Installing VMWare Tools into NetWare 6.5

[Greg Smith]

I am running VMWare Workstation 4.0.2 build 5592 and have installed NetWare
6.5.
It will not install VMWare Tools.

When I select to install the tools, nothinf happens no matter how long I
wait.
Any ideas?

[Jim Henderson]

Hey, Greg:

What procedure are you following to do the installation? You are aware,
of course, that the NCF file on the virtual CD-ROM won't auto-run, you
need to execute the script manually after the CD is mounted, right? ;-)

Jim

[Greg Smith]

Hi Jim,

I didn't know there were special install instructions for this. I thought
the tools would install like any other guest OS. Would you be able to point
me in the direction of the install instructions?
FYI: I'm REALLY new to NetWare. I just installed it two days ago and
started playing. Do you know of a good source to get an overview or
tutorial or something like that?

Thanks,
Greg

[Jim Henderson]

When it comes to NetWare, the place I'd recommend (but I'm biased) is
support-forums.novell.com - read some of the newsgroups there, you'll pick
up lots of good tips.

There also are some good books from Novell Press (in particular), SAMS,
IDG (now part of John Wiley & Sons), and McMillian Publishing (Que, New
Riders, etc) that cover the use of NetWare. If anything, check out some
of the self-study materials for the Novell certifications.

Jim

[Greg Smith]

Thanks for the tips Jim. I'll check out the news group first as it comes so
highly recommended. OK, the free doesn't hurt either.

Greg

Post by Jim Henderson
When it comes to NetWare, the place I'd recommend (but I'm biased) is
support-forums.novell.com - read some of the newsgroups there, you'll pick
up lots of good tips.
There also are some good books from Novell Press (in particular), SAMS,
IDG (now part of John Wiley & Sons), and McMillian Publishing (Que, New
Riders, etc) that cover the use of NetWare. If anything, check out some
of the self-study materials for the Novell certifications.
Jim

[Jim Henderson]

No problem, see you over there (I'm one of the officials in those
newsgroups <G>).

Jim

[Greg Smith]

Hey Jim,
I checked the install instructions for VMTools in the manual for VMWare 4.0,
but I'm still not getting anywhere. Here are the steps I follow:

1. Start Netware
2. Select "Install VMWare Tools"
3. In the VM I go to a console screen and type "LOAD CD9660.NSS"

Then I get a message on the console screen that says:
SERVER-5.70-151: Unable to find load file CD9660.NSS

I then open the file browser and it shows VMWTOOLS as a drive.
The following files show in that drive:
nw4-idle.nlm
nw5-idle.nlm
setup.ncf
VMWTInst.nlm

I have tried to execute both the setup and VMWInst files, but nothing
happens.

Now what am I doing wrong??

Please help oh master of VMWAre and NetWare.

Greg

Post by Jim Henderson
What procedure are you following to do the installation? You are aware,
of course, that the NCF file on the virtual CD-ROM won't auto-run, you
need to execute the script manually after the CD is mounted, right? ;-)
Jim

[Petr Vandrovec]

Post by Greg Smith
Hey Jim,
I checked the install instructions for VMTools in the manual for VMWare 4.0,
1. Start Netware
2. Select "Install VMWare Tools"
3. In the VM I go to a console screen and type "LOAD CD9660.NSS"
SERVER-5.70-151: Unable to find load file CD9660.NSS

Do you have server fully installed? SYS mounted?

Post by Greg Smith
I then open the file browser and it shows VMWTOOLS as a drive.
nw4-idle.nlm
nw5-idle.nlm
setup.ncf
VMWTInst.nlm

What it shown on the system console & logger screen if you did
vmwtools:\setup.ncf ?
Petr

[Greg Smith]

Hello Petr,

It looks like the Tools are now installed as I can now see a menu item
titled "VMWare Tools for Netware".
I set it to syncronize with the host clock and it sync'd up no problem. The
clock in the guest OS moves a lot faster than the one in the host OS. It
runs about 1 minute faster than the host with 15 minutes.
I still can't get video higher than 256 colors though and everything seems
to run really slow. For example, when I want to open the Console Log, it
takes about 60 seconds to open the window.
The problem shouldn't be with the host machine as it is running a P4-2GHz
with 1GB of RAM. I have dedicated 512MB of RAm to the guest OS.

Thanks for your input.
Greg

Post by Petr Vandrovec

Post by Greg Smith
Hey Jim,
I checked the install instructions for VMTools in the manual for VMWare 4.0,
1. Start Netware
2. Select "Install VMWare Tools"
3. In the VM I go to a console screen and type "LOAD CD9660.NSS"
SERVER-5.70-151: Unable to find load file CD9660.NSS

Do you have server fully installed? SYS mounted?

Post by Greg Smith
I then open the file browser and it shows VMWTOOLS as a drive.
nw4-idle.nlm
nw5-idle.nlm
setup.ncf
VMWTInst.nlm

What it shown on the system console & logger screen if you did
vmwtools:\setup.ncf ?
Petr

[Jim Henderson]

Post by Greg Smith
Hello Petr,
It looks like the Tools are now installed as I can now see a menu item
titled "VMWare Tools for Netware".
I set it to syncronize with the host clock and it sync'd up no problem.
The clock in the guest OS moves a lot faster than the one in the host
OS. It runs about 1 minute faster than the host with 15 minutes.

With time synchronization enabled or disabled? I cannot believe it with
time synchronization enabled, it will then sync guest with host at +- 1
sec.

Sounds very similar to the issue I have occasionally wiht the speedstep
stuff on my laptop. Greg - you using a laptop for this?

Post by Greg Smith
I still can't get video higher than 256 colors though and everything
seems to run really slow.

