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From: Hajo on 20 Mar 2006 13:39

Given:
Suse 9.3
vmware 4.5.3 including vmware-any-any-updateXY
MS XP Professional

Disk layout:
1 Primary Partion: XP
2 Primary Partion: /boot
1 Extend Partition: swap
2 Extend Partition: /


Bootloader
1) native XP bootloader on P1
- XP Native
- XP VMware
- Suse 9.3 ( default ) - Booting Suse 9.3

2)
- GRUB ( installed on Primary Partion 2 - not in the MBR )
- Suse
- Suse Failsafe
- memtest


Task:
Able to run XP natively or using the same partition in vmware to run XP
on a Suse 9.3 system.

Problem:
Trying to start XP in the VMWARE session lead to the error message:
....NTLDR missing

Cause:
The disk geometry ( cyl,head,sect ) between Linux and XP was not the
same. Mostly Linux got the numbers complettly wrong. ( On this system -
a compaq nc4010 - the cylinder count was messed up )

Solution
1) XP MUST BE installed first.
Important:
Please read
http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=36 to make
XP vmware aware - meaning right after installation create 2 hardware
profiles and add IDE driver.

2) Login to XP and get the disk geometry from the XP point of view
All Programs - Acessories - System Tools - System Information
Example:
Sector /Track 63 ( Meaning: Sector )
Total Cylinders 9000 ( Meaning: Cylinder )
Tracks/Cylinder 240 ( Meaning: heads )


3) Extend the kernel option in GRUb to include " hda=Cyl,heads,Sector "
( hda=9000,240,63 )
Example:
kernel (hd0,1)/vmlinux root=/dev/hda6 hda=9000,240,63

Reboot and
- check within linux that the kernel has taken the new parameter:
$ hdparm -g /dev/hda

- Login and start vmware
$ vmware

- Create your XP Session and try to boot. This time the NTLDR error
message should gone.

Might help somebody
Hajo

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