VMware Workstation (Multi-Brand) Bios Installer

yes searchengine exactly what I have been trying to get conformation of that's why i asked for screenshots and was vmware 8 installed to default location getting different replies

 

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No go for me. I'm on Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and I selected Dell as the vendor. I deleted the existing EXEs and did a repair installation just to be sure I had untouched versions. I also deleted the -debug.exe ones after the repair just in case.

I noticed that the modified date of the vmware-vmx.exe changed to the current date/time, but the one in the x64 sub-directory didn't change, so that one must not have been patched.

Thank you so much for all the hard work you already put into this tool, searchengine. Hopefully the next test is a success and then you can retire (at least until 9.0 at which point we'll beg you to come back again to update it).

 

Fresh vmware installation, clean untouched files.

After executing your VMBIOS_Selector_v315n.exe from the Test-x64bit archive (as Admin ofc) I get a backup of the x86 vmware-vmx.exe in "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\BackUp-VMX\vmware-vmx.exe" and a modified "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmware-vmx.exe" but the "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\x64\vmware-vmx.exe" is neither backup-ed nor modified through your VMBIOS_Selector_v315n.exe

 

Quick Update: As I reported earlier, the vmware-vmx.exe file in the x64 directory didn't get updated with the latest test version. As a workaround, I completed a second round of patching by temporarily renaming vmware-vmx.exe in the main directory that was already patched, and then copied in the one from x64 and ran the patch again. I then moved the newly patched one back into x64 and renamed the one I temporarily renamed back to the original name again. This was a success.

My only concern at all is that the patch is version 315 of the BIOS even though VMware 8 comes with version 339. Everything seems to be working fine so far though. I'm hesitant to upgrade the VMs to the Workstation 8 capabilities, including HD Audio, because it may require some elements of the 339 BIOS to operate. I'll hold off on that until the BIOS can be upgraded to the latest (if/when).

Thank you again, searchengine.

 

It works like a charm, using WMware 8.0.0 build-471780 under Windows7x64, after manually copying vmware-vmx.exe from my

E:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\x64
to
C:\~VMware Bios Patching~


choosing ACER BIOS and manually copying patched vmware-vmx.exe back to E:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\x64

Just installed Windows7x64SP1 and activated using ACER Windows7 serial, activated instantaneously, no probs whatsoever.

Previous attempts to activate an earlier Windows7x64 VM that I had created and run successfully still non-activated under VMware7.1.4_x64 got stuck using VMware8x64 (using VMBIOS_Selector_v315m.exe) after initial Windows opening screen, during flying color-balls opening.

If you can either retrieve VMware x32/x64 version from registry or let user manually select and choose install directory path (not everyone likes to install everything on their C:\ drive) this would be fantastic and comfortable.

Tnx for the great work!

 

Keuli,

great find, thanks very much! this worked for me.

 

Here's my saga. Downloaded Window 8 and Vmware 8. Installed patcher and it worked great. Went to install Windows 8 developer and right after it starts I kept getting hal_initialization failed. Looked all over the net for related problems and there were a lot. So today I replaced the vmware-vmx file with the original and Windows 8 loaded just fine. Any mod suggestions to the hpvmware bios would be great so that I could have both slp and slic and Windows 8 working .

 

well, I installed VMWare Workstation 8 on Windows 8 (64 bit Developer Preview) and opened an existing Dell Xp Pro vm.

Using

didn't activate it, I'm sorry to say, but,

keuli's method worked perfectly.

 

Can you send me a PM to test the Test(2)-x64bit file please i give yours feedback thx.

 

The path to install dir in my case:

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\vmware.exe]
@="D:\\VM\\vmware.exe"
"Path"="D:\\VM\\"

So vmware-vmx.exe can be found (in my case) in D:\VM and D:\VM\x64

Maybe can be coded with this key to find install dir and pathch the 2 files?

 

Ps. Windows 8 will not work in the VM with the Patched vmware-vmx.exe ,but it runs only with the original vmware-vmx.exe

 

I can also confirm this to be true. With the patched vmware-vmx.exe (which uses the 315 BIOS rather than the 339 it comes with), Windows 8 shuts down before it starts showing a HAL_INITIALIZATION_ERROR on the blue screen of death with the frowny face.

When I use the bios440.filename option in the VMX file and give it a copy of the 339 BIOS, it starts up perfectly.

This basically boils down to VMware Workstation 8 shipping with BIOS 339, but the patch still using 315. While it works for Windows 7 and previous operating systems, it won't work with Windows 8 and I suspect some of the new features of VMware Workstation 8 that come with upgrading the machine compatibility for HD Audio and such may not function properly either.

 

VMBIOS_Selector_v315m.7z (patcher) and Rom collection links dead. Please relink.

Im soryy. I did search a few minute and ı foun a link..
_wxx.mediafire.com/?rdm6dd1wyi30onq

 

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