Creating a Windows XP Base Image on VMWare

Gather Required Files & Information

You will need the following:

• VMware Server 1.x RPM installation file
• VMWare Server 1.x serial number
• Windows XP installation ISO file
• Windows XP product key

The following instructions assume the following locations on the management node:

• VMWare Server RPM: /install/VMware-server-1.0.8-126538.i386.rpm
• Windows XP ISO: /install/WinXP+SP3.iso

These instructions assume you have root access and are using a bash shell:

Remove Existing Virtualization Components

Make Sure The Host Computer Is Not Running A Xen Kernel

VMWare Server cannot be installed on a computer running a Xen kernel.  To determine if a Xen kernel is being used:

The following output indicates a Xen kernel is being used:

If "xen" appears in the output of the previous command, replace the Xen Kernel with the following commands:

Check the grub.conf file to make sure it is not configured to boot using the Xen Kernel

The grub.conf file should NOT look like this:

The grub.conf file SHOULD look like this:

After removing the Xen kernel, reboot the computer:

Install VMWare Server

1. Download the latest VMware Server 1.x RPM from http://www.vmware.com
   (Note: these instructions assume you saved the RPM into /install)
2. Install the VMWare Server RPM:

3. rpm -ivh /install/VMware-server-1.0.8-126538.i386.rpm

4. Configure VMWare Server:

   vmware-config.pl

   Note: if you receive an error message you may need to install or update some libraries and then run vmware-config.pl again:

   yum install glibc-devel -y
   yum install glibc -y 
   yum install libXtst-devel -y

   VMware networking should be configured as follows after answering the questions asked by vmware-config.pl
   -vmnet0 is bridged to eth1
   -vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 192.168.0.0.
   1. Press ENTER to view the license agreement, scroll to the bottom, type yes and press ENTER

   2. In which directory do you want to install the mime type icons?
      [/usr/share/icons] ENTER

   3. What directory contains your desktop menu entry files?
      These files have a .desktop file extension. [/usr/share/applications] ENTER

   4. In which directory do you want to install the application's icon?
      [/usr/share/pixmaps] ENTER

   5. None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Server is suitable for your
      running kernel.  Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for
      your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes] ENTER

   6. What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running
      kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.18-128.1.14.el5/build/include] ENTER

   7. Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes] ENTER

   8. Your computer has multiple ethernet network interfaces available: eth0, eth1,
      virbr0. Which one do you want to bridge to vmnet0? [eth0] eth1

   9. Do you wish to configure another bridged network? (yes/no) [no] ENTER

   10. Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines? (yes/no)
       [yes] no

   11. Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machines?
       [no] yes

   12. Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)
       [yes] no

   13. What will be the IP address of your host on the private
       network? 192.168.0.1
   14. What will be the netmask of your private network? 255.255.0.0
   15. DHCP information is displayed, press ENTER

   16. Do you wish to configure another host-only network? (yes/no) [no] ENTER

   17. The default port : 902 is not free. We have selected a suitable alternative
       port for VMware Server use. You may override this value now.
       Remember to use this port when connecting to this server.
       Please specify a port for remote console connections to use [904] ENTER

   18. In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?
       [/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines] ENTER

   19. The path "/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines" does not exist currently. This
       program is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this
       what you want? [yes] ENTER

   20. Please enter your 20-character serial number
       Type XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX or 'Enter' to cancel: enter the serial number
5. Verify the host-only network was configured correctly:

   /sbin/ifconfig

   You should see a vmnet1 interface using IP address 192.168.0.1:

   vmnet1    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:56:C0:00:01
             inet addr:192.168.0.1  Bcast:192.168.255.255  Mask:255.255.0.0
             inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fec0:1/64 Scope:Link
             UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
             RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
             TX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
             collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
             RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

   If you restart the vmware service (/sbin/service vmware restart), you should see the following:

   Starting VMware services:
      Virtual machine monitor                                    OK 
      Virtual ethernet                                           OK 
      Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0                          OK 
      Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background)   OK 
      Starting VMware virtual machines...                       OK 

Create a Virtual Machine

1. Launch the VMWare Server console:

   vmware &
   

2. Connect to Local Host
3. Create a new VM
   1. Virtual Machine Configuration: Typical
   2. Guest Operating System: Microsoft Windows
      Version: Windows XP Professional
   3. Name: vmwarewinxp-base7-v1
   4. Network connection: Custom
      /dev/vmnet1
   5. Disk size: 8.0 GB
      1. Allocate all disk space now: no
      2. Split disk into 2GB files: yes
4. Edit virtual machine settings 
   1. Configure the VM CD-ROM drive to use the Windows XP ISO image
      1. Connection: Use ISO image: browse to path of Windows XP ISO image
         /install/WinXP+SP3.iso
   2. Add: Ethernet Adapter
      1. Network Connection: Custom
         /dev/vmnet0

Install Windows XP on the Virtual Machine 

1. Power on the the Virtual Machine
2. Press ESC as soon as VM begins to start to display the boot menu
   • Boot from the CD-ROM drive
3. Press a key to boot from the CD (if displayed at bottom of screen as soon as VM begins to boot)
4. Proceed through Windows XP installation
   1. Press Enter to setup up Windows XP now 
   2. Press F8 to agree to the license agreement 
   3. Configure the Windows partition 
      1. Press Enter to set up Windows XP on the selected item (should be called "Unpartitioned space")
      2. Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick)
   4. Region and Language Options - click Next
   5. Name: VCL
      Organization: Apache.org 
   6. Enter the Windows XP product key 
   7. Computer name: vcl-winxp
      Administrator password: vclPassword
   8. Select the timezone
   9. Networking settings: Typical
   10. Member of a domain: No, leave default workgroup settings
   11. Automatic updates: Not right now
   12. Connect to Internet: Skip
   13. Register: no
   14. Enter "root" as the user name

Delete ISO Image From Management Node & Reconfigure VM CD-ROM Drive

1. Power off the VM 
2. Delete the Windows XP ISO image from the host computer's hard drive to reduce the image size

   rm -f /install/WinXP+SP3.iso

3. Remove the VM's CD-ROM because it isn't needed anymore
   1. Edit virtual machine settings
   2. Select the CD-ROM drive
      1. Connection: Use a physical drive
      2. Device: Auto detect
      3. Virtual Device Node: IDE 0:1

Configure Windows XP

1. Power on the VM
   Note: If you are shown an error stating "Cannot connect virtual device ide0:1", click No
2. The root user should automatically log on 
3. Set the root account's password: either the user management GUI or execute the following command from a command prompt: net user root <PASSWORD>
4. Install VMWare Tools  (Note: you must have a CD-ROM drive configured for the VM in order to install VMware Tools)
   1. Click on the VM menu and select "Install VMWare Tools"
   2. Select Typical and proceed through the setup pages accepting the defaults
   3. Reboot the VM when installation is complete

Install Cygwin 

1. From within the XP VM, download and run the Cygwin installer to the desktop: http://cygwin.com/setup.exe
   • Install from Internet
   • Root Directory: C:\Cygwin
   • Install For: Just Me
   • Default Test File Type: DOS/text
   • Local Package Directory: Desktop
   • Internet Connection: Direct Connection
   • Download Site: choose one (.edu FTP sites seem the fastest)
   • Select Packages: Net: openssh
   • Create icon on Desktop: No
   • Add icon to Start Menu: No
2. Delete the Cygwin installation files from the desktop:
   1. Installer: setup.exe 
   2. Local package directory: C:\ftp%...cygwin...

Configure Cygwin SSH service

1. Launch the Cygwin shell

   C:\Cygwin\Cygwin.bat

2. Download the cygwin-sshd-config.sh script to the following location on the Windows VM:
   C:\Cygwin\home\root\cygwin-sshd-config.sh 
3. Windows may have saved the file with a .txt extension, from within the Cygwin shell:

   ls ~
   cygwin-sshd-config.sh.txt

   If this is the case, rename the file:

   mv cygwin-sshd-config.sh.txt cygwin-sshd-config.sh

4. Make sure the script is set to executable:

   chmod \+x /home/root/cygwin-sshd-config.sh
   

5. Run the script and specify the root account password as an argument, enclose the password in ticks in case special characters are used in the password:

   /home/root/cygwin-sshd-config.sh '<PASSWORD>'
   

   You should see something similar to the following towards then end of the script output:

   The CYGWIN sshd service was started successfully.

Create an SSH key pair on the Management Node and Copy the Public Key to the authorized_keys File on the Windows XP VM

1. Download the gen-node-key.sh script to the following location on the management node:

   cd /root
   wget http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/download/attachments/121138/gen-node-key.sh?version=2

2. Set the script to be executable:

   chmod +x /root/gen-node-key.sh
   

3. Determine the IP address of the Windows XP VM by running ipconfig:

   Windows IP Configuration
   Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
   Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.123.175
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : dcs.mcnc.org
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 152.46.18.179
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.248.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 152.46.23.254

4. Run the script and specify the node as an argument (either the node's DNS name or IP address can be used):

   /root/gen-node-key.sh 152.46.18.179
   

   Note: You will need to enter the root account's password during script execution.
5. Attempt to connect from the management node to the Windows VM via SSH using the key:

   ssh 152.46.18.179
   

 
 vi /etc/hosts

vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Add the following line to the end of the file:

ListenAddress 192.168.0.1

Restart the sshd service on the management node

/sbin service sshd restart

cat /etc/vcl/vcl.key.pub >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

The following command should execute without having to enter a password:
ssh localvmhost 'ls /'

Save the original dhcpd.conf file:
mv /etc/dhcpd.conf /etc/dhcpd.conf.orig

vi /etc/dhcpd.conf

/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 dhcpd on

Configure the dhcpd service to only listen on the vmnet1 virtual network:

vi /etc/init.d/dhcpd 

Common Problems

 You may see the following dialog box when powering on a VM which has been saved in a VCL image. Click on Always Keep: