132 replies to this topic

[sanbarrow]

Peter - try this sam.reg patch
http://sanbarrow.com/files/sam.zip

WARNING: doubleclicking this patch on a regular windows will probably trash your system

Peter - instead of curing my influenza I tested this patch on US, french and german sources.
It works: you can skip all net - commands to establish accounts.


I only tested on original MOA but I guess it should work for MOA-lite too.
In original MOA this patch is applied as early as possible - I guess you should do that too.

Ulli

[sanbarrow]

Just curious - Peter - do you have any idea why you need this FIPS-service while I don't even have it ?

[pscEx]

Just curious - Peter - do you have any idea why you need this FIPS-service while I don't even have it ?

It's historical.
In the very beginning (when there have been still a lot of bugs in the project) with filemon I found that it is used.

I'll check and maybe remove.

Thanks

Peter

BTW: SAM patch is ok

[pscEx]

Just curious - Peter - do you have any idea why you need this FIPS-service while I don't even have it ?

You are right
I tested with ISO and FIPS seems to be really not necessary.

I'll remove it from nativeEX_moa-lite.

Peter

[TheHive]

Ran into a problem. For some reason my drive decided not to work.
I was posting the comments above earlier when testing and then my computer went down a few minutes after posting. Ill have to get a new drive for further testing.

Ill see if I can work with the one that is not showing my partitions. Hopefully I can use it and get my stuff out of it.

[pscEx]

I delivered a new version of the project.

It now can be called 'Release Candidate'

• VMXBuilder fully runs and can launch VMPlayer
  
• VMNet1 and VMNet8 IP adresses now can be defined in PENetwork version 24 (Thanks, Holger! )
  
• The VMWare Authentication Service is bypassed by Sanbarrow's SAM patch

There are a lot of files / scripts obsolete. Therfore: If you want to test, start with a fresh folder, as defined in the first post.
(Hint: Maybe you save the VMWare Player extracted files)

BTW: When you burn a CD, don't forget to include your PC's network driver!

@Sanbarrow
When you won four fight against your influenca, I need some instructions, what to do to implement MOA in this project.

Maybe good, if you explain also in some words the main ideas of MOA.
(Do not point to the video on your site! I saw and did not understand the sence )

Peter

[sanbarrow]

@Sanbarrow
When you won four fight against your influenca, I need some instructions, what to do to implement MOA in this project.

Maybe good, if you explain also in some words the main ideas of MOA.
(Do not point to the video on your site! I saw and did not understand the sence )

- yes - common first impression is: what the hell is this good for ???

Maybe a simple example : Imagine you are a student and have to write a long homework - and have a girlfriend in Berlin while you live in Munich.
You started to write your homework in Office and have this Office installed in a Windows 2000 VM. At home you run this VM through a regular installation of VMware on your normal computer. Now weekend comes. You put that VM on a USB disk and carry it with you.
In Berlin you then boot your girlfriends computer into MOA-lite CD - plugin your USB-disk and start your Office VM and continue your work where you left it in Munich.
You see - with a VMware LiveCD in your pocket - VMs are really portable - where ever you find a box that you can boot into your LiveCD you can use your VMs that you carry on a USB-disk. It doesn't even matter if the box is Windows or what ever.

In short - with a LiveCD that can run your personal VMs from a USB-disk - you only need a computer that you can boot into - 5 minutes later you get your personal environment where ever you are.


I'll try new build now

Ulli

[pscEx]

In short - with a LiveCD that can run your personal VMs from a USB-disk - you only need a computer that you can boot into - 5 minutes later you get your personal environment where ever you are.

I hope I understood:
I do not have only data and portable apps on my stick (I currently have a stick connected to my car's key, containing KeyPass with several tens of accounts). I also have my personal OS + apps in my pocket. And using VMWare makes everything more hardware independent.

Correct?

Peter

[sanbarrow]

Yes - USB-sticks/disks allow portable data. They also allow to run some apps without local installation.
With a LiveCD that can run VMs from portable media you are no longer limited to portable apps.

If you want, you can use any computer to run your old NT 4 CAD-program.

[pscEx]

Yes - USB-sticks/disks allow portable data. They also allow to run some apps without local installation.
With a LiveCD that can run VMs from portable media you are no longer limited to portable apps.

If you want, you can use any computer to run your old NT 4 CAD-program.

That means:
I have one nativeEx_moa-lite CD (which hopefully starts on most PCs) and an unlimited library of USB sticks with fully writable VMs?

