Running openelec in vmware: No devices were found

[pmorch]

Hi there,

I wanted to give OpenELEC a spin, and so I tried using VMware for this.

I used a PLoP boot manager, to boot the USB vmware instance, similar to what was mentioned in this post: Running openelec in vmware.

But I don't even get to the point where it recognizes /dev/sda. After I hit "Quick Install of OpenELEC", I see a "No devices were found" error message. Ubuntu, knoppix, clonezilla all recognize /dev/sda fine. Also booting a Ubuntu USB stick via PLoP saw /dev/sda. Any ideas on how I should proceed?

I've tried both OpenELEC 1.0 (1.0.2) [XBMC-Dharma] and OpenELEC 2.0 Beta 4(1.95.4) [XBMC-Eden] and both gave me the same error message.

The OP in that other thread got beyond the point I'm stuck at, but if it doesn't run in VMware anyway, then perhaps there isn't any point pursuing this.

This comment in the thread mentioned above from 5 months 1 week ago says:

OE is not supported on vmware and there are some necessary drivers missing. The 3.3 Linux kernel is supposed to include many improvements to "native" vmware support so once that ships there will be development interest in making OE work in vmware.

Today, kernel.org lists 3.3.6 as the stable kernel, so 3.3 is out. Should OE run on vmware now, e.g. in 1.95.4?

[chewitt]

Yes/No. If you pick any of the officially created/published images they will not run in vmware or virtualbox as they are still missing the required graphics (and other) drivers. If you build the "Virtual" project from git sources you will have something that includes the right drivers - several of the project staff run virtual OE systems for central library maintenance tasks and that kind of thing.

[pmorch]

I guess I'm giving up on OE for now. Here is what I tried that led me to that:

I cloned the git repo. The README.md says to look in INSTALL, but there is no INSTALL file. I guess I could run make, but then I have no idea how to choose/activate

Code:

projects/Virtual/

, as you instructed me to do.

Instead, I noticed the create_virtualimage in OpenELEC-ION.i386-1.95.4.tar.bz2. However, it hardcodes

Code:

LOOP="/dev/loop0"

And then proceeds to:

Code:

# ensure loop0 not in use
umount "$LOOP"
losetup -d "$LOOP"

But hey! That's my machine OE is messing with. I actually already use /dev/loop0 for something else! That's what

Code:

losetup -f

is for!!!

• Ok, fix my system.
  
• Modify to use
  Code:

  /dev/loop1
  .
  
• Build OpenELEC.vmdk
  
• Create a virtual machine in VMware workstation 8.0.3, that has OpenELEC.vmdk as its hard disk.
  
• Boot it.
  
• Notice that nothing at all happens. It doesn't boot from the disk.
  

I guess I'll surrender and give up.

[chewitt]

The Virtual project is a little experimental which is why there is no official image - if you find issues like use of the /dev/loopX devices please file suggestions (or code) improvements via github.

For some hints on building from sources (what packages are required, etc.) these might help:

http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php?title=...rom_source
http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php?title=...spberry_Pi

"PROJECT=Virtual make release" is the command needed to build the Virtual project.

Once the build completes you have files in the 'target' folder to use the create_virtualimage script on

[pmorch]

Thanks, chewitt, for taking the time to respond to my posts. You're right I should post bug reports. Here they are:

Issue #717: create_virtualimage umounts hardcoded /dev/loop0
https://github.com/OpenELEC/OpenELEC.tv/issues/717

Issue #718: Install from source: README.md refers to non-existing INSTALL file
https://github.com/OpenELEC/OpenELEC.tv/issues/718

Peter

[mimi112]

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