Windows XP on ESX - Manually installing disk drivers

Within this post I describe how to install the VMSCSI (BusLogic) driver during a manual installation of Windows XP.

The steps are as follows:

• Create a new virtual Machine
• Specify Guest Operating System Type as "Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit)"
• Edit Settings to attach a .iso with Windows XP on it
• Power on the machine
• Press F6 when you see the message in the screen below
  (Note : you don't recieve immediate "feedback" to let you know your key press has registered!)

• If F6 has been pressed at the correct point, a few moments later, you'll get another screen allowing you to specify drivers
• "S=Specify Additional Device". Press S.

• Another screen appears prompting for the "Manufacturer-supplied hardware support disk"

• At this point, Edit VM Settings and attach a floppy image with the VMSCSI drivers on it.
  (Typically you can locate this within the ESX datastore e.g. /vmimages/floppies/vmscsi-1.2.0.2.flp)
• Make sure the status is set to "Connected"
• Press ENTER to contine.
• "VMWare SCSI Controller" should be shown, press ENTER to select

• Another screen will appear showing the selected driver

• Confirm it says "VMware SCSI Controller" and press ENTER to Continue

Job done! - the remainder of the Windows XP installation should continue as normal.

What happens if F6 is not pressed

If F6 was not pressed in time, you'll recieve a message saying "Setup did not find any hard drivers installed in your computer"

What happens if the wrong driver is specified

If the wrong driver is specified, you're likely to recieve a STOP 0x0000007B error indicating an Inaccessible Boot Device.