VMware / Microsoft: Check what Windows Setup is doing in VMware Workstation
Today i had to install Windows 2003 R2 + SP2
I noticed that the installer just kept on going forever at the “installing devices” part.
Press Shit-F11 during setup to see what the Windows setup is doing. In this case the ‘add new hardware’ wizard was running. You can also use SHIFT-F10 to get a command prompt
The solution:
1) Reset the virtual machine (don’t boot from CD-Rom)
2) Keep the focus within the virtual machine (don’t CRTR-ALT)
You’ll see it works this time, probably has something to do with the detection of keyboard and/or mouse.
Source: Peter Wigleven