Today i had to install Windows 2003 R2 + SP2 (downloaded from MSDN) within a virtual machine because i needed a DC for a physical testcluster (if your not into IT, this sentence must be a pain in the ass).

I noticed that the installer just kept on going forever at the “installing devices” part.

Did you know that you can press SHIFT-F11 during setup to see that windows is doing? In this case the ‘add new hardware’ wizard was running.
You can also use SHIFT-F10 to get a command prompt

After some research i found the solution:
1) Reset the virtual machine (don’t boot from cdrom)
2) Keep the focus within the virtual machine (don’t ctrl-alt)

You’ll see it works this time, probably has something to do with the detection of keyboard and/or mouse.

33 Responses to “Installing Windows in VMware hangs on “installing devices””

1. Jeff Cave Says:
   January 18th, 2008 at 23:37

   I had the exact problem on my VMware server, so this was a great help to me! Thanks for posting it - Jeff

2. admin Says:
   January 19th, 2008 at 11:02

   Glad to help you out! Thanks for leaving a reply!

3. Brian Says:
   January 23rd, 2008 at 0:11

   Thanks a lot for this. Couldn’t find the solution anywhere until I stumbled across this site.

4. celic Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 4:45

   Thank god i found this post.

5. Richard Says:
   March 12th, 2008 at 9:22

   Thanks a lot,Pieter!

6. Tim Says:
   April 30th, 2008 at 3:51

   Thanks, I thought something was wrong for sure until I found this site!

7. Mike Says:
   May 29th, 2008 at 18:28

   You’re the man!

8. Nathan Says:
   June 7th, 2008 at 15:37

   This exact same solution solved the exact same problem for me, except I’m using QEmu for Linux & installing WinXP as a guest.

9. Rico Says:
   September 18th, 2008 at 13:15

   Thanks for the tip!

10. Josh Says:
    October 29th, 2008 at 23:52

    I wasted 20 minutes today staring at the VM console. It would have turned into several hours except for this site. Thanks!

11. John Says:
    January 5th, 2009 at 2:32

    Your post really helped me, would have never thought that not being on the program would have caused this. Thank you very much!

12. Jean-Yves Says:
    January 9th, 2009 at 14:54

    thank you also for this tip, I felt into this trap also this morning …

13. Jordan Says:
    January 18th, 2009 at 21:57

    Thanks a lot, if I never read this I would have left it hanging at that stage for hours.

14. Brian Lowrance Says:
    January 29th, 2009 at 0:53

    I ran into this same problem.
    Stuck at 37 minutes, “Installing Devices”.
    I restarted the VM and did not take the mouse/keyboard out of the VM as you suggested. I am now humming right along with the remainder of the install.

    I also didn’t know about the Shift F10 and F11 tricks and I have installed and configured a lot of servers. I love to learn great tips like this. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

15. FromMe Says:
    February 9th, 2009 at 16:54

    Really thanx….this is help me too =)

16. Redrick Says:
    February 19th, 2009 at 12:13

    Yeah!
    Thanks a lot, man, this solution also helped me.

    The same issue exists installing Win Server 2003 under Virtual PC 2007 - so this is not a VMWare glitch, but Windows one.

    – Red

17. Larry B Says:
    February 21st, 2009 at 5:45

    Wow… this post saved me a bunch of time…

    Thanks!

18. Joost Says:
    May 4th, 2009 at 8:59

    I had the issue with Virtual PC 2007 on Vista home premium, trying to install XP. Helped for me! Thanks!!

19. korgolo Says:
    May 5th, 2009 at 14:33

    genius

20. RS Says:
    May 21st, 2009 at 21:54

    This helped me so much!!!!!!! THanks!

21. Joe Says:
    May 26th, 2009 at 8:17

    So all I have to do is take out the disk and reset the virtual machine and that’s it?

22. George Parker Says:
    June 11th, 2009 at 1:33

    Thanks very much. Your suggestion worked for me too!

23. Leo ’s Personal Blog » Win2003R2-SP2+VM Says:
    June 16th, 2009 at 17:07

    [...] http://pieter.wigleven.com/it/archives/11 [...]

24. Greg Says:
    July 6th, 2009 at 17:16

    Thanks!!!!

25. Greg Says:
    July 10th, 2009 at 2:59

    Yes.. excellent work.. worked a treat…. took a few reboots for me.. but got there in the end… This was on ESXi server using a ISO

26. prabakaran Says:
    September 25th, 2009 at 7:44

    hi, very much thanks fotr this help yaar..

    i am really stuck up with this error now..

    i ll reset my machine.. and i ll do the installation again

    than u very much yaar……….

27. xual Says:
    September 25th, 2009 at 11:56

    ty for this

28. Jimmah Says:
    October 13th, 2009 at 15:44

    Thank you!

29. Cyril Says:
    November 13th, 2009 at 21:22

    You are a genius !!!! Thanks !!!!!!!!!!

30. Elijah Says:
    November 25th, 2009 at 21:58

    Thank you, had the very same problem on VMWare ESXi 4.0

    This fixes it!

31. hearts Says:
    November 30th, 2009 at 2:37

    thx. I am installing windows xp on windows xp.. encountering exactly the same problem and being solved by the same method.

32. David Says:
    December 15th, 2009 at 19:32

    Thanks for posting this.

33. Nikolay Says:
    February 5th, 2010 at 15:46

    Thank you very much, I spent almost 2 days trying to reinstall a windows 2003 server in ESXi 4. I am going to leave it on focus now. The Shift+ F10 is also nice to know;-)

    Thanks once more.

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