slackware 10.2 on vmware 5.0 on windows xp host => kernel panic

daspooky · 04-10-2006, 08:11 AM

Hello fellow slackers,

I'm trying to install slackware 10.2 on vmware 5.0 on a windows xp host computer. (I'm doing this on my work laptop, on which I'm not allowed to change anything, but I would like to be able to use linux at home on the laptop)

I managed to complete the installation process of slackware on the virtual machine. But when slackware boots, it suddenly stops and returns a "kernel panic".

Has anyone got a clue of what is happening? Are there known issues in installing slackware on a virtual machine?

I tried with both kernel test26.s and bare.i, none of them worked.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Alien_Hominid · 04-10-2006, 08:25 AM

What is the kernel panic error (line or 2 before the kernel panic line)?

jong357 · 04-10-2006, 09:30 AM

Remember, vmware likes to emulate hardware as something that it's not. I'm pretty sure it's trying to use your hard drive as a SCSI, especially if it's a SATA but maybe even if it's IDE... Use scsi.i or something along those lines. I've seen a post or two about this here and that seems to be the fix.

Perhaps it was an option that you change from within Vmware itself. I forget and don't feel like searching... But you easily could... :-) It's probably something you change in the Vmware options otherwise one would think you wouldn't have been able to install Slackware in the first place without using scsi.i

the.madjack · 04-10-2006, 10:46 AM

thats weird. im using latest vmware workstation release and it(slackware 10.2) works fine. i even installed other *NIX variant on the same windows xp host. maybe it is the vmware settings problem or your hardware. Show us what is the kernel panic message. List down your hardware also helps. Good luck!

daspooky · 04-11-2006, 01:36 PM

Hello people

Thank you very much for bringing me on the right track! It was indeed the harddisk which was configured as scsi by vmware

I was doing the installation wrong. During setup I used the test26.s kernel, which supports scsi. But after the setup, I chose the wrong kernel image to use with slackware. So I was booting with the 2.4 kernel, which doesn't support scsi, and gives a kernel panic.

Again many thanks to you all! It works perfectly now.