWare 4.0.2; however, I was not able to boot off the VM --initially. I had to boot off the SW9.0 install CD and at 'boot:' type the following:

scsi.s root=/dev/sda2 noinitrd ro

After that, everything boots up and I can go about my business. Being new to Linux, I don't know where to begin... anyone?

Well, I don't know where to begin to tell you where to begin. :) Broad generic answer is read a lot of documentation and come to undersand your basic helps and filesystem and tools. If you had some more specific question, like 'how do I...' maybe we could help more. And maybe your background - if you know DOS or are used to working with a DOS box, the Linux CLI will be a lot easier for you than if not. If you're a Windows guru, understanding certain basic stuff will be applicable or easily translated from one system to the next. And if you don't know anything, you won't have to unlearn anything. Advantages to both. But we can't tell you much without maybe insulting you or flying over your head without more knowledge. :)

Safest answer is type 'mc' at the command line since it's an easy way to flip around through the directory structure just get an overview of what's on your system, maybe combined with reading about the filesystem hierarchy so that you know what you're looking at.

The big problem with installing Slackware, or any Linux for that matter, on VMWare is that, by default, VMWare sets the VM up to use SCSI drives by default when you select "Linux" as the guest OS. Some Linux' handle this alright because their installation kernels are set up to detect SCSI cards and drives and will install just fine but as Slack doesn't have SCSI support built into it's kernel by default (it uses the scsi.s kernel for that as jbrashear pointed out) it can get problematic.

It is possible to install Slackware on a VMWare default Linux VM just use the scsi kernel to install it and when you get to the step where Slack prompts you to install a kernel make absolutely sure the scsi kernel gets copied to the hard disk (From memory you need to select "use the installation boot disks kernel" and then select the scsi one) otherwise your system won't boot properly.

An easier method by far is to tell VMWare that you're installing a Windows of some sort (so that it'll put IDE drives in the VM) and then just install Slackware anyway. That way you'll be able to use the default bare.i kernel and won't have any of the weird module behaviour that can come from using a different kernel.

I type the command scsi.s root=/dev/sda2 noinitrd ro
Then This came out at the end
VFS:Cannot open root device "sda2" or 8:02
Please append a correct "root="boot option
Kernel panic : Unable to mount root fs on 8:02

Cross thread chaos! :)

Like I say, you might try sda1 for root, since I think that's what it actually is. But LSD and jbrashear seem to know what's going on, so maybe they know better.

This is very good, I have been around but couldn't see a trick like LSD's thanks man and keep up the good work. :)

LSD - "(From memory you need to select "use the installation boot disks kernel" and then select the scsi one) otherwise your system won't boot properly."

This may do the trick -- I selected the scsi kernal from the install CD.

I may have spoken too soon -- I don't see, "From memory you need to select 'use the installation boot disks kernel'". I get to "INSTALL LINUX KERNEL" and I have these choices:

bootdisk, cdrom, floppy, skip (use the default /boot/vmlinuz)

Any ideas? Again, I am using SW9.0...

Is there any reason why my "boot file" (sorry don't know the details of Linux boot mechanism or terminology) could be looking at /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/sda2? My first partition is the swap...

When I boot from the VM, it just sits there with a black screen and does nothing.

When I boot from the installCD and put, "scsi.s root=/dev/sda2 noinitrd ro", I am explicitly putting "sda2". it boot without any issues..?

Okay, everyone is probably sick of me replying to my own question, but need to think out loud on this one.

What file contains the device/partition to look for the 'root' filesystem when booting in Linux. I am going to go look through the documentatio, but just curious. Is this LILO or whatever I selected?

Obviously, my memory wasn't as good as I thought it was :p

Anyway, checking my Slackware VM, you need to pick cdrom and then, from the list, pick the scsi.s kernel. That should get you up and running.

Hmmm.. did that and no luck. That is what brought me to booting from the installCD and then explicitly telling it where to boot on the VM. Oh well.. I will keep looking.

Thanks!

Well I finally got this to work -- major user error. I didn't mark the main partition as bootable - DUH! Anyways, SW9.0 seems to work fine on VMWare 4.x.

Sounds like you got the install worked out. But for those that want to use the bare.i kernel, I have found that if you change the scsi drive to an ide drive it works wonderfully. That way there is no problem with picking the wrong kernel at install time or at least it minimizes problems (I think :D )

Good luck

I just installed Slacware 9 on VMWare 4.0.2. I did notice right away the default SCSI virtual disk and changed it to IDE. It was out of instinct I guess. :D Now I just have to get the vmware tools installed.

