How to install VMWare Server under Windows for SMP folding

[KillerBeagle]

Updated 2-25-2007
Due to an unresolved performance issue with VMware running project 2605 on Pentium D systems, I don't recommend using VMware for folding on Pentium D processors.

I thought it would be best to split this off from the other SMP threads to separate out the VMWare-related stuff.

If you would like to try SMP folding, but don't want a Linux base operating system, this is the way to do it. You may lose 15% performance over a native Linux install, but you can keep using Windows. Note that this may become obsolete if Stanford creates a Windows SMP client or requires 4 cores for SMP, but during the beta it works.

Hardware requirements: you need a dual-core 64-bit CPU, and you need more than 512MB of free memory. 1GB total system memory is probably not enough for running VMware folding plus more than one or two Windows apps. If you are running 32-bit Windows, there are some additional processor restrictions that apply; see this VMWare Knowledge Base article (for Intel processors, you need VT support, so Pentium D 920, 930, 940, 950, 960 are ok, all other Pentium D are not; all Core 2 Duo except T550 are ok). A CDROM drive is helpful, but there are ways around that - beyond the scope of this simple howto.

I have tried this using both XP Pro SP1 and Vista 32-bit as host OS, and both Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 3 x86-64 and Ubuntu 6.06 64-bit (AMD64) as the guest OS. The 15% loss is what I measured under XP Pro - it was a bit higher with Vista. Your mileage may vary.

Procedure:

• go to the VMWare Server download page and register to get your key(s) (1 per copy to be installed) and download the installer program (about 145MB).
• install VMWare Server
  • start the installer
  • accept the license agreement
  • select "Complete" install
  • ignore the warning about IIS being missing, continue by clicking "OK"
  • choose an install location or use the default
  • Say "Yes" to disable autorun unless you really need it (I hate autorun anyway)
  • Click "Install"
  • Wait a long time
  • Enter your customer info and serial number (you can skip this and do it later, but it's required before you can run a VM, and it's easier to do it here)
  • Click "Finish" to exit installer
• Reboot if necessary
• Launch VMWare Server Console by double-clicking the desktop icon, or launch from the Start menu
  • Select "Local Host" to connect to (if this isn't one of the choices, cancel, wait a while and try again. Sometimes the Server takes a few minutes to come up)
  • Now it's time to do some global settings...
    • From the Host menu, select Settings
    • on the Priority tab, set process priority for "input ungrabbed" to "low" - this should let Windows have higher priority at all times when you have SMP folding running minimized
  • Now to create your virtual machine
    • from the lower right window, click the "New Virtual Machine" icon
    • on the VM Config page, select "Custom" and click "next"
    • on the Guest OS page, select "Linux" and then your preferred distro from the pulldown (use "Ubuntu 64-bit" if you want to follow coug's guide for the OS and SMP client)
    • pick a name and location for the VM image file
    • private or not - I uncheck it, but I don't really know if it matters for our usage
    • run as "user that powers on VM" (default)
    • number of processors: Two (important!)
    • memory: at least 512 (>600MB preferred for p2604/p2605)
    • network type: use NAT (it's easiest)
    • disk: create new virtual disk
    • disk type: SCSI
    • disk capacity: I use 8GB - you probably need at least 4 unless you have a really minimal distro
    • allocate all space now
    • choose file name, click "Finish"
• At this point, what you basically have is a "virtual" 2-processor 512MB system with a blank SCSI drive, NIC and CDROM. From here, insert your 64-bit Linux install CD, click on the "start this VM" button, and install Linux and FAH. [ you can also mount an ISO image on a local hard drive and use that instead of burning a CD - look at the CD settings menus for more info ] If you want to use Ubuntu, go to cuog's guide to installing Ubuntu 64-bit and follow that.

I hope I haven't missed too much, but please PM me or add to the thread and I will update this to cover everything possible.

[HotRod]

Good job KB..

Ill give it a few days before I add it to the stickies.

[napoli3]

It worked for me. Only needed to PM KillerBeagle a few times

Now for the hard part- getting use to Linux!

THANKS FOR THE HELP KILLERBEAGLE!!

[superdude101]

whenever i go to install ubuntu in vm i get an error saying cannot switch to 64 bit mode, not enough memory on the host.. i dont get it because i have 2gigs of ram. anyone get this problem before?

[frozndevl]

When you created the VM for Ubuntu, did you specify 528mg of RAM? When you are in the Summary View of your Ubuntu VM, Edit the settings and double-check the memory.

[FrostyOne]

Try giving it 768

[KillerBeagle]

Originally Posted by superdude101

whenever i go to install ubuntu in vm i get an error saying cannot switch to 64 bit mode, not enough memory on the host.. i dont get it because i have 2gigs of ram. anyone get this problem before?

What processor are you using, and what is your base OS?

[superdude101]

im using an opteron 165, and im using winxp pro. it seems to work when i allow some swapping of the memory..

[KillerBeagle]

Okay, I think I'll edit the first post to make that an optional setting. It may be trying to allocate a contiguous block of memory and having troubles for some reason. It shouldn't be too important as long as swapping is not excessive.

[cuog]

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co....php?p=2573147

heres the link for my guide to continue with for anyone that doesn't want to look for it

[KillerBeagle]

Added that to the first post - I meant to do that in the first place

[superdude101]

ok one more quick questions.. how do i monitor it in the vMwares

[KillerBeagle]

Originally Posted by superdude101

ok one more quick questions.. how do i monitor it in the vMwares

You mean monitor the SMP client's progress?
Are you using the finstall method, or manual install of the client?

[superdude101]

finstall and ya to see the ppd im getting from it

[KillerBeagle]

Ok, I'm going to answer this in the "How to install Ubuntu..." thread since it's relevant to Linux whether you're using VMware or not...

[Shaolin3a]

I got through the installation of VMserver and Ubuntu. But then when I try to start the VM, it gives me a message saying:

"This virtual machine has failed to switch to 64 bit mode. This may be due to a lack of available memory on the host."

It also gives me options to either "Suspend" or "Power Off". I'm using an E6300 w/ 1GB ram on XP pro SP2. The version of Ubuntu I installed was the 6.10 Desktop CD 64-bit. I did try increasing the reserved memory to 800mb but still no go. Not sure how to fix this so any suggestions on what to try would be great.

[KillerBeagle]

Originally Posted by Shaolin3a

I got through the installation of VMserver and Ubuntu. But then when I try to start the VM, it gives me a message saying:

"This virtual machine has failed to switch to 64 bit mode. This may be due to a lack of available memory on the host."

It also gives me options to either "Suspend" or "Power Off". I'm using an E6300 w/ 1GB ram on XP pro SP2. The version of Ubuntu I installed was the Desktop CD 64-bit. I did try increasing the reserved memory to 800mb but still no go. Not sure how to fix this so any suggestions on what to try would be great.

Did you try changing the memory setting back to allow some paging? Forcing the memory to be reserved in advance seems to cause problems.

[Shaolin3a]

Hmm...I'll give that a try right quick. But I think I did.

EDIT: Ah, there it goes. NVM, lol, I knew I saw that advice before. Thanks!

[KillerBeagle]

Okay, that settles it - I'm removing that setting from the instructions completely.

[HotRod]

Keep tweeking KB.....

Your post has been added to the stickes
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co...ad.php?t=79697


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