OS/2 in VMware Workstation ...

[neohal]

Hi ...

Does anybody knows if OS/2 run in VMware Workstation ?

I have OS/2 e-business Server version installed in some machines and I would like to know if I can install it in a workstation with VMware WorkStation or GSX ...

Thx ...

[KevinG]

Hi

Unfortunately OS/2 is not a supported guest OS and there are no VMware Tools available for this OS.

You can always give it a try

[devzero]

hello !

afaik, vmware doesn`t support OS/2 as a guest and it probably isn`t even worth spending time on trying OS/2 with that (there isn`t even "experimental" support!?)

see

http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/common/guest_os2_exp.html

you may take a look at M$ virtual pc or parallels workstation, which are products similar to vmware. at least for parallels i can tell, that you can boot OS/2 with that.

regards

roland

[CrendKing]

you may take a look at M$ virtual pc or parallels

workstation, which are products similar to vmware. at

least for parallels i can tell, that you can boot

OS/2 with that.

MS Virtual PC does support OS/2. Unfortunately that this seems to be one area where MS outshines VMWare :smileysad:

https://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=268462&#268462

[pillicht]

it's a tragedy - the answers are correct or helpful but not these one right.

in this forum(s) your aren't find the enthusiasts which are give very useful hints and tips, unfortunately.

that's here's the normal world

[DaveP]

There are plenty of enthusiasts giving tips here. But it isn't possible to run OS2 on VMware. There was someone who claimed it would work on WS 3 several years ago, but no progress using and undocumented features has allowed it to run on any recent version.

Dave

[petr]

Are you sure? This should work... http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=12572. You may have to run with debugging disabled.

[DaveP]

Oops forgot about that. What about WS 5.5 etc.? There was another way on the web which I won't descibe as it involved hacking the license keys.

Dave

[petr]

Oops, forgot about that. You need special license...

[Cmpeng]

I currently have OS/2 Warp 3 working on VMware 5.5.1

It takes about 5 minutes to boot (most likely due to my VM settings) but needless to say it boots. The only problem now is to find drivers for the VM virtual ethernet adapter.

[martyfelker]

It's pretty amazing that you got OS/2 Warp 3 to work under VMware WS 5.5.1. Any chance you could send a bit more information for the memories of a great OS that was abandoned by IBM?

Regardless, I remember the outrage when VMware removed even experimental support for OS/2. The experimental support did seem to work as far back as I can remember - but I think it was WS 2.x or perhaps 3.x. This was when there was no forum - only email lists. The reasons given were the amount of programming time vs the economic return. I've thrown out my Warp diskettees and CD-ROM. I had a fair amount of softtware for it, even the original start (roots) of Object Desktop. The boot manager worked great and I installed 3 or perhaps even 4 OS's on a machine. But its not worth my time (even if I still had the software) and money to buy the M$ version of its virtualized software.

[Cmpeng]

Well really I didn't do anything out of the ordinary for installing OS/2 Warp 3 or atleast I don't think I did.

I created a new VM selecting "Typical' for the VM configuration, followed by 'Other' for the operating system and 'Other' for the version. I enable Legacy Emulation for the CD-Rom drive.

The only problems I've experienced during the install was to NOT install network support. When I did, the install hung and I had to restart the process.

Here's a screenshot:

http://www.advernet.ca/os2/os2_3.JPG

[jgswinkels]

Great !!!!

I have used OS/2 Warp for more than 2 years as OS under Lotus Notes Server. Never one issue \!!! OS/2 was stable and fast.

Unfortunatly I had to swap from IPX to TCP/IP and IBM was not able to help me within 2 hours for a solution of my problem.

I reformatted the disk and installed NT4 on server -> TCP/IP by default.

2 days later I received a brocure from 06-software reseller -> Warp Connect ! = OS/2 Warp incl. TCP/IP

This was too late for my solution.

