# VMWare Server and FreeBSD 8.4/9.x



## pkwijibo (Jun 11, 2013)

I have a couple of FreeBSD 8.3 guests running on a VMWare Server host running on a CentOS 5.9 box.  I know that VMWare Server has reached EOL but I hope it isn't a show stopper.  I have a problem of upgrading to either 8.4 or any of the 9.x versions of FreeBSD.  I can go through the whole "rebuilding world" process but upon reboot it crashes.  I thought that maybe this was just a 9.x problem but I tried to move to 8.4 and the problem cropped up there as well.  8.3 works fine.  So, as a test, I downloaded a FreeBSD 9.1 ISO (AMD64) and tried to do an install on a fresh virtual machine image with the same results.  I have searched around on the Internet and have tried various things (disabling ACPI, disabling SMP) but have so far not been able to find any resolution to this problem.  I was able to set up a serial console on the virtual machine and dump the output to the hosts filesystem.  What I think are the relevant bits are below.


```
Trying to mount root from cd9660:/dev/iso9660/FREEBSD_INSTALL [ro]...

Fatal trap 1: privileged instruction fault while in kernel mode
cpuid = 0; apic id = 00
instruction pointer     = 0x20:0xffffffff80bc72af
stack pointer           = 0x28:0xffffff8000211b30
frame pointer           = 0x28:0xffffff8000211b50
code segment            = base 0x0, limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b
                        = DPL 0, pres 1, long 1, def32 0, gran 1
processor eflags        = interrupt enabled, resume, IOPL = 0
current process         = 11 (idle: cpu0)
trap number             = 1
panic: privileged instruction fault
cpuid = 0
KDB: stack backtrace:
#0 0xffffffff809208a6 at kdb_backtrace+0x66
#1 0xffffffff808ea8be at panic+0x1ce
#2 0xffffffff80bd8240 at trap_fatal+0x290
#3 0xffffffff80bd88d5 at trap+0x105
#4 0xffffffff80bc315f at calltrap+0x8
#5 0xffffffff809123ec at sched_idletd+0x24c
#6 0xffffffff808bb9ef at fork_exit+0x11f
#7 0xffffffff80bc368e at fork_trampoline+0xe
Uptime: 5s
Automatic reboot in 15 seconds - press a key on the console to abort
```

Are there any ideas to get around or further debug this problem?


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## logan893 (Jun 24, 2014)

(Sorry in advance if this is considered digging up old threads.)

I cannot help with the kernel panic, however my most recent experience is that I was able to install FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE on VMware Server 1.0.4, which is running on a CentOS 4.5 (Final).

And I must say that my old virtualization server is still going strong after 7 years with this configuration.


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