Great

BTW: That causes that the nativeEx_moa-lite CD has to have USB support! (?)
Next step to add ? ...

Peter

[sanbarrow]

BTW: That causes that the nativeEx_moa-lite CD has to have USB support! (?)
Next step to add ? ...

Peter

Yep - USB-support is a must-have.

Peter - you asked in a PM for the meaning of "MOA"
As this is no secret I'll explain it here.
Basically that goes back to an old joke on my very first website about VMware-stuff 4 years ago.
There I had started something like a self-help group for VMware-addicts - following the AAA - idea (anti alocoholics anonymous)
MOA translated to "Multi Operating-system Anonymous" or "Multi Operating-system Addicts"
We exchanged tips how to survive the pain we had to go through when ever we had to work on computers with only one OS running at the same time. One year later I started fiddling BartPE and VMware together.

Nowadays the MOA-liveCD is a good cure for this
Recently I added another meaning: Multi OS administration - because a MOA-LiveCD now allows native filesystem access to any OS - not limited to the Windows-family.
With a MOA-CD built with Workstation and a couple of VMs on DVD in your pocket - you can boot the 2k3-LiveCD on a unknown box.
If you then find out that the box has installed Solaris - you then load a Solaris-VM and can have native solaris-filesystem access using the physical-disk option - without reboot into a Solaris-LiveCD.
In an extreme case you can run filesystem checks/repair in a multiboot-system running NetBSD, Solaris, NT4 and Win95 all at the same time.
So the name Multi OS Administration is justified

My personal favorite is still Multi OS Addicts though

[pscEx]

Yep - USB-support is a must-have.

Peter - you asked in a PM for the meaning of "MOA"
As this is no secret I'll explain it here.
Basically that goes back to an old joke on my very first website about VMware-stuff 4 years ago.
There I had started something like a self-help group for VMware-addicts - following the AAA - idea (anti alocoholics anonymous)
MOA translated to "Multi Operating-system Anonymous" or "Multi Operating-system Addicts"
We exchanged tips how to survive the pain we had to go through when ever we had to work on computers with only one OS running at the same time. One year later I started fiddling BartPE and VMware together.

Nowadays the MOA-liveCD is a good cure for this
Recently I added another meaning: Multi OS administration - because a MOA-LiveCD now allows native filesystem access to any OS - not limited to the Windows-family.
With a MOA-CD built with Workstation and a couple of VMs on DVD in your pocket - you can boot the 2k3-LiveCD on a unknown box.
If you then find out that the box has installed Solaris - you then load a Solaris-VM and can have native solaris-filesystem access using the physical-disk option - without reboot into a Solaris-LiveCD.
In an extreme case you can run filesystem checks/repair in a multiboot-system running NetBSD, Solaris, NT4 and Win95 all at the same time.
So the name Multi OS Administration is justified

My personal favorite is still Multi OS Addicts though

Peter

[sanbarrow]

Peter - you must be careful with that sam.reg patch.
I just double-clicked it for fun inside a VM and found out that it really kills a regular installation.
Please take measurements that it is not lying around in the build-directory as sam.reg - sooner or later some curious mind will doubleclick it.

In original moa I embedded it in the launcher - but need to change that now as with cheatcode "net" I need to apply it before I have writeable space.
Now I let pebuilder rename it from sam.patch to sam.reg at built-time.
This at least makes sure it is not lying around in a double-clickable form inside the plugins-directories.

In a ramloading built you can rename it just before applying it ...

[pscEx]

Peter - you must be careful with that sam.reg patch.
I just double-clicked it for fun inside a VM and found out that it really kills a regular installation.
Please take measurements that it is not lying around in the build-directory as sam.reg - sooner or later some curious mind will doubleclick it.
In a ramloading built you can rename it just before applying it ...

In the previus version it has been sam.reg.txt and was renamed when copying to the target.
Now it is attached in the script and invisible for the normal user.

But if the user intentionally exports it to his system and then double clicks, ...
Not my or your fault.

Peter

[TheHive]

If its embeded in the Script. It would be a good idea to put in a folder like
Reg_Do_not_run_in_regular_OS\sam_Kills_Regular_system.reg

Rename to sam.reg at build time. In this manner the user has a double warning about what the reg will do on a regular OS install.

[TheHive]

If its embeded in the Script. It would be a good idea to put in a folder like
Reg_Do_not_run_in_regular_OS\sam_Kills_Regular_system.reg

Rename to sam.reg at build time. In this manner the user has a double warning about what the reg will do on a regular OS install.