4 days later support call from IBM Technical Center -> "You called us, what was your question".

grrrrrrr %$#@^$#%@&#

bye bye OS/2 Warp :-(((

Cheers,

Jan

[kingneutron]

--Guys, guys... OS/2 is Certifiably Dead. D-E-D Dead. It was shot thru the heart somewhere back around 1998-99. Trust me, I used to use it up until Win98 came out, and then Linux really started gathering momentum and usability.

--OS/2 config.sys would barf if you put a SPACE before an REM statement. That alone, plus the incredible lack of interest/support from IBM, lack of \[ drivers, applications and development ] put a permanent end to my OS/2 Warp days. I switched to Linux, fooled around a bit with Free- and Open-BSD, purchased Vmware Workstation 3, and never looked back. :smileywink: IBM doesn't even use it on their MAINFRAME config terminals anymore.

--Yes, it was a decent multitasking OS with some interesting features (it did Win 3.1 better than MS did, arguably - and LOOKIE, I can format a floppy while doing $blah!) but there's a time to Let Go and Mov On...

[Cmpeng]

Hi guys just want to give you a little update on my progress.

I've encountered a problem with my CD-Rom drive functionality; whether it's attributed to the OS/2 side or VMware I'm not entirely sure.

Basically, the problem occurs during the base OS/2 installion. Shortly after MPTS is installed the system has to reboot and attempts to continue network support installation. However, after rebooting, CD-Rom support is gone. OS/2 doesn't detect the CD-Rom drive at all and thus you get several errors about not being about to find srvrexx.exe on your CD and the install hangs.

Anyone have a clue why I'm losing CD-Rom functionality half way through my installation? Furthermore, any advice on how to fix the problem?

Side Note: If do perform the base installation without network support, the installation completes. However, upon booting into the OS and checking which drives are available one notices that CD-Rom functionality is again not available.

This is really throwing me for a loop since the CD-Rom works perfectly until the machine has to reboot during installation or at the end.

[OrelseIamfired]

Cmpeng,

I lost interest in computers a few years ago, and I used to be able to provide good direction for problems like this, but now I shall have to go by an installation that I have here, and by vague recollection. Can you get to an OS/2 command line so that you can look at CONFIG.SYS? When OS/2 is trying to reboot, do you get a text screen that has a rectangular character at the upper-left corner with the characters 'OS/2' beside it? If so, when that screen appears, trying pressing Alt-F1 to see if you can get to a command line. There was also a way to get to a command line by booting from the installation diskettes.

Look to see if you have these in CONFIG.SYS -- the order might be important.

IFS = HPFS.IFS

IFS = CDFS.IFS

BASEDEV = IBMIDECD.FLT

DEVICE = OS2CDROM.DMD

DEVICE = VCDROM.SYS

/ Louis

[Cmpeng]

I'm working on re-installing a bootable copy in VMware again so that I can post my config.sys file here shortly. In the meanwhile, does anyone know if VMware 'hides' the true type of CD-Rom you are using?

i.e. Does VMware emulate your physical CD-Rom (say Sony) and make it available as some generic CD-Rom? Maybe the solution is as easy as having the CD-Rom drivers installed as well during base installation.

[Cmpeng]

Here's a copy of the config.sys once I got the machine booted.

IFS=C:\OS2\HPFS.IFS /CACHE:64 /CRECL:4

PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE

SET USER_INI=C:\OS2\OS2.INI

SET SYSTEM_INI=C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI

SET OS2_SHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE

SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS,CONNECTIONS,LAUNCHPAD

SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE

SET COMSPEC=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE

LIBPATH=.;C:\OS2\DLL;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\;C:\OS2\APPS\DLL;C:\MMOS2\DLL;

SET PATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS;C:\MMOS2;

SET DPATH=C:\OS2;C:\OS2\SYSTEM;C:\OS2\INSTALL;C:\;C:\OS2\BITMAP;C:\OS2\MDOS;C:\OS2\APPS;C:\MMOS2;C:\MMOS2\INSTALL;

BASEDEV=DETNE2.SYS

SET PROMPT=$i\[$p]

SET HELP=C:\OS2\HELP;C:\OS2\HELP\TUTORIAL;C:\MMOS2\HELP;

