How to install MS-DOS 6.22 under VMWare ESX part 3

Here comes another post concerning the configuration of a MS-DOS virtual machine in a VMWare ESX environment. In the first two post I explained how to install the VM and how to idle the CPU. In this post I will detail the steps to configure a cd-rom and set-up a mouse.

Let's start with configuring the cd-rom. Click on this link and download the iso file containing the drivers you are going to need.

The iso image contains:

• DOSIdle tool 
• Microsoft Network Client 3.0 
• Network card driver for AMD PCNET cards (NDIS2/NDIS3) 
• CD-ROM driver 
• Sound driver for SoundBlaster 16 
• Super VGA driver patch 
• WQGHLT tool 
• Y2K Update for File Manager 
• Euro support 

 Using WinImage extract the CDROM folder and successively inject it in a new floppy disk image (.flp).

Mount the new floppy and run install.exe from the command line:

How to install MS-DOS 6.22 under VMWare ESX part 2

Once you have gone through the first post which explained how to install MS-DOS in a virtual machine, you should immediately see the processor of the VM spike up and stay at 100% usage all the time. At this moment the ESX also is suffering from MS-DOS being unable to idle its CPU activity.

Processor activity for a MS-DOS virtual machine just after installation

ESX processor being overloaded by the MS-DOS virtual machine

The solution to this evident incompatibility resides in a small file named dosidle.exe. This file can be easily found on the Internet. Once you have it, use WinImage to make a flp disk image and inject this file in it. The others file are unnecessary so don't copy them. Mount the flp image and copy the executable to the C: drive with the following command (it's case insensitive, as it always was in Microsoft world):

COPY A:\DOSIDLE.EXE C:

Then edit the autoexec.bat and add this line at the end of it:

C:\DOSIDLE.EXE

Dosidle.exe configuration and initialization

Reboot the VM or just run C:\DOSIDLE.EXE. You will see the CPU usage dramatically dropping.

No further action is required to solve this issue.

I hope this post helped. Stay tuned for more about running MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in a virtual machine.

How to install MS-DOS 6.22 under VMWare ESX

This post is a time machine. It will take you back to more or less fifteen years ago, when MS-DOS was the most popular operating system. In this post I will in fact describe how to configure and run a basic MS-DOS 6.22 installation in a VMWare ESX environment. Maybe in a later post I will explain you how to configure networking and upgrade to Windows 3.1.

First of all you have to set up a new VM configured for instance as follow:

 - memory: 64 MB

 - 1 proc (if you have slow performance, check this out)

 - 1 hdd with let's say 512 MB

 - set the OS to Windows 3.1

Once your VM is ready, you have to find the images of the three MS-DOS floppy disks. And I can tell you this is not easily done. Once you have downloaded them (in .imz, .img, or .ima extension), you have to convert them to flp files (.flp) with WinImage.

At this point upload them with your sftp client to a datastore on the ESX and map your floppy drive to the first file (ie dos6.22_disk1.flp). Power on the VM and follow the instructions as shown in the following snapshots.

How to find the full path of a file stuck in DFSR backlog

In this post I will describe the method I use to find the full path of a file replicated using Windows DFSR. Usually, I use this method when I have one or more files stuck in the backlog. As you have have probably discovered, issuing the command DFSRDIAG BACKLOG will output the list of the files currently being replicated by the replication engine:

DFSRDIAG BACKLOG /sendingmember:member1 /rgname:dfsr_replica /rfname:data_to_replicate /verbose
[INFO] Computer Name: member1
[INFO] Computer DNS: member1.yourdomain.com
[INFO] Domain Name: yourdomain
[INFO] Domain DNS: yourdomain.com
[INFO] Site Name: site1
[INFO] Computer Name: member1
[INFO] Computer DNS: member1.yourdomain.com
[INFO] Domain Name: yourdomain
[INFO] Domain DNS: yourdomain.com
[INFO] Site Name: site1
[INFO] Connected to WMI services on computer: member1.yourdomain.com
[INFO] Issuing query: SELECT * FROM DfsrReplicationGroupConfig WHERE ReplicationGroupName="dfsr_replica"
[INFO] Found DfsrReplicationGroupConfig object, guid: 494C997F-4E2A-4392-BC69-27E9E6757BA0
[INFO] Issuing query: SELECT * FROM DfsrReplicatedFolderConfig WHERE ReplicationGroupGuid="494C997F-4E2A-4392-BC69-27E9E6757BA0" AND ReplicatedFolderName="data_to_replicate"
[INFO] Found DfsrReplicatedFolderConfig object, guid: 0569B726-2B9H-4DB4-B09F-219217670980
[INFO] Object Path: DfsrReplicatedFolderInfo.ReplicatedFolderGuid="0569B726-2B9H-4DB4-B09F-219217670980"
[INFO] Invoke GetVersionVector() method on member1.yourdomain.com
[INFO] Connected to WMI services on computer: member1.yourdomain.com
[INFO] Invoke GetOutboundBacklogFileCount() method on member1.yourdomain.com
[INFO] Invoke GetOutboundBacklogFileIdRecords() method on member1.yourdomain.com

Member  Backlog File Count: 3
Backlog File Names (first 3 files)
     1. File name: file1.txt
     2. File name: file2.docx
     3. File name: file3.html

[INFO] Execution Time: 0 seconds
Operation Succeeded

The problem here is that if you, like me, have tens or hundreds of files with the same filename but in different locations, you won't be able to tell which is the full path of the file stuck in the backlog. For instance, in the output shown above, file1.txt is stuck there from many weeks.

