Trouble with Installing windows on VM

[thetangstr]

Hi all,
I'm new to FreeNAS and I'm trying to install a windows VM so I can download my google archive files. (Maybe there is a plugin that I can use this for? )

Anyways, so I was trying to install VM for windows 7, I'm using a bootable ISO file. I followed this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbTrG3HRrds but after I'm getting the Shell Prompt after starting the vm. see screen shot.

I checked bios and vt-x is turned on.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[dlavigne]

Were you able to resolve this?

 

[KrisBee]

Your screen grab is of the UEFI shell. Did you type exit to get the UEFI boot manger and try to find the Win7 UEFI bootfile from there?

You didn't say what version of FreeNAS you are using, but if your are doing this via the FreeNAS 11 webUI then you probably selected "UEFI" as the boot method. For some reason, your Win 7 VM is not finding the correct UEFI boot file post install. IIRC Windows 7 32-bit didn't support UEFI but 64-bit did, so I assume you've used a 64-bit iso.

Don't know if it will make a difference, but in the VNC device of your Windows 7 VM have you unchecked/checked the "Wait to boot" checkbox and also you'd normally want to remove the CD-ROM device post install.

P.S. The FreeNAS guides says this about choosing the VM boot method:

"UEFI for newer operating systems, or UEFI-CSM (Compatibility Support Mode) for older operating systems that only understand BIOS booting"

But, AFAIK the UEFI-CSM option doesn't work.

 

[thetangstr]

I'm using FreeNAS 11 and I'm still seeing the issue after changing the boot method to UEFI-CSM...I also tried using a different image ISO with winxp on it. no luck

....

 

[thetangstr]

up... still can't boot any ISOs

 

[Amsoil_Jim]

the issue I was having is that I would start the VM and the screen to start the windows install loads as soon as you start the VM, so I had to try a couple times to start the VM and then connect via VNC with in a second and press any key to start the setup process.
If you miss that small window where it says "press any key to continue" then it loads to the UEFI shell

 

[FreeZM]

type: exit
and use uefi-shell. maybe the iso isn´t bootable (not 100% correct...). further reading maybe: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/windows-7-vm-fails-to-install-in-freenas-v-11.55426/