SET GLOSSARY=C:\OS2\HELP\GLOSS;

SET IPF_KEYS=SBCS

PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES

FILES=20

BASEDEV=IBMKBD.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\TESTCFG.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\DOS.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\PMDD.SYS

BUFFERS=90

IOPL=YES

DISKCACHE=D,LW,AC:C

MAXWAIT=3

MEMMAN=SWAP,PROTECT

SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 2048 2048

BREAK=OFF

THREADS=256

PRINTMONBUFSIZE=134,134,134

COUNTRY=001,C:\OS2\SYSTEM\COUNTRY.SYS

SET KEYS=ON

SET BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK;C:\MMOS2;

SET SOMIR=C:\OS2\ETC\SOM.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPSH.IR;C:\OS2\ETC\WPDSERV.IR

SET SOMDDIR=C:\OS2\ETC\DSOM

REM SET DELDIR=C:\DELETE,512;D:\DELETE,512;

BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS

BASEDEV=IBM1FLPY.ADD

BASEDEV=IBM2FLPY.ADD

BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD

BASEDEV=XDFLOPPY.FLT

BASEDEV=OS2DASD.DMD

SET EPMPATH=C:\OS2\APPS;

PROTECTONLY=NO

SHELL=C:\OS2\MDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2\MDOS

FCBS=16,8

RMSIZE=640

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VEMM.SYS

DOS=LOW,NOUMB

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VXMS.SYS /UMB

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPMI.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VDPX.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\APM.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VAPM.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\OS2CDROM.DMD /Q

IFS=C:\OS2\BOOT\CDFS.IFS /Q

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCDROM.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VMOUSE.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\POINTDD.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\MOUSE.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\BOOT\COM.SYS

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VCOM.SYS

CODEPAGE=437,850

DEVINFO=KBD,US,C:\OS2\KEYBOARD.DCP

DEVINFO=SCR,VGA,C:\OS2\BOOT\VIOTBL.DCP

SET VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_VGA

SET VIO_VGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA)

DEVICE=C:\OS2\MDOS\VVGA.SYS

SET MMBASE=C:\MMOS2;

SET DSPPATH=C:\MMOS2\DSP;

SET NCDEBUG=4000

DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\SSMDD.SYS

DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\R0STUB.SYS

I don't see any BASEDEV = IBMIDECD.FLT line so I'm going to try adding that as well as moving the line "

IFS=C:\OS2\BOOT\CDFS.IFS /Q" above "DEVICE = OS2CDROM.DMD"

[OrelseIamfired]

Cmpeng,

I can not remember if Warp version 3 handles large hard disk drives. You may have to look for something called IDEDASD.EXE -- it contains about four updated drivers for hard disk and CDROM drives. I remember something about making a copy of the installation diskettes and using the copies as your working diskettes; deleting some drivers not relevant to your computer to make room for the new drivers; copying the new drivers to one of the diskettes; add something like COPYFROMFLOPPY to CONFIG.SYS to one of the diskettes (that tells the installer to use the drivers on the diskettes instead of the old ones on the CD-ROM.

/ Louis

[Cmpeng]

Your are correct. We had the problem with large disk support at another plant and managed to fix it using the updated floppies from IBM. I had no clue updated CD-Rom drivers were on it.

Either way I did modify my config.sys and now have my CD-Rom working! Great advice on the required lines Louis.

For tomorrow I have planned to install

1) Warp Connect Network support

2) Banyan Vines

I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

[Cmpeng]

Hello,

Here's an update on my progress.

Warp Connect Network Support[/u]

-> Selected to install IBM Peer Services & TCP/IP

-> Installed AMD PCNet Ethernet Adapter Drivers

-> System rebooted

-> System installed MPTS (~20 mins)*

-> System installed IBM Peer Services & TCP/IP (~60 mins)*

\* During installation of services/packages you may not see the progress bar move for very long periods of time, if at all. However, the installation is still working, exercise your patience!