UPDATE: I got the vmware-tools installed by going through the following instructions found on this site:

http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~jbyrne/vmware.htm

For version 4.0.2, some of the vmware file names have changed but the steps still apply.

Example: vmware-config.pl is now vmware-config-tools.pl

The --compile option still works.

Hello,

I am also having the same problem. I followed the advice here, and changed to IDE mode in the Guest OS Setup wizard, then installed slackware 9.1, everything went fine, up until after the install,when you reboot, I get the black screen with the underscore in the top left everyone talks about. I made the partition bootable, so im stuck as to what else to do.

Installing Slackware9.1 on VMWare
 

I got it to install by the following steps -

* boot: scsi.s
* fdisk /dev/sda
* select 'n' followed by 'p' then selected the defaults
* select 'w' which saves the settings
* cfdisk
* make sure sda has boot selected
* setup
* addswap
* selected the packages
* I chose the menu install
* Select a kernel from CDROM and choose the 'scsi.s/bzImage' kernel.
* skip a bootdisk
* no modem
* enable hotplug
* install simple lilo
* install LILO in the MBR

You will get a few more options which are self explanatory like choosing a window manager.

This worked for me.

So how did anyone set the partition to bootable?

I am stuck at a black screen, for some reason the system won't boot to the CD.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Re-install slack 9.1 and set /dev/hda2 to bootable but still BSD(black screen of death) ;)

This is nice. Keep plugging away.

When u plug u fill holes.

Fixed my install by setting lilo up in MBR, I guess I used something else in the past.

FYI: You can setup the VM with IDE by using the linux option, on the last screen there is an advanced button which will let you pick wether to use IDE or SCSI (instead of using a Windows OS option).

I have installed slackware12.1 on vmware. I did kernel recompiling for vmware device drivers, after new kernel compilation, there is no modules listed on lsmod.

Desktop : windows xp
Vmware Server console 1.0.1
Guest OS : slackware 12.1

Here is the list of lspci command:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 01)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 0
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 0
00:0f.0 VGA compatible controller: VMware Inc Abstract SVGA II Adapter
00:10.0 SCSI storage controller: BusLogic BT-946C (BA80C30) [MultiMaster 10] (rev 01)
00:11.0 Ethernet controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] 79c970 [PCnet32 LANCE] (rev 10)


I have enabled
Device Drivers -> Network Device Support -> Ethernet (10 or 100 ) -> AMD (PCnet32 lance)

But problem is there is no modules lists on lsmod command

Please help me

regards
geetha

This thread is from 2003 with a completely different VMware version together with a completely different version of Slackware. Slackware 9.0 and 12.1 are TOTALLY different. 9.0 uses the 2.4 kernel, while 12.1 uses the 2.6 kernel. VMware is also probably a lot different now. In addition, you already have a thread about the same problem here where people have tried to help you, but you're not helping us help you.

May I ask WHY you need to recompile the kernel? I would think it should work just fine in VMware without the need to recompile. If you're just recompiling the kernel for the learning experience, that's perfectly fine and I will help you with it. However, if you're just trying to get it to work in the first place, I don't think a recompile is even needed.

As for the missing modules, I already responded in the other thread, but you felt the need to start posting in a new thread instead of responding in that one. For a good guide on compiling the kernel, see here. You haven't told us what you have done in this thread or the other one, so it's literally impossible to help you. Help us help you. My guess would be that when you compiled the kernel, you missed out the `make modules_install` step (or maybe the `make modules` step...it's hard to tell with so little information) or maybe if you're compiling the same kernel version as the default kernel that comes with Slackware you've half-overwritten the /lib/modules/2.6.24.5 directory -- but I can't be sure. When I asked you what kernel version you are compiling, you gave an answer which was then different in a subsequent post, and I'm not sure if you're compiling the same version that ships with Slackware or not. You should post the output of `uname -a` and `ls -l /lib/modules/$(uname -r)` if you want help.

Also, do you know for sure that VMware uses the PCnet32 driver for networking, for example? I haven't used VMware, but I would assume that it presents a fake ethernet card to the guest OS, so it wouldn't matter what card you have in YOUR system but instead which card VMware emulates. The PCnet32 driver is compiled as a module in the default kernel anyway, so I'm still confused as to why you need to compile a kernel.

Your missing modules trouble *may* be as simple as running `depmod -a`, but not knowing what you've done prevents me from saying that conclusively.

