VMware Workstation/ESXi BIOS/EFI SLIC Mod

This may seems stupid but I have no idea what I need to do. I have Vmware Workstation and I would like to activate Windows XP Pro 32 bit. What tools and files would I need?

 

I put the BIOS.440.ROM into the Virtual Machines folder and added the lines of code to the VMX but XP does not activate.

 

I placed the BIOS 440 ROM into the Virtual Machines folder and added
bios440.filename = "BIOS.440.ROM"

Do I not need to integrate something into this BIOS, a manufacturer logo and key?

 

Anyone can tell why when im using nvme in vmware 15 and place the virtual disk on ramdisk its doesn't get high speed compare if it was on nvme drive

thx

 

Hello pantagruel, I am also interested in activating (OEM) XP and 2003 server as virtual machines in VMware Workstation 15. However, the step to make an OEM disc is where I ran into trouble. When I boot the oembios tool v1.1 in a new virtual machine (on VMware Workstation) and choose Option 1: OEMBIOS test for Windows XP, it says "none of the 127 oembios sets will pre activate this system". However test for Windows 2003 it does find bios sets for Dell, Fujitsu, HP, HP.

How can I make the XPOEM disc to install on the virtual machine if there is no matching bios in the virtual machine? I am probably missing a step (or just plain doing it wrong) as I'm new to this. Appreciate if you or anyone can point me in the right direction to make the XPOEM disc that will activate on a vm.

I followed these guides:
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/th...-15-x-pro-player-slp-slic-bios-efi-mod.64693/
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/how-to-create-pro-oem-slp-cd.7580/
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/the-windows-xp-oembios-archive.9795/
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/the-windows-xp-oembios-archive.9795/page-18#post-373708

Update: I realized I was doing it out of order. I needed to drop the modded bios in the vm's folder first then run oembios tool v1.1. It found a bunch of oembios sets. Now will try continue with making XPOEM cd and hopefully it will activate.

Update 2: Success! XP oem activated in virtual machine.

 

Now I'm on a mission to make 2003R2 oem activated in a virtual machine. The step i'm puzzled about is OEM cd requirement, because I could not find a method to make OEM 2003 CD.

XP OEM CD is the only guide I found on MDL which was easy enough to follow. But what about for OEM 2003?

Or is 2003 a different process than XP for oem activation?

 

Yes I checked that post and believe I have the oembios file(s) I need for 2003R2, however it's the OEM CD that I have a question about:

Referencing the XP OEM CD post here:
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/how-to-create-pro-oem-slp-cd.7580/

Step 2 has you download a zip file (OEM SLP Files.zip) containing DPCDLL.DL_, NT5INF.CA_, PIDGEN.DLL, SETUPP.INI, SETUPREG.HIV, WINNT.SIF,
and you copy these files into the (WinXP) VLK source \I386 folder, replacing the original files. This works fine to make the XP OEM CD.

But I need to make a 2003R2 OEM CD. So, do I copy these same files (originally intended for XP OEM CD) into a 2003R2 VL source? Or is there another set of oem slp files specifically for 2003R2?

UPDATE: So just now I tried the OEM SLP files (intended for XP OEM CD) and copied them into a 2003R2 VL source and got popup error during install: "Setup failed to install the product catalogs. This is a fatal error.". Then it aborted the install entirely.

So it looks like we do need a specific set of "OEM SLP" files for 2003R2 to slipstream into the VL media in order to make the 2003R2 OEM CD. I just don't know how to get it.

Any help is appreciated

 

@Nazzy look here https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/server-2003-oembios-oem-slp-keys-archive.3339/
and here https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/server-2003-and-2003-r2-downloads.57526/page-6
and https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/server-2003-and-2003-r2-downloads.57526/page-2#post-1160114

 

Urie, I've looked through those threads, it's a bit overwhelming being new to the world of bios modding. Please understand I am very *VERY* new to this and don't understand many of the concepts yet.

I appreciate you posting the links but it would be more helpful to explain *why* those threads are significant as I am not familiar with most of it. I'm at a point where I need some actual guidance (read: tell me what I should do) rather than sifting through threads on my own trying to learn it. Been at it all day and not getting very far. So I am asking for someone to throw me a bone!

To reiterate, I think what I'm looking for is the OEM SLP files for Win2003R2 in order to convert VL media to OEM (following the XP OEM CD guide). Is this the right idea?

 

@ pantagruel thanks for the input been its while since I worked with xp e.t.c oembios files and I still have oem xp slp working on my desktop via VM
@Nazzy, pantagruel has posted a how to convert link
this link may help also https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/vlk-and-oembios-changer.6077/

 

@pantagruel and @urie,

Happy to report successful 2003R2 activation on both VMware and Hyper-V. Once I realized retail iso was all that was needed to inject the oembios files, it was easy. So I was able to skip Trial conversion process by simply using retail media. To learn Trial conversion is another topic for another day. For now I am happy to learn something new with this oembios experiment. Thank you both for your help.

-Nazzy