Banyan Vines[/u]

-> Modified config.sys & protocol.ini for vines setup

-> Copied over vines software files to system

-> Rebooted and vines loaded correctly

At this point, all my work on OS/2 on VMware is complete as we have a fully functional system. In the coming week I will post a rough procedure for installing and running OS/2 Warp 3 with Banyan Vines on VMware 5.5.1.

A big thanks to everyone for their advice and help!

Message was edited by: Cmpeng - typos

Cmpeng

[telfred]

Come on VM Ware "Helm, Warp, engage"

[OrelseIamfired]

Hi neohal,

OS/2 is still marketed here, and it has been kept up to date by Serenity Systems :

<http://www.ecomstation.com/>

There is a virtualising software, certainly not yet as mature as VMWare, here :

<http://www.serenityvirtual.com/>

/ Louis

[telfred]

With the much heralded delay in Vista I checked IBM and OS2 only to discover that even IBM have abandoned supporting or selling it. So that fact that someone else has picked up the ball and is running with it is good news.

It is good that it works under VM Ware 5.5.1, and now for the really silly question where do you get device drivers for OS2 ?

[Cmpeng]

I find the majority of drivers through manufacturer's websites. If that fails I turn to Hobbes, http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/

Found drivers for a virtual ethernet adapter for OS/2 Warp 4.52 running on MS Virtual PC there. As well the AMD PCNet drivers required for OS/2 Warp 3 on VMware are there. Great site indeed.

[kingneutron]

Found drivers for a virtual ethernet adapter for OS/2 Warp 4.52 running on MS Virtual PC there. As well the AMD PCNet drivers required for OS/2 Warp 3 on VMware are there.

" And thus am I humbled, for I spoke out of ignorance... " :smileywink:

--Good on ya for finding + sharing the driver site. OS/2 did have some nice things going for it, native REXX support being one of them.

[OrelseIamfired]

telfred,

Hobbes is a must-know site. Also, here are some other important web sites.

<http://www.netlabs.org/>

<http://ecomstation.ru/>

<http://www.innotek.de>

<http://www.mensys.nl/>

<http://www.bmtmicro.com>

/ Louis

[cha0t1c]

Works exceptionally well! (sans VMWare tools)

Ath XP 2500+

768 Megs

100 gig

FX5900 XT

29160 SCSI

Asus A7N8X-X (onboard NV nic)

USB, etc.

LInux Mandriva 2006.0 Kernel 2.6.12-22mdk

VMWare Workstation 5.5.1-19175

OS/2 Warp 4

Painless install.

1) config VMWare of course (used bridged networking only for sake of ease)

2) create new virtual machine

3) when choice of OS appears, choose MSDOS (may work with others...,)

4) make a 2 gig partition (with other OS, possibly bigger)

5) accept the remainder of defaults

6) edit your *.vmx file and enter add to GuestOS = "os2experimental" (may not be necessary but worked for me)

7) locate your Warp 4 CD and use loaddskf.exe to make floppies DISK0.DSK, DISK1_CD.DSK, DISK2.DSK (loaddskf.exe can be found under \diskimgs - floppies can be found under \diskimgs\os2\35) these floppies must be created under dos or a dos window unless your orig are not worn out like mine

8) set your floppy to boot off of disk0 and proceed. Insert Warp 4 CD

9) create your own partitions. install bootmanager, create another primary partion for OS/2, then set that primary partition installable. save and exit. will require a reboot of vm.

10) proceed w/install, choose advanced install (hint: the easy way for network is just to choose ibm tcp/ip w/o ddns and roll whatever you choose in afterwards) Not to worry about network driver because if it worked under host OS, your VM will supply AMD PCNET virtualized driver for Warp which it picks up with no intervention by you) Continue install.

Voila! Warp system that works.

Notes: Some say this works with VMWare Server

Some have issues w/ISAPNP.SNP & SNOOP.SNP (renaming them to *.old on diskette and trying again has worked in some cases.