I'm not sure that it is supposed to run in other color depth...

Outside of VMware it does, I think inside VMware it will, but I'll have to
check.

Post by Greg Smith
For example, when I want to open the Console Log, it
takes about 60 seconds to open the window.

It is Netware. It is GUI written in Java. It is normal that it is slow.
Just quit GUI as soon as possible and use normal text console, or manage
it remotely...

6.5 doesn't use as much java on the server side, IIRC - performance should
be better than he describes, but I'll have to check that out as well to be
sure.

Jim

[Greg Smith]

Post by Jim Henderson

Post by Greg Smith
Hello Petr,
It looks like the Tools are now installed as I can now see a menu item
titled "VMWare Tools for Netware".
I set it to syncronize with the host clock and it sync'd up no problem.
The clock in the guest OS moves a lot faster than the one in the host
OS. It runs about 1 minute faster than the host with 15 minutes.

With time synchronization enabled or disabled? I cannot believe it with
time synchronization enabled, it will then sync guest with host at +- 1
sec.

Sounds very similar to the issue I have occasionally wiht the speedstep
stuff on my laptop. Greg - you using a laptop for this?

No, a desktop unit.

Post by Jim Henderson

Post by Greg Smith
I still can't get video higher than 256 colors though and everything
seems to run really slow.

I'm not sure that it is supposed to run in other color depth...

Outside of VMware it does, I think inside VMware it will, but I'll have to
check.

Post by Greg Smith
For example, when I want to open the Console Log, it
takes about 60 seconds to open the window.

It is Netware. It is GUI written in Java. It is normal that it is slow.
Just quit GUI as soon as possible and use normal text console, or manage
it remotely...

6.5 doesn't use as much java on the server side, IIRC - performance should
be better than he describes, but I'll have to check that out as well to be
sure.
Jim

[Jim Henderson]

Odd, I don't think SpeedStep is implemented in desktops, but you might
check with the manufacturer to see if it is - that is something that might
cause the behaviour you're seeing.

Jim

[Petr Vandrovec]

Post by Greg Smith
Hello Petr,
It looks like the Tools are now installed as I can now see a menu item
titled "VMWare Tools for Netware".
I set it to syncronize with the host clock and it sync'd up no problem. The
clock in the guest OS moves a lot faster than the one in the host OS. It
runs about 1 minute faster than the host with 15 minutes.

With time synchronization enabled or disabled? I cannot believe it with time
synchronization enabled, it will then sync guest with host at +- 1 sec.

Post by Greg Smith
I still can't get video higher than 256 colors though and everything seems
to run really slow.

I'm not sure that it is supposed to run in other color depth...

Post by Greg Smith
For example, when I want to open the Console Log, it
takes about 60 seconds to open the window.

It is Netware. It is GUI written in Java. It is normal that it is slow. Just
quit GUI as soon as possible and use normal text console, or manage it remotely...

Post by Greg Smith
The problem shouldn't be with the host machine as it is running a P4-2GHz
with 1GB of RAM. I have dedicated 512MB of RAm to the guest OS.

I would say that you should give it more memory. NW6 is memory hog, and NW6.5
is even worse.
Petr

[Jim Henderson]

I'd try just running CDROM - that should load the appropriate NSS modules
automatically.

Jim

[Greg Smith]

Yes Jim, thanks. That worked. But now that I have the Tools running,
Everything is still really slow. For example it takes about 60 seconds to
open any window and sometimes windows don't want to close. I click the
close button, but the window just stays there. Any ideas on this?

Also, I still can't get any higher than 256 colors out of the guest OS.

Thanks for your continued input.

Greg

Post by Jim Henderson
I'd try just running CDROM - that should load the appropriate NSS modules
automatically.
Jim

[Jim Henderson]

What's the spec on the physical machine, and how much memory is allocated
to the NW 6.5 guest?

Jim

[Greg Smith]

P4-2GHz - 1024MB RAM.
Over 40GB free on physical Hard Disk
512MB RAM dedicated to NW 6.5 guest.
I set the NW6.5 guest to have a 5GB virtual drive.

Post by Jim Henderson
What's the spec on the physical machine, and how much memory is allocated
to the NW 6.5 guest?
Jim

[Jim Henderson]

Should perform well; if you launch monitor on the server console, what
does the processor utilisation say?

Jim

[Greg Smith]

After watching it idle for 10 minutes, it runs between 10% - 15%

Post by Jim Henderson
Should perform well; if you launch monitor on the server console, what
does the processor utilisation say?
Jim

[Jim Henderson]

Should be OK, sounds like the idler is running.

Maybe check in the tools, though, to make sure.

Jim

[Steph]

Post by Greg Smith
Hey Jim,
I checked the install instructions for VMTools in the manual for
VMWare 4.0, but I'm still not getting anywhere. Here are the steps I
1. Start Netware
2. Select "Install VMWare Tools"
3. In the VM I go to a console screen and type "LOAD CD9660.NSS"
SERVER-5.70-151: Unable to find load file CD9660.NSS
I then open the file browser and it shows VMWTOOLS as a drive.
nw4-idle.nlm
nw5-idle.nlm
setup.ncf
VMWTInst.nlm
I have tried to execute both the setup and VMWInst files, but nothing
happens.
Now what am I doing wrong??
Please help oh master of VMWAre and NetWare.
Greg

Post by Jim Henderson
What procedure are you following to do the installation? You are
aware, of course, that the NCF file on the virtual CD-ROM won't
auto-run, you need to execute the script manually after the CD is
mounted, right? ;-)
Jim

Almost there, you shoudl only need type

LOAD VMTOOLS:setup.ncf