Thanks for your response and your clear explanation.

Here is my kernel recompiling steps,

I have installed below kernel packages with slackware 12.1

kernel-headers-2.6.24.5-x86-2
kernel-huge-2.6.24.5-i486-2
kernel-huge-smp-2.6.24.5_smp-i686-2
kernel-modules-2.6.24.5-i486-2
kernel-source-2.6.24.5_smp-noarch-2

make mrproper
make menuconfig
make -j3 bzImage
make -j3 modules
make modules_install
cp System.map /boot/System.mapnew
cp .config /boot/confignew
cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuznew
mv /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz-old


/etc/lilo.conf
vga=normal
lba32
compact

image = /boot/vmlinuznew
root = /dev/sda2
label = linux_new
read-only

image = /boot/vmlinuz-old
root = /dev/sda2
label = linux_old
read-only

/sbin/lilo -v

cd /boot
rm System.map
rm config
rm vmlinuz

I was explained my kernel recompiling error clearly on the last thread, but i didnt get any solution, so that i have posted new thread.. I have installed guest OS ie Slackware 12.1 on vmware, some of the vmware device drivers havent set so i tried to recompile the same kernel version for vmware drivers while getting from lspci command I am not updating the kernel version, just recompile the same kernel version. I think so, compiling the same kernel version as the default kernel that comes with Slackware you've half-overwritten the /lib/modules/2.6.24.5 directory. Can you suggest me, if we recompile the same kernel need extra configuration? I am new to kernel compilation and slackware os too.. Please help me

Here is the output before recompiling the kernel,

root@ang189:~# uname -a
Linux ang189 2.6.24.5 #2 Wed Apr 30 14:13:52 CDT 2008 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 4400 @ 2.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

root@ang189:~# ls -l /lib/modules/2.6.24.5
total 1560
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 2008-06-05 15:12 build -> /usr/src/linux-2.6.24.5/
drwxr-xr-x 9 root root 4096 2008-05-01 00:32 kernel/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 355685 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.alias
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 69 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.ccwmap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 320901 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.dep
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 813 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.ieee1394map
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 451 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.inputmap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17945 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.isapnpmap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 74 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.ofmap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 262543 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.pcimap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1177 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.seriomap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 141271 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.symbols
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 440924 2008-05-01 00:32 modules.usbmap
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 2008-06-05 15:12 source -> /usr/src/linux-2.6.24.5/


Thanks in advance
Geetha

Your `uname -a` output suggests that you're using the huge kernel and not the huge-smp kernel. I would recommend trying out the huge-smp kernel instead, since it is generally more supported. I can't verify whether everything works or not in VMware since I haven't used it, but I would still recommend trying out the huge-smp kernel anyway. Edit your /etc/lilo.conf and add the following stanza:
Then see how well it works (after running /sbin/lilo, of course). Since you are recompiling the same kernel version included with Slackware, you may have overwritten /lib/modules/2.6.24.5 (or /lib/modules/2.6.24.5-smp). I would recommend reinstalling the kernel modules packages. Mount the install media or download kernel-modules-2.6.24.5-i486-2.tgz and kernel-modules-smp-2.6.24.5_smp-i686-2.tgz from a mirror (they are located in the a/ series). Then, you should boot into runlevel 1 by typing `telinit 1`. This disables most services that may impact the reinstallation of the package. Then login as root and type the following:
Then return to runlevel 3 by typing `telinit 3`. Your system will now be restored to its original form. You should probably reboot the system at this point, and reboot into the HugeSMP kernel. If you're lucky, everything will work. Likely it won't, but at least you'll know the state of your system. The reason I recommend the SMP kernel over the non-SMP kernel is because the existing kernel sources are built around the SMP kernel, and require a patch to be set up for the non-SMP kernel. Although this can be done as well, the SMP kernel generally supports more hardware (and I would assume that means virtual hardware as well), and so it's probably a better choice.

Your kernel compilation steps look fine. One thing I will mention though -- since you're compiling the same kernel version that ships with Slackware, /lib/modules/2.6.24.5 (or /lib/modules/2.6.24.5-smp, depending on the configuration file you use) may get overwritten. To prevent this, you should set the LOCALVERSION option to "custom" (or another tag, as long as it isn't smp). This way, /lib/modules/2.6.24.5-custom will be created when you run `make modules_install`, and so you won't have to worry about overwriting anything.

Thanks for your timely response.

I will try and let me know.

Thanks
geetha