*** Now that we know that it works, could some enterprising VMWare guru help us out with

tools. I am sure they existed in some form during the 'experimental' stage....,

Next on the agenda: Ecomstation 1.1. Know it doesn't like to play out of the box but I'm going to try an upgrade from Warp 4....,? :smileyhappy:

P.S. This is not in any way to take place of other solutions.., merely proof of concept and a challenge.

Email me for more details in the next two weeks. After that, it is back to my semi.

[iaco]

tested in ESX 2.5.1 also

it works

you have to manually edit the .vmx file to set "os2experimental" as guest os or it won't go past the OS/2 boot prompt

[morgan_simonsen]

I'm hvin trouble making this work. I can boot of an image of the floppies, I get the "Loading system, please wait prompt" and then a blank screen with an underscore character.

I am using OS/2 Warp Version 3.

Can someone help?

[rodonea]

My Os2/warp 3 runs thanks your gold advices. Thank you.

Now I have also installed Db2/2 and I want to read a backup.

The problem is that I have reserved for Os2 only 500 Mb and the backup is 4 GB.

I'd like to read and write a new partition....also a new virtual partition in vmware...

or, if not possible, make that one bigger.

thank for help

[telfred]

This is a two stage problem.

Stage 1 Increasing the size of the VM Ware partition

Stage 2 Increasing the size of the OS2/warp partition within the VM Ware guest.

The post below should help with stage 1

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=406109

I can't you with stage 2, I don't know OS2.

[birdie]

Will OS/2 Wrap 4.51 install under VMWare 5.5.2? I tried installing it but upon boot either from CD or from boot floppies I get the same error message: "

\*** VMware Workstation internal monitor error ***

vcpu-0:SyncCB failure: dd27cd65 (bug #4938)

Please report this problem by selecting menu item Help > VMware on the Web > Request Support, or by going to the Web page ..."

I've set virtual machine type to "os2experimental" and disabled acceleration. Still no luck here.

This is what OS/2 is saying upon boot:

The system has detected an internal processing error at

location ##0168:fff1eb1c - 000e:cb1c.

60000, 9084

07861200

Internal revision 14.089_W4

The system is stopped.

[petr]

You might have some luck with using vt32 on VT capable processors. Otherwise it is more or less lost battle. You can try removing all hardware from VM...

[birdie]

You might have some luck with using vt32 on VT capable processors.

I won't have such a CPU before the first quarter of 2006.

You can try removing all hardware from VM...

I've already done that - and still no luck. Worst of all is that I cannot get OS/2 installed even in Microsoft Virtual PC - as it gives an error while trying to copy namemove.exe file:

Copying: Diskette 2

File: C:\OS2\SYSTEM\NAMEMOVE.EXE

SYS0318: Message file OSO001.MSG cannot be found for message 3175.

[dmair]

I won't have such a CPU before the first quarter of 2006.

So you already have it then? :smileywink:

[birdie]

Of course, no. :smileywink:

BTW, this questions is mostly intended for Petr: why do Parallels WS and MS VirtualPC manage to run OS/2 while VMWare (mostly) cannot?

[petr]

Because VMware knows better than you that you should forget about OS/2... I assume that you are doing all tests with 'disable acceleration' checkbox checked.

[resfreqlam]

Thanks to your advice, i got OS/2 Warp 3 installed on WS 5.5.1 and tested it to work for ESX Server. However, i could not start the virtual machine on VMWare Player. Is it not compatible? or am i missing something. I've would recieved an error message saying "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000142). Click OK to terminate the application"

[continuum]

Post the last vmware.log - maybe we simply got to adjust some paths or device-names

[minio]

Well I was able to install and run OS/2 warp 4 in vmware server if i set guest operating system to windows 3.11. Except it was incredibly slow i had no problems whatsoever. And no vmware tools of course. Maybe it will work also for workstation.

[lipinsky]

I got OS/2 working in a VMware VM and now need to install OS2TOOLS.ZIP to improve the graphics. I have searched all over the net for this file but no luck. Does anyone have a copy they can forward to me ( vmware dot mail at lipinsky dot com).

Lucian