Windows XP guest VM boot delay in BIOS on VMware ESX

by Eddy on

If you are VMware ESX user you must be aware of Windows XP guest VM booting issue that only happens during Windows XP installation.

If you are first time installing Windows XP guest VM on VMware ESX then you will notice instead of booting from CDROM new Windows XP guest VM gets into network boot.Windows XP guest VM gets into network boot because in boot order first boot device needs to be changed to CDROM in BIOS settings. However getting into BIOS isn’t that easy because boot screen splashes too fast that it wouldn’t allow you to interrupt boot process.

In past to delay boot I had to get into Windows XP guest VM configuration file (.vmx) to add BIOS setting. If you are using older version of VMware ESX then can get into Windows XP guest VM .vmx file and using nano or vi editor add following lines , this will allow you to find enough boot delay time so that you can enter guest VM BIOS setting to set CDROM as first boot device:

bios.forceSetupOnce = “TRUE”

bios.bootDelay = “6000″

Where boot delay time is in milliseconds

Next you need to get into BIOS to set the CDROM as first boot device for Windows XP guest VM, you will need to enable CDROM as first boot device if you are using Windows XP ISO image for installation. If you have recently created a new Windows XP or Windows vista VM and you are unable to boot the VM from CDROM then you can fix the problem using this method.

In VMware ESX 3.5 you don’t have to do all these manual changes to enable VM BIOS delay. This enables administrators using VMware ESX 3.5 to get into guest VM BIOS settings right from VMware Infrastructure client by doing few clicks.

Here is how you can enable BIOS boot delay in Windows XP/Windows Vista Guest vm’s in ESX 3.5

1. Select the guest VM in VMware infrastructure and use right click to select Edit Settings:

2. Select option tab and click on Boot options

In boot option change the boot delay time to 2000 or 5000 (milliseconds) ,it says right there that whenever this virtual machine is powered on or reset you can delay the boot for following time period.