[pscEx]

If its embeded in the Script. It would be a good idea to put in a folder like
Reg_Do_not_run_in_regular_OS\sam_Kills_Regular_system.reg

Rename to sam.reg at build time. In this manner the user has a double warning about what the reg will do on a regular OS install.

I now use the name turned 'reg.sam'.

Regedit can also import files with extentions different from'.reg'

Peter

[MedEvil]

I now use the name turned 'reg.sam'.

Regedit can also import files with extentions different from'.reg'

Peter

Very nice solution!

[cdob]

I'm using at VMplayer running

reg add HKLM\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Aliases\Names\__vmware__

reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\Names\__vmware_user__

This add a basic vmware account. VMplayer does run.
That's language independend and no additional files are required.

Hot plug USB stick required addtional settings.
Insert USB stick and adjust registry HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB
http://www.911cd.net...&...st&p=138181

[pscEx]

I'm using at VMplayer running

reg add HKLM\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Aliases\Names\__vmware__

 reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\Names\__vmware_user__

This add a basic vmware account. VMplayer does run.
That's language independend and no additional files are required.

Thanks, cdob.
I tried it already and it works fine.
But I want to stay identical with sanbarrows way.

USB hot plug:
Thanks, I'll remember. Currently I'm working with stick plugged in at boot time.

There is an issue:

I cloned a running vmx to the stick.

When starting the vmx from the stick, I get an error:

Running the original vmx from HDD is ok.
I can also edit the vmx on USB by VMXBuilder.

Has somebody an idea what's going wrong?

Peter

[sanbarrow]

Thanks, cdob.
I tried it already and it works fine.
But I want to stay identical with sanbarrows way.

Peter - don't do this just because I always used such a big patch.
If cdob's suggestion works - adopt it. It surely is cleaner and plays nicer with your localized built-system.
I still hope to have RDP as server one day - so I still use this "moon" account.

About the USB-error:
please repeat it and then send the vmware.log that will be created in the directory of the VM on the stick.
If it is too large to post here send to webmaster at sanbarrow dot com.


Peter - here are two more config-files you should add.
Preferences.ini

pref.eula.0.appName = "VMware Player"

pref.eula.0.buildNumber = "55017"

webUpdate.checkLast = "1194822869"

pref.vmplayer.exit.vmAction = "poweroff"

pref.vmplayer.confirmOnExit = "TRUE"

pref.vmplayer.webUpdateOnStartup = "FALSE"

location:
R:\home\moon\application data\vmware\preferences.ini - adjust for your needs

It sets the default action to exit at poweroff - if you don't have this - the VM will be suspended - which maybe impossible if you run a VM from ramdisk. It also disables homecalls and the "accept licence" popup.

Config.ini

sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE"

 prefvmx.useRecommendedLockedMemSize = "TRUE"

 prefvmx.minVmMemPct = "100"

 priority.grabbed = "normal"

 priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

 mainMem.partialLazySave = "FALSE"

 mainMem.partialLazyRestore = "FALSE"

 mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"

Location:
R:\home\anybody\application data\vmware\VMware Player\config.ini - or your localized equivalent.

This are performance tweaks for usage with a pagefile.
This line is very important:
mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"

VMware uses a file the same size as the nominal RAM of a VM to backup the virtual RAM.
This is slower than using real RAM - and it may not even possible to create the file if you run a VM from RAMdisk.
I always use this config.ini as it sets safe start conditions.
In case VMware says it can't allocate the virtual RAM - setting
mainMem.useNamedFile = "TRUE"
may allow you to start the VM but in this case you need enough free space in the VM's directory.
In case you need to edit this - close VMplayer first.

[sanbarrow]

Cdob and Peter
which net cmds do you use along with

reg add HKLM\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Aliases\Names\__vmware__
reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\Names\__vmware_user__

It doesn't work for me

Ulli

[pscEx]

Cdob and Peter
which net cmds do you use along with

reg add HKLM\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Aliases\Names\__vmware__
reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\Names\__vmware_user__

It doesn't work for me

Ulli

I used a .reg file:

REGEDIT4



[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Aliases\Names\__vmware__]



[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\Names\__vmware_user__]

If you use reg.exe (no net cmd!) make sure to have it in your environment.

Peter

[sanbarrow]

I have reg.exe in the built but it doesn't work ???
I also checked with regedit if reg.exe had worked ... strange

[pscEx]

I have reg.exe in the built but it doesn't work ???
I also checked with regedit if reg.exe had worked ... strange

Go into a cmd window and execute the reg line manually.

Then reg.exe tells you about troubles.

Peter