VMware Workstation 7.1: No Bootable Device Was Detected

I was using VMware Workstation 7.1 in an Ubuntu 10.04 host.  I had two Windows XP virtual machines (VMs).  One of them would start up and run without a problem.  The other one had done so previously, but was now failing to do so.  Both were pretty basic Windows installations.  There had been some hardware crashes and freezes, due to other system components, and apparently that had screwed up the one that was not starting.

Or so I thought.  I deleted the VM that was not working and recreated it from scratch, with a new WinXP installation in it.  But the problem was still there.  So, OK, I thought, the problem must be with Workstation.  So even though Workstation was still running the other VM without a problem, I uninstalled Workstation.  To do that, I used this command:  "sudo sh /usr/bin/vmware-installer --uninstall-product=vmware-workstation."  Then I reinstalled Workstation, using the same downloaded .bundle file that I had used for previous successful installations.  I opted to keep my configuration files.  Then I opened the two VMs.  Once again, the one VM ran fine; the other did not.

The one that was not functioning properly was proceeding as follows:  first, it would start in a nearly black screen with the VMware logo, as VMs typically did.  But then, instead of starting WinXP, it would take me to a screen that said "Network boot from AMD [number]" and "No boot filename received" and "Operating system not found."  It also flashed a message at the bottom right corner of the screen that said, "No bootable device was detected."

What caused this, I think, was that I was running a disk check from the WinXP CD on the other (working) VM, and then I attempted to start this (nonworking) VM without disabling its access to the CD drive.  So it latched onto the CD and started wanting to do its own disk check too, or something like that, and I killed it in a most awkward fashion, and now it was among the undead.

By process of elimination, the steps taken above seemed to suggest that Workstation's configuration files were holding a grudge against the nonworking VM, or anything bearing its name.  (I had created the new VM from scratch, but had given it the same name as the one that was previously nonworking.)  To test this, I could see what would happen with a new VM with a different name, or I could delete the VMware configuration files when I was reinstalling it.  Taking the easiest step first, I tried just right-clicking on the dud, in Workstation, to rename it.  That didn't work, so since Workstation had been nagging me to upgrade from 7.1.0 to 7.1.1 anyway, I shut down and uninstalled Workstation again, this time including the config files.  I ran "sudo vmware" and configured the program as root, and then I tried to start the nonfunctioning VM.  No dice.  And the other VM still ran.

But now I was aware of an additional difference.  I had saved the other VM in suspended mode, whereas I had shut down the nonworking one altogether.  What would happen if I tried to reboot the one that was still on its feet?  I tried it.  It rebooted fine.  Being in a suspended mode had somehow protected it, maybe.

Trying the other option, I created a new WinXP VM from scratch, but this time I gave it a different name, before deleting the other new (nonworking) one.  But I couldn't.  I got as far as the installation screen that says, "Install operating system from," and it wouldn't let me go any further.  The Next button was greyed out.  But then, duh, I thought maybe that was because I had set the system to not recognize the CD at bootup, not that that quite sense.  Or, I thought, maybe I screwed up the CD drive, or maybe I should do a cold restart.  So, OK, I shut down the computer altogether for 30 seconds, and then fired it back up.  That didn't work.  I killed Workstation.

It occurred to me to insert the WinXP CD back in the drive, setting the CD-ROM to connect at power on, and then start the VM.  That looked like it may have been the solution.  I got the Windows Setup screen, leading to WinXP's Recovery Console.  Evidently something in Ubuntu or Workstation or the VM got the idea that life was not going to be complete until it could lovingly caress that Windows installation CD one last time.  So when Windows Setup was done singing its song, it rebooted on its own and tried restarting the previously nonworking VM.

At this point, I realized I had made a dreadfully stupid mistake.  Although I knew better from previous experience, somehow I had assumed that WinXP was already installed on the VM.  It wasn't, and I think if I hadn't been so bored and burned out on computer stuff by this point, I would have realized that immediately.  What was actually going on was that I was trying to start a VM that did not yet have an operating system loaded on it.  Problems and solutions don't get much more obvious than this.  So anyway, now it was in the process of installing WinXP, as it would have done some time earlier if I'd had the WinXP CD in the drive and had enabled the drive in Workstation before those various reboots.