Windows OEM and SMBIOS

[webfrank]

Hi, after several test I cannot find out how to pass parameters to kvm for smbios to have Windows 2003 Std OEM (HP Branded) to install.

I have Proxmox 1.8 on the same HW was W2K3, I used dmidecode -t0 / -t1 to extract SMBIOS strings and constructed args line of VM101.conf like this:

args: -smbios type=0,vendor=HP,version=P57,date=23/11/2007 -smbios type=1,manufacturer=HP,product="ProLiant ML370 G5"

I used all combinations of uuid, serial, sku but whenever I start from the ISO it prompts me I have not a supported hardware.

Any ideas?

 

[tom]

Yes, if you have a license for a dedicated HP hardware the error message is correct.

If you workaround this, you are using a unlicensed copy. Others in this forum also did this. (with "success" as far as I know).

But if you want to use commercial software you need to buy also valid licenses ...

 

[flypig]

I would like to know how this can be done as well.
Passing the args param to kvm is not sufficient, you also need to extract the actual HP SLIC table and recompile SeaBIOS

There were serveral post about the SLIC table, but I could not get it working too thou:
http://forum.proxmox.com/threads/6772-Proxmox-and-SeaBIOS-additional-parameters?highlight=bios

Let me know if you managed to get it working.

 

[willy1009]

Oem license is only for the hardware computer, you can't install it on virtual machine it's illegal. You must buy a legal copy of your OS.

 

[atinazzi]

Well... according to a recent announcement from HP dated 29/11/2011 http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...Id=420496&prodTypeId=18964&objectID=c00970200 Installing ROK OEM OSs on virtual machines it is perfectly legal, and supported from HP. In fact HP also provide instructions on how to bypass they media protection and install on VMs. The above communicate is about installing on VMware but there is also a similar communicate about installing on Xen. Unfortunately, they have no instructions for KVM.

I had the same problem and after may different attempts I figured out a way to install on KVM. Surely not the most straight forward, but it worked.

I created a VM on VirtualBox, then I entered the command

VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcbios/0/Config/DmiSystemVendor" "HP"

Yep.... the only parameter needed is System Vendor = HP... nothing else!!

Once installed on VirtualBox you can then copy the hard disk file across and mount it on a KVM VM or you can use a tool like partimage to export and import the partition.

On 2008 or Windows 7 you may have to log in to a recovery console and do a

bootrec /RebuildBcd[LEFT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Segoe UI][B][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

to rebuild the bootrecord. To do that just boot the VM using an evaluation ISO image.

Certainly it would have been much simpler to pass "System Vendor = HP" to KVM BIOS but I could not figure out how to do it. If you know... please share.