What to do if you can't boot to a CD to create a VM

I could not get the newly created VM to boot to a CD from the host ESX server. Believe me I checked all of the obvious reasons first, like is the CD was not connected, boot options, etc.

The fix below is not a new technique and I know that this topic has been written about many times before this posting. I simply look to document things in chronological order and condense the steps without writing a long winded explanation that turns into a short novel.

6 Quick steps I used for a stubborn VM not booting to a CD
1. I created an ISO image file from the Winidows 2003 CD with Roxio on my laptop
2. I then copied the ISO file from my latop to a new folder on the ESX datastore. I used Winscp to do the copy.
3. Then I powered on my new Windows 2003 Server VM install. I pointed the CD to the ISO file I had copied above.
4. I then downloaded the VMware SCSI Disk Driver file "vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp"
5. I hit F6 during the Windows install so that I could loed the poper MAS storage device driver
6. When prompted for a storage device driver I then pointed it to the "vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp" file
Done!

I was now on my way and I could continue with my install and worry about the reasons why I could not boot to the CD in the first place at a later time.

Downloads
VMware SCSI Driver http://www.vmware.com/download/ws/drivers_tools.html
WinSCP http://winscp.net/eng/download.php

How to create a GPO to Disable the Windows Firewall on XP

Run Regedit

Computer Configuration
Administrative Templates
Network
Network Connections
Windows Firewall
Select the Domain Profile
Windows Firewall: Protect all network connections
Disable this setting

Also don’t forget to apply the policy to the object
Under the Properties and Security of the of the GPO

How to clear the Print Spooler

Net stop spooler
cd \windows\system32\spool\printers
del *.* /y
Net start spooler

How to re-create the Citrix local cache if it has become corrupted

Batch File to Stop the Citrix IMA services, re-create the local cache on a Citrix XenApp server and then restart to the Citrix Services

@echo off
echo.
.echo...Stopping the Citrix IMA Services services...
net stop "Citrix SMA Service" > NUL
net stop Citrixwmiservice > NUL
net stop imaservice > NUL
echo. Running dsmaint and re-creating the Local Cache
dsmaint recreatelhc

echo... Starting the Citrix IMA Services services...
net start imaservice > NUL
net start "Citrix SMA Service" > NUL
net start citrixwmiservice > NUL

EXIT

What happened to my Mail icon in Control Panel?

Some of you may be looking for your familiar email icon that you were accustomed to seeing with Windows XP. Well... if you are using Windows Vista 64 bit it's gone but not totally gone.

Go to Control Panel
Click on View 32-bit Control Panel Items
You will then see your 32 bit email icon