Windows 10: VMWARE VM can now boot from USB stick / device

Hi there.

The latest version of VMWARE can now boot a VM from an external USB device (stick or HDD like an SSD etc.

I mean here that the BOOT can be from the USB device --of course one has always been able to OPEN a VM which exists on an external device but until recently you could only boot from the VM's HDD or an ISO either physical or an ISO image.

You need to get into POWER ON ---->Power on to Firmware when starting the VM.

Note also you can create UEFI bootable VM's even if your HOST hardware is an older machine that still only has MBR boot (legacy boot).





This info is for VMWARE WORKSTATION V 14 -- VBOX should have similar -- not sure how the config is set up.

VMPLAYER might not have the same facility -- I'm not sure if VMPLAYER (the free version) allows boot into Firmware option. Perhaps other people who have vmware player could post whether the firmware boot option exists.



Cheers
jimbo

:)

 

Bricked 830? after downgrade WP10 -> WP8.1‏

you're using a windows VM to recover devices?

 

download here - can upgrade 10122 -> 10162... NOT fresh install?

Well can boot from DVD in VMware Player VM win 10 pro to upgrade it?

Exist any other way...?

 

Are you sure it will work with flash drives?

Hyper-V has been able to boot from bootable usb hard drives for a long time but it requires taking the boot drive offline so VM has total control over it.

This is not possible with flash drives (windows to go certified drives may be an exception), as they cannot be taken offline. Of course this may be host OS dependent - you certainly cannot take a removable drive offline but inserted in Windows Hosts.

 

no one cares about this. what we want is to put our install media on usb and use that to create a vm instead of just selecting a iso. this should of addressed by them YEARS ago.

 

To answer Jimbo's question....
VMPLAYER might not have the same facility -- I'm not sure if VMPLAYER (the free version) allows boot into Firmware option. Perhaps other people who have vmware player could post whether the firmware boot option exists.
No, it does not.

 

What are you rabbiting on about? That is exactly what the new feature will do.

I cannot see any real point to it anyway, as all installation media are in downloadable iso format, and why bother tying up a usb stick and usb port anyway to install an OS on a VM. What is point of virtualising a PC if you don't virtualise everything?

Even if you got a usb drive installation drive, and no iso, it takes a couple of minutes to create an iso anyway.

In the end, this is a solution to a problem we never had!

 

you're clueless aren't you? it's a way to test a key before actually using it as you install media. yes it's rare for the media to fail while you are installing windows but it does happen, and this makes it possible to verify that the media will work as it should. and fyi his post says boot a vm not a iso from external usb.

 

Hi there

I'm the foreigner here but I thought my English was clear enough -- Boot whatever OS is on the USB -- I don't mean run VMWARE workstation and open a VM that's stored on an external USB drive.

I mean when you get into the VM's Virtual BIOS on VMware player select Boot into Firmware and then you can select as the boot device a USB drive / stick and boot whatever OS is on it. Until recently you could only give a real CD/ DVD device or an ISO image as one of the alternative boot options as well as the Virtual HDD or a network card (PXE).

Sorry if my English wasn't clear enough.

Cheers
jimbo

 

You are the clueless one.

Read Jimbo's reply. There is no need to have that ability JUST for testing a usb stick is working. In fact that is not the best way to test it at all. A far better way is to create a virtual hard drive and install to that!

 

It was clear to me but I did initially ask if it worked for usb flash drives, as Hyper-v can boot from usb hard drives but not normal usb removable flash drives as you cannot take them offline. You say in your reply it can - I assume you have done it?

 

Hi there

Works fine

The USB is just like a physical DVD or an ISO image.

The reason this is good is that you might have created the USB from another computer and want to install the OS (as a VM) on a different machine.

OK I know it's easy to do it with an ISO image but on say a USB you can either make it bootable for the VM or say store a load of ISO's on it and access those as Virtual ISO's at boot time.

It's not one of those "Absolutely Must have" features but I like it and find it useful.

I also like being able to create UEFI bootable VM's on ageing hardware (specifically older servers) that are still only MBR / legacy boot systems too -- although that's another issue and probably only exists in the paid vmware workstation product. Not sure about VM's on HYPER-V if you can do that (i.e create a UEFI VM on a HOST which only supports MBR BIOS boot).

Cheers
jimbo

 

Hyper-V allows you to do create uefi or legacy bios as well. The mechanism is slightly different as you select generation 1 (bios) or gen 2 (uefi) when you set up vm rather than at install time.

One minor limitation is installer will not install if only bios installer for uefi or vice versa.

Having said that, same would apply in VMWare, but unlike Hyper-V, I assume you would not need to setup a new VM compatible with installer.

Basically with Hyper-V, you need to know upfront what type you are going to install.

This is less of an issue with Windows or Macrium iso as they are usually dual bios/uefi anyway.