To find out the path of the parent folder, the following actions must be performed.

Unofficial Intel Ivy Bridge CPU Datasheet

As you might have heard, Ivy Bridge is the codename for Intel's 22 nm die shrink of the Sandy Bridge (32 mm) microarchitecture based on tri-gate ("3D") transistors.

Ivy Bridge will probably be available on Aprile 29th, 2012.

So, for those of you who are curious to know more about this evolution of the Sandy Bridge architecture, here's the unofficial datasheet of the Ivy Bridge processors:

Processor	Socket	Normal CPU clock rate	Turbo CPU clock rate	Cores	Power
Core i3-3220	H2 - LGA1155	3.30 GHz	-	2	55W
Core i3-3220T	H2 - LGA1155	2.80 GHz	-	2	35W
Core i3-3225	H2 - LGA1155	3.30 GHz	-	2	55W
Core i3-3240	H2 - LGA1155	3.40 GHz	-	2	55W
Core i3-3240T	H2 - LGA1155	3.00 GHz	-	2	35W
Core i5-3330	H2 - LGA1155	3.00 GHz	3.20 GHz	4	77W
Core i5-3330S	H2 - LGA1155	2.70 GHz	3.20 GHz	4	65W
Core i5-3450	H2 - LGA1155	3.10 GHz	3.50 GHz	4	77W
Core i5-3470	H2 - LGA1155	3.20 GHz	3.60 GHz	4	77W
Core i5-3470S	H2 - LGA1155	3.10 GHz	3.80 GHz	4	65W
Core i5-3470T	H2 - LGA1155	2.80 GHz	3.50 GHz	2	35W
Core i5-3475S	H2 - LGA1155	2.90 GHz	3.60 GHz	4	65W
Core i5-3550	H2 - LGA1155	3.30 GHz	3.70 GHz	4	77W
Core i5-3550S	H2 - LGA1155	3.00 GHz	3.70 GHz	4	65W
Core i5-3570	H2 - LGA1155	3.40 GHz	3.80 GHz	4	77W
Core i5-3570K	H2 - LGA1155	3.40 GHz	3.80 GHz	4	77W
Core i5-3570S	H2 - LGA1155	3.10 GHz	3.80 GHz	4	65W
Core i5-3570T	H2 - LGA1155	2.30 GHz	3.30 GHz	4	45W
Core i7-3770	H2 - LGA1155	3.40 GHz	3.90 GHz	4	77W
Core i7-3770K	H2 - LGA1155	3.50 GHz	3.90 GHz	4	77W
Core i7-3770S	H2 - LGA1155	3.10 GHz	3.90 GHz	4	65W
Core i7-3770T	H2 - LGA1155	2.50 GHz	3.70 GHz	4	45W

For more information on Ivy Bridge, have a look at this article.

Running Windows 8 on vSphere 5

If you want to install the recently released Windows 8 Consumer Preview in your vSphere 5 test lab, there is a simple method to get your guest OS up and running even though it is not listed as being supported on VMWare website.

First of all install patch ESXi500-201112001 (patch02), which you can download from the VMWare patch repository here. 

Note: If you didn’t install the patch the following blue screen will appear when booting from the Windows 8 ISO file (woah, it looks like at Microsoft they have hired a new blue screen designer!!):

Windows 8 Consumer Preview blue screen

The warning message will say:

"Your computer ran into a problem and needs to restart.
If you’d like to know more, you can search online later for this code: HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
It’s collecting error info and will restart in: 0 seconds"

OK, once you have installed patch02, go and get the Windows 8 installation files, which are available in 32-bit and 64 bit version. Here's the link to download them:

• 32 bits
• 64 bits

Now create a VM and tell vSphere it will be a ‘Windows 7' guest OS. Then remove the VM from you inventory, browse to the vmx configuration file and add one of the following lines (the one that applies to your ISO installation file):

• guestOS = "windows8srv-32"

• guestOS = "windows8srv-64"

Once you have saved your modified vmx file, you have to re-add it manually with the datastore browser which will generate a new 'inventory ID'.

Alternatively your can reload the vmx straight away from the shell, without having to removing it from the inventory. Here's the procedure:

• Open a ssh session to the ESXi
• Run the following command to get the 'inventory ID' of the virtual machine:

• vim-cmd /vmsvc/getallvms | grep vmname

• Take note of the Inventory ID of the VM and run the following command to reload the vmx file:

• vim-cmd vmsvc/reload vmid

Please, let me a comment or click on the ‘google+’ button to let me know if this post was helpful!