Mounting partition in VMWare
 

How do I mount partition in vmware huh?

Its not the usual /dev/hd* right?

When u create a virtual machine in VMWare it usually creates a machine with SCSI hard drive. Try 'fdisk -l' to get list of recognized hard drives.

Thanks, just found out it uses virtual scsi too.

Had a hard time trying to figuring out how to specify partition size using fdisk. In the end, uses cfdisk.

oh btw, what are some of the things I can do with bootdisk? Use it to boot into linux? Use it to re-partition hdd?

You can use it to boot linux when your hard drive boot record is corrupted or something. Also u need a bootdisk when u forget (and want to change) root pw I think

hmm..... how do I boot linux using the boot disk? What commands to type?

I have the Linux version of VMWare on my computer at home. I have also used the Windows version of VMWare in a class which I took about a year ago. I am using Slackware as my host OS. At the moment I have both Red Hat 9 Linux and Windows XP running as guests in another window.

One of my guests is Red Hat 7.3. To boot it from the bootdisk I start VMWare, then select the tab for that virtual machine, insert the bootdisk and then click on "Start this Virtual Machine". It then boots it up from the floppy disk instead of using the LILO bootloader and the Master Boot Record (MBR) that is on the virtual machines virtual disk. VMWare needed to have the correct permissions from my Slackware host before any virtual machine could use the floppy drive. Also, make sure that all other virual machines are shut down first so that they are not currently controlling the floppy disk.

Is your virtual machine set to use a virtual disk or a raw disk? I have never used anything other than virtual disks. With a vitual disk fdisk or cfdisk is only thinks that it is formating a real hard disk. The entire virtual disk is actually inside a file. It always seems strange to find myself partitioning and formatting something that is actually not a real harddisk. Of course if you are using a raw disk instead that is different.

Are you using Slackware as either the host or guest OS? Using Slackware as either is not officially supported according to the VMWare web page. Fortunately, I recently found a webpage that explained how to use Slackware as a host OS. It also discusses using Slack as a guest OS. I have that webpage bookmarked if you are interested.

Thanx for the reply.

What I wanna know actually is how do I boot linux using a floppy disk? Whats the command or file to execute?

I am not sure if I understand what you want to do or how you have things set up? Is this a question about using the boot floppy disk while running VMWare or not? You probably are using Windows as your main operating system and running VMWare from within Windows. Is that correct? If so, then did you install some version of Linux to run inside a VMWare virtual machine? If so, then have you been able to boot up the copy of Linux that presumably is installed on a virtual disk for the virtual machine that is presumably running under Windows? You have not provided very many details.

Are you asking about using the boot floppy disk to boot-up a copy of Linux that has already been installed under VMWare? Are you asking about using a Linux boot floppy disk while you are installing Linux under VMWare? Are you asking about using a boot floppy disk to boot a copy of Linux that is installed on your real harddisk which you are not trying to run under VMWare? The answer would depend on which of the above you are trying to do. I need more information before I can answer the question. Oh, and what version of Linux you using? Are you using the Windows version of VMWare or the Linux version? Does the boot floppy disk not have anything to do with VMWare? Did I totally misunderstand everything like usual?

Thanx for your patience, Rick.

What I wanna know if actually very simple.

How do I boot linux in a real hard disk partition using the linux bootdisk?

Sorry for the confusion.

You probably already Linux installed on your hard disk and want to use the boot floppy disk that was created while you were installing Linux. The boot disk would normally be used to boot-up Linux when the MBR and LILO or GRUB are not working properly. To use the boot floppy disk the BIOS on your computer would need to have the boot order set to boot from a floppy disk first instead of booting from the CD-ROM first. A few seconds after you first turn the computer on there is some key or combination of keys that you need to press to access the BIOS setup menu. On my computer I press the <DEL> key. Some computers use a different key. Once inside the BIOS setup menu you need to set the boot order to boot first from a floppy disk and then next from the harddrive. Once that has been done exit and save the changes and then insert the boot floppy disk before you turn it back on. It should then boot from the floppy disk instead of booting off of your hard disk. You can then probably just hit enter and it should then boot Linux from the partition on your hard disk. Afterwards you can remove the floppy disk and it will go back to booting from the hard disk. You might or might not want to bother changing your BIOS back to booting from the CD-ROM first.