VMWARE BIOS MOD

sunbirds · BIOS Rookie Joined: 01 Feb 2004 Posts: 56

I Have done some vmware bios mod
more info:
http://www.biosdiy.net/forum_view.asp?forum_id=1&view_id=3533
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Borg Number One · Master Flasher Joined: 02 May 2004 Posts: 169

I already did it some weeks ago. Smile

With latest PhoenixBIOS-Editor-Pro-Version it is no problem. Very Happy

check this too:
http://bnobtc.pix-art.com
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?for...eID=103439#103439

modify VMware-BIOS in: Phoenix-BIOS-Editor Pro full version

Translated BIOS with user defined Logo

The fullscreen logo is a new one(selfmade) and it is based on exactly the same colors from this logo.

a static screenshot:

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smheoc · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 1:55 pm Post subject:

Can anyone shed a bit more light on how to do this modification. The first link is not in english, and the "borg number one" screenshots (though really nice) don't fully explain how to get it to work.

Here's what I've tried to do so far...
1) take the bios.440.rom from the vmware directory
2) load it into Phoenix Bios Editor Pro
3) Bang my head against the wall as it always says "Incorrect File Size" and crashes.

Also, if I completely remove "bios.440.rom" from the vmware directory it has no effect on vmware. The software still works perfectly. Any ideas?

Borg Number One · Master Flasher Joined: 02 May 2004 Posts: 169

Hi.

The file bios.440.rom does not really seem to be used by VMware.
(Even the staff from the VMware technical support could not explain the sense of the file.)
Furthermore, you are right that the file can be removed without problems.

To modify the VMware BIOS read the article.
(See the link in the previous thread.)

To get the BIOS data / image from the VMware executable you can use a HEX editor to find & extract it manually.

Because of the BIOS BIOS data / image inside the VMware executable is an embedded resource, you can also take resource editors,
such as:
Restorator
Resource Hacker
PE Explorer
MS Visual Studio
...

After extracting and modifying the BIOS data you can use/add the
"bios440.filename =" - line in the ".vmx" config file to use the modified BIOS file in VMware.

Links:
Threads where I posted stuff/questions about VMware and VMware BIOS modification:
http://www.vmware.com/community/profile.jspa?userID=22880
_________________
BIOS backup - Multi BIOS - prevent a BIOS update failure:
RD1 BIOS Savior
[url=http://www.ioss.com.tw]
http://www.ioss.com.tw[/url]

smheoc · Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:02 pm Post subject:

Thanks to the help from "Borg Number One" I was able to pull out the VMWare Phoenix Bios and get it loaded into the BEDemo application. I figured I would recap the steps since the original set was not 100% clear when I was first looking:

1) Open up the vmware executable (/bin/vmware-vmx.exe) using PE Explorer.
2) Go to Resources and extract the embedded resource #6006. I assume this number could change, but the desired resource will be 512Kb in size so it whould be easy enough to find.
3) rename this file to whatever you want, but a good choice is: bios.440.rom. It can then be loaded into BEDemo.
4) BEDemo will create a TEMP directory which contains the uncompressed ROM files. These can be modified and reassembled using: "PREPARE rom.scr" and "CATENATE rom.scr".
5) To get this file to be used by VMWare, you have to first create a virtual workstation.
6) Find the .vmx file for this workstation (mine was in: MyDocuments\My Virtual Machines\blarg.vmx)
7) Edit this file and include the line: bios440.filename = bios.440.rom

That should be it. I did the above and was able to play around with the logo and other files.