Windows 8 installation on esxi 5.0 is doable

Lets find out.
This should also work for esxi 4.1 and vmware workstation 8-6 though I haven't tried them.




Virtual Machine settings
Unless specially mentioned I am using the default


Create the VM for windows 8







Using custom









Name it









Using virtual machine 8







Guest Operating system: select other 64







Giving it the e1000 adapter







Choose LSI-SAS for your controller











Get bios 440 rom
From here: http://communities.vmware.com/message/2142390
Upload it to the folder where your vm's vmx is.











Edit Config file
Add the following to your config:  -Thanks Jmattson!


bios440.filename = "<full path to rom image>"
mce.enable = TRUE
cpuid.hypervisor.v0 = FALSE
vmGenCounter.enable = FALSE


Edit your vm    select configuration parameters






















Install of win 8
If you cannot boot your iso try this:
 http://sparrowangelstechnology.blogspot.com/2012/07/boot-virtual-machine-from-iso-tips-on.html


















Win 8 installed!



















*note:
You may encounter "DPC watchdog timeouts" in your Windows 8 guest with this approach, so it's not the ideal solution . -jmattson


Pasted from <http://communities.vmware.com/message/2142610#2142610>