HOWTO: Running under VMware

[pjc2]

For those who don't like to read instructions:

The crucial step is to click on the "Advanced..." button in the CD/DVD drive configuration and select "SCSI" device.

But for those who like step-by-step instructions (and specifics), read on.

1. Install VMware Player on your host operating system of choice. For example, VMware Player 3.0 on Ubuntu 9.04. (Despite its recent release, VMware Player 3.0 does not yet support Ubuntu 9.10 as a host OS.)
2. VM > Create a new VM
3. Insert your Windows installation CD (or choose your ISO). For example, Windows 2000 Professional.
4. If the guest OS is not automatically detected by VMware, select it from the drop-down menu.
5. Customize the hardware:
   • 512 MB RAM (256 MB might work, but is untested)
   • CD/DVD: click on the "Advanced..." button and select "SCSI" device. This is the crucial step. Failing to do this will cause all sorts of I/O errors when dbPoweramp tries to read from the drive (for example, when attempting to configure AccurateRip). Incidentally, do NOT select "legacy emulation", in which VMware pretends to be the ATAPI device instead of passing through commands.
6. Proceed with OS installation.
7. When the installation prompts you to remove the CD in your drive, either remove it (if you're installing from a physical CD) or go to VM > Settings > CD/DVD and select "Use a physical drive".
8. (Optional) Install VMware Tools (VM > Install VMware Tools). This is not strictly necessary for dbPoweramp, but it is recommended, as Windows 2000 will otherwise support only 640x480 16-color graphics.

The above has been confirmed to work with:

• VMware Player 3.0 (free)
• Ubuntu 9.04 host (free)
• Windows 2000 guest (both original and SP4)
• dbPoweramp R13.3
• several different IDE optical drives, including a laptop drive with a StarTech OPT2SATA slim-optical-to-SATA bridge

I don't see any reason why the same steps shouldn't work on a Mac running VMWare Fusion, but I haven't tested this. Additionally, Macs' internal optical drives are not necessarily good for ripping.

[andynormancx]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

I'm pleased to say I have dbPowerAmp running well using VMWare on both Windows and Mac hosts. Using VMWare Server on a Vista host and VMWare Fusion 3 on Snow Leopard.

When I first copied my ripper image (a bare bones XP guest) onto the Mac it didn't work, it seemed to thing that the drive was an NEC (it is a Pioneer) and the offsets were screwed up when trying to read AccurateRip key discs).

I updated the VMWare tools on the image and rebooted it. After that it all worked fine, not sure whether it was the newer tools (may have included a different driver for the virtual CD drive) or the reboot that fixed it.

I can confirm however that the drive in my Mac Mini is not a fast ripper. It is 2-3 times slower than the drives in my cheap and nasty Dell machines.

I find it somewhat ironic that my best drive (despite have access to a few drives including an old Plextor) for ripping troublesome discs is the light weight drive in my Dell laptop. For some reason that often rips discs that other drives can't, with ease.

[pjc2]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

When I first copied my ripper image (a bare bones XP guest) onto the Mac it didn't work, it seemed to thing that the drive was an NEC (it is a Pioneer) and the offsets were screwed up when trying to read AccurateRip key discs).

This is usually symptomatic of having turned on "Use legacy emulation on physical devices." In particular, turning legacy emulation on causes your drive to appear as "NECVMWar - VMware IDE CDR01". That's because VMware is pretending to be (emulating) the ATAPI drive rather than passing the ATAPI commands through to the drive.

Once ATAPI commands are getting passed through the drive itself, it can be correctly identified.

[andynormancx]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

I definitely didn't change the configuration (there doesn't appear to be anywhere in the Fusion UI to change the emulation setting). So either rebooting the image or updating the tools must have toggled the hidden setting somehow.

I'm guessing there is no way to encourage the drive in my Mac Mini to rip faster ? It seems odd that it is so much slower at ripping than all the other drives I have ripped with in recent years.

[pjc2]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

I definitely didn't change the configuration.... So either rebooting the image or updating the tools must have toggled the hidden setting somehow.

It was probably updating the tools. Without the updated VMware drivers, it might have been identifying your controller chipset rather than the drive connected. (I noticed this with a USB-connected drive: VMware thinks it's an NEC device, which when attached connects a Pioneer mass storage device, which is the actual drive.)

I'm guessing there is no way to encourage the drive in my Mac Mini to rip faster? It seems odd that it is so much slower at ripping than all the other drives I have ripped with in recent years.

Many Minis ship with Sony Optiarc drives these days, and I've seen multiple posts from Spoon here lamenting their poor performance.

Also, turning on C2 can slow some drives down drastically. (From x20+ down to x6 or so.) If your disc is in the AccurateRip database, you can safely turn C2 off for mass ripping, and then turn C2 back on for any inaccurate tracks.

[andynormancx]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

Oh, thanks. Turned off C2 and it can now manage at 12x

(still less than half the speed of my other drive though)

[Porcus]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

Dumb Q, but: do you actually get access to C2 through the virtualization layer?

[pjc2]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

Dumb Q, but: do you actually get access to C2 through the virtualization layer?

Good question. Running the C2 detection process with a marker-vandalized CD seems to confirm that C2 detection works, at least on a DupliQ (Pioneer DVR-116 via USB).

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work. VMware is just passing the ATAPI packets straight through to the device. But I haven't run my test CD through its paces on my internal IDE drives.

[ajkidle]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

For those who don't like to read instructions:

The crucial step is to click on the "Advanced..." button in the CD/DVD drive configuration and select "SCSI" device.

This does not appear to be an option under Fusion 4. Is it no longer necessary? Anyone successfully running dbPowerAmp under Fusion 4? I'm having trouble getting my CD drive to configure with AccurateRip. I keep getting the dreaded "this does not match the disc stored in AccurateRip" error.

Guess I'll just have to continue using Bootcamp for dbPowerAmp. Darn.

[ajkidle]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

This does not appear to be an option under Fusion 4. Is it no longer necessary? Anyone successfully running dbPowerAmp under Fusion 4? I'm having trouble getting my CD drive to configure with AccurateRip. I keep getting the dreaded "this does not match the disc stored in AccurateRip" error.

Guess I'll just have to continue using Bootcamp for dbPowerAmp. Darn.

Exact same issue here. Would love a solution if anyone knows of a way to make this work. Anyone? I'm not above begging and groveling.

[Spoon]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

>"this does not match the disc stored in AccurateRip" error.

This is not an error, just that you need 3 discs which match and do not have other pressings stored in the database (you are best with latest releases).

[PhilS]

Re: HOWTO: Running under VMware

I did get AccurateRip to successfully configure. I did have to go through about 15 CDs before I found 3 that would work. Use CDs that are from lesser known artists, or were less popular albums. The three that worked for me were (1) Doobie Brothers, Brotherhood, (2) The Very Best of John Coltrane, and (3) Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Christmas Novelty CD of All Time. Must say I was a bit surprised about that last one....

Performing some test rips to FLAC & Apple Lossless and seems to be working fine. The Dr. Demento rips were all accurate and agreed with 19 or 20 others. And the dogs barking Jingle Bells sounded fine, at least on my Mac speakers.

I've a 13" MacBook Pro, Mac OSX 10.7.3, VMWare Fusion 4.1.1, 32-bit Win 7 Pro SP1.