Vista - How to install windows NT 4.0 to microsoft VM 7 sp1

I have browsed the forums but cannot find a solution.

Allocated 64RAM and 6 gig of memory (had tried 8 before but that had the
same problem, tried lower amount based on some forum suggestions).

When I start the virtual machine it goes to the MS DOS 6.22 start up menu
and allows me to select boot from CD but then goes straight into dos A:\>. I
have no idea how to install NT from dos prompt and have no idea why it goes
to A: as I only have a cd drive at E:.

I am running xp on a gateway mx6931 laptop. If I load the cd in XP it
autoplays without problem, so it is not a problem with the CD. At a loss as
to what to do, have tried to solve for a day..to no avail.

Please help this is urgent as I need NT to use old work software. Of course
all my issues started by trying to "upgrade" to VISTA!

Very new to virtual machines so please keep responses basic

On Sat, 8 Nov 2008 22:19:01 -0800, David
<David@xxxxxx> wrote:
If I remember correctly the NT4 installation *always* started from the
3 floppies one can create from the CD.

There is somewhere on the CD a floppy section with a small program
that creates 3 boot floppies from images stored on the CD. You need to
make these first, then attach the first floppy so it is seen by the
virtual machine and then reset the virtual machine.
Now the VM will boot up from the floppy and load drivers, then ask for
floppy #2 etc.
At the end it will flip over to the CD (which you also must have
available to the VM) and continue installation from there.

I cannot verify the location of the floppies on the CD anymore (did
not keep these CD:s), but here is a link to some info:
http://www.wilsonmar.com/1wntins.htm

When you say you have assigned "6 gig of memory" I hope you are not
talking about RAM but hard disk size, right? There was an 8G limit on
NT4 Workstation for the installation *partition* when installing. But
you can have a larger disk and partition the remaining part as a
bigger secondary hard disk.

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

Thanks I will give that a try....I assume there will be a method to make
"floppies" on a cd. The floppy external broke ages ago.


"Bo Berglund" wrote:

I think I may be out of my league trying to do this....but I downloaded a
program called Virtual Floppy Drive and downloaded 3 windows NT .exe programs
which I assume are the 3 floppys I have to create. Using the virtual floppy
program I have created an "a: drive". When I click the nt4wrk1.exe file it
creates a "makedisk" icon, when I click this it says insert floppy into A:.
Of course I can't insert anything into a: as it is virtual. Any clue how to
make the program think there is a floppy?

Thanks!

"David" <David@xxxxxx> �ообщил/�ообщила в ново�т�х �ледующее: news:AEC63CDB-19D4-4B75-9E38-700A41269BD5@xxxxxx
I would try to find a desktop computer with floppy drive and some imaging application like WinImage. Create the floppy there and make it's image. Then rename the resulting files to *.vfd

But first of all, I would try to open nt4wrk#.exe's with archiver like WinRar to see if it is just a self-expanding archive, containing disk image and utility to write it inside. If you see some 1 474 560 bytes file, it is the floppy image for your VM.

It sounds like you are booting from something different than the NT4
CD. (The NT4 install CD doesn't boot DOS)

Bo had it a bit wrong, as NT4 CD's can be booted from if it's a true
install CD, so I'm not sure where the DOS could be coming from. The
reason for the install floppies was if your computer couldn't boot off
of the CD at all. (back then, not all PC's could.)

I'd make sure you have the proper install media as the first thing to
check.

--
Bob Comer



On Sat, 8 Nov 2008 22:19:01 -0800, David
<David@xxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:39:43 -0500, Robert Comer
<bobcomer-removeme-@xxxxxx> wrote:
Yes, that is probably the case. We did not have PC:s with bootable
CD-ROM drives back then...
So I was used to these floppies. We did have bootable floppy drives
though....

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

Ok, this is what I thought. If I just put the cd in the drive while xp is
running on my computer, the cd boots via autoplay and I could install from
the cd if I wanted to erase XP...but of course I don't want to do that. So I
think this means it is the right media...correct?

The problem is with the virtual machine as I only want to use one program
with NT. When I create the virtual machine there is no operating system and
when I start the machine with the NT cd in the drive, it allows me to select
the CD but then it goes straight into dos at the A: prompt. Really I would
like to know how to get NT to autoplay with no existing os in the virtual
machine. I suppose I could load xp in the virtual machine and then load NT
over it via autoplay. Anybody have a clue if that would work?

ST, won't be able to go looking for a floppy for a couple of days but will
try that if all else fails.

thanks

"Robert Comer" wrote:

On Sun, 9 Nov 2008 09:23:01 -0800, David
<David@xxxxxx> wrote:
You are better off running from an ISO image of he CD!
Do the following:

1) Download WinImage (www.winimage.com)
2) Put your NT install CD in the drive and exit from autoplay
3) Start WinImage and select the menu: Disk/Create CDROM ISO image
4) Enter a path to where you would like to put the ISO image. (C:\VPC)
5) Let Winimage create the file, takes a few minutes.
6) Eject the CD from the drive.

Now start VPC2007 and the guest virtual machine you have trouble with.
Go to the menu item CD/Capture ISO image and navigate to the newly
created ISO image from above.
Then use the menu Action/Reset to restart the guest

Now it should boot from the CD ISO and you can go on...

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

>Ok, this is what I thought. If I just put the cd in the drive while xp isNo, it doesn't mean that unfortunately, autoplay and autoboot are two
different things. however, I haven't seen an NT4 CD that couldn't
boot yet, so that may not be the problem.

A better way to check if it's a real boot CD is to try booting your
host PC with it, just make sure to cancel on the screen that says do
you want to install, and make sure it's NT4 that's booting.
You shouldn't be getting an A: prompt, that the problem, it really
should be booting the NT4 install if it's an NT4 install CD.

--
Bob Comer






On Sun, 9 Nov 2008 09:23:01 -0800, David
<David@xxxxxx> wrote: