Windows NT 3.51 on VMware Player

[tomasont]

Has anyone successfully booted Windows NT 3.51 on VMware Player? It installs just fine, but I can't get it to boot.

 

[1ajs]

what did u set vmware to run as?

 

[deadcrickets]

Try it under VirtualPC 2007. It should work.

 

[TNC]

VirtualBox also runs fine, exept the additions, of course. You could install a generic VESA driver to get higher resolutions.

 

[JohnElliott]

Try it under VirtualPC 2007. It should work.

NT 3.51's IDE driver doesn't get on with Virtual PC 2007. To avoid massive data corruption, you need to replace the drivers manually, as described here.

(The same thing seems to apply with Linux; kernels in the 2.0 and 2.2 series produce a stream of 'lost interrupt' messages under VPC 2007).

 

[linuxlove]

You may also have to apply the Pentium II patch in order to get it running.

 

[TNC]

NT 3.51 does not need that.

 

[tomasont]

Another google search turned up a solution. I found this knowledgebase article on the VMware website. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1021509 A few tweaks to the vmx file fixed the issue, at least for me. The main change was changing the hardware type from 7 to 4.

 

[TNC]

There are a plenty possibilities what you can do with NT 3.51. Its quite hackable. You could install the latest version of Firefox 2, Thunderbird 2. Patch Flash that even Youtube works. You can have a VNC Server for managing the machine from somewhere else, play Quake 3, listen to your music with an early version of Winamp 5... i could go on... :D

 

[Chromedome45]

And if you really want to go crazy with it you could install the Shell Update which made it look like NT 4.0!!!

 

[Klee]

And if you really want to go crazy with it you could install the Shell Update which made it look like NT 4.0!!!

DO NOT DO THAT!!!!!!!!!!

I did that once........................went from being perfectly stable to an completely unstable pile of poo.!!!

 

[TNC]

And if you really want to go crazy with it you could install the Shell Update which made it look like NT 4.0!!!

Why would you install NT 3.51 then?

 

[pearce_jj]

I'm probably too late, but yes v4 virtual hardware is needed. I've added a how-to on my wiki, based on content I originally posted on the vmware communities forums: http://vintage-blog.peacon.co.uk/wiki/Installing_Windows_NT_3.51_on_VMware

 

[mickrussom]

Need help with Sound on Windows NT 3.51, I solved the rest of the issues with HW v6

Need help with Sound on Windows NT 3.51, I solved the rest of the issues with HW v6

Has anyone successfully booted Windows NT 3.51 on VMware Player? It installs just fine, but I can't get it to boot.

I installed Windows NT 3.51 with SMP on Fusion 6.0.2.

I need help ONLY with sound, EVERYTHING else works.

Here is my VMX (below)

High res video for NT 3.51:
The way to make your video work is to put FRAMEBUF.DL_ (from CD:\I386) - expand c:\winnt35\framebuf.dll and c:\winnt35\system32\framebuf.dll. Then use this driver for high res:http://bearwindows.boot-land.net/vbempj.zip

I need help with sound:
Need help with sound driver. If anyone can give my any working sound on any vmware product with NT 3.51 let me know what the VMX looks like pretty please.

I got everything working in NT 3.51:
I got SMP working with VMware HW Version 6. SMP works, 1024mb ram, 4gb C-drive, networking works, 1280x1024x32bit VESA working, everything is working but SOUND! How do I get sound working in NT 3.51. I tried es1371 and sb16, I need help.

.encoding = "UTF-8"
cleanShutdown = "TRUE"
config.version = "8"
displayName = "NT351S"
ehci.pciSlotNumber = "19"
ehci.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.connectionType = "nat"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
ethernet0.linkStatePropagation.enable = "TRUE"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
extendedConfigFile = "NT351S.vmxf"
floppy0.clientDevice = "FALSE"
floppy0.fileType = "file"
floppy0.present = "TRUE"
floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
guestOS = "winnt"
hgfs.linkRootShare = "TRUE"
hgfs.mapRootShare = "TRUE"
isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "FALSE"
memsize = "1024"
mks.enable3d = "FALSE"
numvcpus = "2"
nvram = "NT351S.nvram"
powerType.powerOff = "soft"
powerType.powerOn = "soft"
powerType.reset = "soft"
powerType.suspend = "soft"
replay.filename = ""
replay.supported = "FALSE"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "Virtual Disk.vmdk"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.redo = ""
scsi0:1.autodetect = "TRUE"
scsi0:1.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
scsi0:1.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:1.startConnected = "FALSE"
softPowerOff = "FALSE"
tools.syncTime = "TRUE"
tools.upgrade.policy = "upgradeAtPowerCycle"
usb.present = "TRUE"
usb:1.speed = "2"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
virtualHW.version = "6"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "16777216"
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.fileName = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
hpet0.present = "FALSE"
ide1:0.present = "FALSE"
pciBridge0.present = "FALSE"
pciBridge4.present = "FALSE"
pciBridge5.present = "FALSE"
pciBridge6.present = "FALSE"
pciBridge7.present = "FALSE"
serial0.present = "FALSE"
vmci0.present = "FALSE"
sound.pciSlotNumber = "18"
monitor.phys_bits_used = "36"
checkpoint.vmState = ""

 

[mickrussom]

I'm probably too late, but yes v4 virtual hardware is needed. I've added a how-to on my wiki, based on content I originally posted on the vmware communities forums: http://vintage-blog.peacon.co.uk/wiki/Installing_Windows_NT_3.51_on_VMware

I have a VMX with v6 hardware and SMP working on NT 3.51 in this thread. You need to disable the pci bridges and V6 works even with SMP