P2V MS-DOS to Virtual Server

[tm1219]

Just when I thought I couldn't get any more retro than Windows NT 4.0, someone asks me to P2V three MS-DOS workstations. Long story short, I have no choice.

The current DOS boxes do not have a backup and can crash at any moment. We do not have the necessary software to reinstall the application nor does it support an upgrade to a later version of Windows.

I need to tread lighly with this attempt to not crash the source machine during migration.

My plan was to use Vmware converter v3 or v4 to cold clone the boxes to VMware server 1.0.1. The threads I have found mostly talk about installing DOS fresh in a VM but nothing much about P2V.

Since MS-DOS is experimental with Vmware Converter, I'm curious about any gotchas I may encounter while trying to get the VM running.

I see conflicting information about installing VMware tools. Should I install the tools or not?!?!

Using BartsPE UltimateP2V may be the best method here because I can inject the necessary drivers one at a time. But on the other hand, VMware converter may do this for me.

Anyone have any experience/feedback they can share?

[continuum]

forget converter - forget the Ultimate P2V plugin.

Go to the dying machine boot into BartPE and zip the files to a network share or second disk

Then just create a new VM - install a fresh copy of DOS - adjust config and autoexec in case you need scsi-drivers ?

And finally boot BartPE inside the new dos-VM again and unzip the files ...

thats it

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description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:

[RDPetruska]

>I see conflicting information about installing VMware tools. Should I install the tools or not?!?!

No VMware Tools exist for MS-DOS guests. You should, however, use the dos-idle utility so the CPU is not constantly pegged.

Refer to Zamba's page for tips on setting up DOS guests, and links to the appropriate drivers. You will still want these in your VM once you have converted it.

[tm1219]

Thanks for the suggestions folks.. Points will be awarded! Now I'm on to the next issue.. just getting the VM to boot.

I was able to create the blank VM and install the full version of DOS 6.22 using the install ISO. It created the FAT16 partition on a 1gb drive and installed the files. I did nothing with my original image from the old DOS workstation. I'm only working with a base install of MS-DOS 6.22.

I can't get the VM to boot using the hard disk. It takes me to a solid cursor in the upper left corner of the screen. I believe VMware is having trouble recognizing the disk format and/or the display.

I have tried setting the guest OS to Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows XP. I tried using an IDE and SCSI disk for the install with no luck. I originally created the VM with 128mb RAM and tried decreasing it to 32MB.. no luck

The info on Zamba's page only talks about networking, sound and dosidle. At this point, I'm just trying to get the VM to boot to a C: prompt.

Is there some configuration setting I'm missing somewhere? Autoexec.bat, config.sys, injecting drivers, etc???

I've been searching forums for the past 2 days and see many people were able to get DOS to work in a VM guest but no one seems to explain any changes they might have made.

[RDPetruska]

Use a smaller disk. DOS doesn't understand large disks. Try a 200 MB one or so. That's always worked fine for me.

[tm1219]

I was able to resolve the booting issue. I used 128RAM which I will most likely reduce to 32MB. 1GB HD and 1 CPU.

While on the track at looking at a possible disk issue, I thought the Master Boot Record might be corrupted.

Booted from DOS boot disk.. While at the A: prompt...

FDISK /MBR

It recreated the master boot record... Solved!!

Now I just need to inject the files from the original DOS workstation and get the networking to work properly... This will be fun!

Thanks to all who gave suggestions on this thread!

[xe]

You should also reduce the RAM. MS-DOS only supports 16 MB of RAM and a hard drive of up to 2 GB. (FAT16).

For those folks reading... here's the correct procedure to install MS-DOS.

1. Create a VM using the above specs set to MS-DOS.

2. Boot to the MS-DOS diskette.

3. fdisk the drive; create a primary partition, and set it active.

4. Reboot to the diskette. Type these commands:

5. format c: /s

6. sys a: c:

7. fdisk /mbr

8. Reboot.. you should be able to start the VM without the diskette now.

9. Copy the remiaing MS-DOS utilities to the DOS directory once you create it. (xcopy, format, etc...)

10. Install a CPU idler, like CPUidle or Rain. Setup HIMEM.SYS or EMM386 as required, and mouse.com.

11. If you wish to use the sond card, add this to the VMX: sound.virtualDev = "sb16" You will also need to install the sound blaster TSRs.
    Note: MIDI is not supported by the sound card.