vmware booting USB-harddrives workaround

I have installed Ubuntu to my usb disk. And later try to open ubuntu on usb disk from vmware. Vmware could not boot from usb disk. So I attach my usb disk physically to Vmware guest.

Edit preferences
in the hardware tab, delete hard disk
click add
choose hard disk
use physical disk (for advanced user) click next
in the device tab select your usb disk, it is physicaldrive3 for me. You can identify with disconnecting and trying it again.
click next and boot your machine

Bootchart

Bootchart is a tool for performance analysis and visualization of the GNU/Linux boot process.


Get bootchart http://www.bootchart.org/download.html
# bunzip2 bootchart-0.9.tar.bz2
# tar xvf bootchart-0.9.tar
# cd bootchart-0.9
# ./install.sh
# vi /boot/grub/grub.conf
change default=0 which is "title Bootchart logging"
# bootchartd init
# reboot


For compiling image processing
wget ftp://ftp.univie.ac.at/systems/linux/fedora/releases/10/Everything/i386/os/Packages/libgcj-src-4.3.2-7.i386.rpm
rpm -ivh libgcj-src-4.3.2-7.i386.rpm
# yum --disablerepo=\* --enablerepo=alteredupdate,alteredbase,dag install ant.i386


# cd bootchart-0.9
run for java compiling
# ant

Run bootchart to get your image
# java -jar bootchart.jar
Parsing /var/log/bootchart.tgz
Wrote image: ./bootchart.png


Here is my boot process image fedora 10 running on Vmware

Vmware Xp unmountable_boot_volume

vmware server installed in suse linux 9
When we were installing Windows Xp, we got unmountable_boot_volume error.
I converted Xp installation cd to iso image and mount iso image instead of mounting cd

Data Execution Prevention problems

After converting physical machine to VMware virtual machine, I had problems opening display properties. Data execution prevention prevented some features.
Changing settings under system properties --> advanced--> data execution prevention and allowing application did not help.
So I edited boot.ini and disabled DEP via adding /noexecute=AlwaysOff .
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=AlwaysOff

A detailed description of the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) feature in Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, and Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352

Vmware server Fedora 6 installation

I use vmware workstation on my laptop (windows xp). I installed vmware server in Fedora 6 and copy the virtual machine's image files from windows to Fedora 6 linux. This is working.

Install required packages
yum -y install kernel-devel
yum install gcc gcc-c++ xinetd

Install Vmware server
rpm -Uvh VMware-server-1.0.3-44356.i386.rpm

get patch and apply it http://knihovny.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/
tar xzvf vmware-any-any-update114.tar.gz
cd vmware-any-any-update114
./runme.pl

Answer the questions. (Vmware server does not have wireless support. You should bind to ethernet interface)

Updating /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl ... now patched
The file /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmmon.tar that this script was about to
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes] yes

The file /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.tar that this script was about to
install already exists. Overwrite? [yes] yes

"/usr/bin/vmware-config.pl". Do you want this script to invoke the command for
you now? [yes] yes

In which directory do you want to install the mime type icons?
[/usr/share/icons]

What directory contains your desktop menu entry files? These files have a
.desktop file extension. [/usr/share/applications]

In which directory do you want to install the application's icon?
[/usr/share/pixmaps]

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running
kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.22.9-61.fc6/build/include]

Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.
Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes]

Your computer has multiple ethernet network interfaces available: ath0, eth0,
virbr0. Which one do you want to bridge to vmnet0? [eth0] eth0

Do you wish to configure another bridged network? (yes/no) [no] no

Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines? (yes/no)
[yes] yes

What will be the IP address of your host on the private
network? 192.168.2.2


What will be the netmask of your private network? 255.255.255.0

Do you wish to configure another NAT network? (yes/no) [no] no

Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machines?
[yes] yes

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)
[yes]

What will be the IP address of your host on the private
network? 192.168.68.4

What will be the netmask of your private network? 255.255.255.0

Do you wish to configure another host-only network? (yes/no) [no] no

Please specify a port for remote console connections to use [904] 909

In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?
[/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines]

Type XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX or 'Enter' to cancel: ENTER YOUR SERIAL NUMBER (http://register.vmware.com/content/registration.html)

Vmware

Best virtual machine softwere.
I use workstation on my laptop for testing Solaris 10, several Red Hat versions.
We are planning to use Wmware ESX in my company. I am involved in this project.

Best practises about vmware "Using VMware Infrastructure for Backup and Restore" (must see)
And other published articles...