rblog

The following are my notes for getting VMA for Linux installed on SuSE 9.3. The good news is that it eventually works and the integrated mouse pointer is great. But I still have problems with the my keyboard (repeat is too fast, even after adjusting it in YAST) and I can't get resolution higher than 1152x768 - even though the resolution appears to be set at 1600x1200.

But all in all, I am very happy with Microsoft Virtual Server thus far....

This is my annotated version of the README.txt file

After installing this, you get a MUCH better mouse interaction - e.g. you don't have to push the ALT key to get out of the window. This alone is worth the price of admission. In addition, the time synch is a good thing as my linux clock would drift quite a bit. However, I still have the problem that the linux clock is off by an hour - but at least it is consistent now.

I still haven't resolved the resolution problem - it appears stuck at 1152x768 and the mouse still repeats too quickly, even after I change in YAST. But I will revisit those two items. But perhaps the new mouse driver will help - I haven't tried yet. Note: old graphics card is S3 86c764/765 - I will try with the S3 Trio 64 driver (V2, since the other isn't there).

Pre-Requisite
=============
1). The Additions installation is guaranteed to work only on target systems where no manual
changes have been performed to the system configuration after installation of the virtual
machine.
This includes running the updates - at least in my experience. The install worked fine on the base SuSE 9.3, but not on the 9.3 system with updates that I had initially. I had to do some hacks (see below) to get it to work.

2). A kernel module of the Additions is built at compile time. So, the virtual machine should
have the Linux kernel source and build tools installed.
This means gcc and kernel-source at a minimum.

3). Should be logged in as ROOT user to perform these installations.

4). Changes required in 2.4.xx kernels (For 2.6 kernels skip this step)
I had 2.6, so this wasn't necessary.

5). When using the vmadd-x11-0.0.1-1.i386.rpm package, the "--force" option has to be
specified so that RPM can overwrite the default x11 modules.
It wasn't clear to me if I should use the rpm or the shell approach - I had a little of both, which may have caused a problem.

6). In order to use the accelerated SCSI driver, the standard Adaptec driver must not be
No SCSI drives on my system.

Installation Steps
====================
MVS Setup
---------
1). Install the VMAdditionsForLinux.msi file in Windows. The msi file contains the ISO image of all the packages. It will be copied to the following directory :
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Server\Virtual Machine Additions\VMAdditionsForLinux.iso
2). Goto the Administrative website of the MVS.
3). Goto the Edit Configuration option of the running Virtual machine.
4). Click on Virtual Machine Additions Properties.
5). Select the Virtual Machine Additions Check Box and Click OK.
6). Goto CD/DVD Drive properties from the configuration menu and give the fully qualified path as :
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Server\Virtual Machine Additions\VMAdditionsForLinux.iso (For 32 Bit OS)
7). Goto the Linux Virtual Machine and open a terminal
8). Goto the CDROM directory, after mounting it first
Some changes from their original here
# mount /media/dvd
# cd /media/dvd/VMAdditionsForLinux

Installing Through Shell Script
-------------------------------
To run the script, you have to make it executable, which you can't do since the CD/DVD is not writeable. So, there two choices, you can run it from the shell, e.g.
# sh ./vmadd-install.run
Or you can copy the VMAdditionsForLinux to a writeable place on your hard drive. Or you can install through the RPM package.
Run the script :
# ./vmadd-install.run all

OR

Installing Through RPM Package
------------------------------
Install the RPMs. All the RPMs can be installed using the package vmadd-full
# rpm ivh vmadd-full-0.0.1-1.i386.rpm

Start the Services
------------------
Start the vmadd service and vmadd-scsi service.
# /etc/init.d/vmadd start

Use the SYstem Services (Runlevel) in YAST to confirm that the services have started. Then go back to the Virtual Server Master status and verify that you have the option "Shut down Guest OS" on your configuration. Shut down the Guest OS and restart it and you should notice a heartbeat line on the status page and you should see a nicely integrated mouse pointer.

If the above doesn't work....
The area that seems to be the real test is the final step - starting the vmadd service.

1. (kernel module not found)
* Make sure you have the compilation tools (gcc, kernel-source)
* Review the /etc/init.d/vmadd script
This script searches for /lib/modules/KERNEL/misc/vmadd.o, vmadd.ko - make sure those files are there. I had to grab them from a VMA install that I did on a clean 9.3 install (with no updates). Note KERNEL stands for what you get when you run uname -r.

2. "modprobe vmadd" failed
* This happens in the /etc/init.d/vmadd script at the comamnd "modprobe vmadd". I believe I tracked this down to the lack of a depmod file, which was fixed when I ran:
#depmod vmadd

After running that, I backtracked and ran modprobe -v vmadd (verbose version) and it gave the status:
insmod /lib/modules//misc/vmadd.ko
(which seems like it inserted the module).

I was then able to run the vmadd start command successfully - although I still had to run it in System Services - just to be safe.