New user of UnRAID 5.0.5 and I've got it installed as an ESXi VM and booting from a VMDK I created with WinImage.  If I mount this VMDK under an Win7 machine and make changes to the /config/network.cfg file (or any file in that directory) with Notepad and then reboot the server, the changes are ignored and there is nothing in the /boot/config directory after boot up.

 

What am I doing wrong?

Is the VMDK an image of the USB key, or do you have a physical USB drive passed through as well as VMDKs.

 

If you plan on running more then 3 drives in UnRAID you will need a Plus or Pro key, which is tied to the USB key's unique GUID, which means you will need to pass through the actual key. I don't know if you are doing that now. If you are using a USB key, you should be able to pull it, plug into Win7 and modify network.cfg which should stick on next reboot.

 

I don't know if this completely answers your question, but you may need to post more details if I didn't.

No USB key.  No matter what I tried, I couldn't get UnRAID to boot off of a USB key (Sandisk Cruiser).  I found a thread where a guy had created a VMDK image of the USB using WinImage and it was booting off of a datastore disk now.  I would imagine I would have the same issue using a USB key though.

No USB key.  No matter what I tried, I couldn't get UnRAID to boot off of a USB key (Sandisk Cruiser).  I found a thread where a guy had created a VMDK image of the USB using WinImage and it was booting off of a datastore disk now.  I would imagine I would have the same issue using a USB key though.

 

Hard to say... the fact that you mention there is nothing in the config directory is strange. Is there possibly something corrupt?

 

I think you are somewhat off the beaten path from most users (though I know there are a few who run under ESX). Hopefully someone running that config may have a few ideas. I am not sure what to suggest other than build a USB key, boot off it to make sure it works, and then use WinImage to recreate your VMDK file.

I am not sure what to suggest other than build a USB key, boot off it to make sure it works, and then use WinImage to recreate your VMDK file.

If I could get it to boot off of a Sandisk Cruiser Fit USB drive, I would definitely do that!  But alas that doesn't seem to work for me.  I have thread open in the ESXI forum on that issue but since I can get it to boot off of the virtual disk I thought I would persue that.  So far if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all with UNRAID so far.  Having been futzing with this for about three whole days now, I'm about ready to throw in the towel and try some other SAN software to see if my luck improves.

Try booting bare metal (no esxi) from the USB. Once that's working create an image of the USB. The volume name of the image cannot be unRAID.

Try booting bare metal (no esxi) from the USB. Once that's working create an image of the USB. The volume name of the image cannot be unRAID.

I shut down my host, and it booted fine off the USB.  I've already created an image from the USB as detailed in my first post.  That works fine.  I can attached the VMDK that I created to a Win7 VM, edi the /config files, attach it back to my UNRAID VM, reboot and the /config directory (or /boot/config) directory is empty.  It didn't take any of the changes I made to it in the VMDK.

 

The other weird part as that I can't get it to boot off of the USB in a VM.  I've followed several threads, VM configuration suggestions and so far nothing works.  It just says "NO OS".

 

This is a werid one. 

I put this in another post that you created, but just for completeness:

 

Unraid boots off the VMDK, that's it.  The bzroot and  bzimage files are used for this (as well as the syslinux boot loader) as far as I know.

 

Everything else comes from the passed through USB stick, including the config.key file, plugins, configuration.

 

Modifying the VMDK file probably won't change anything.

I put this in another post that you created, but just for completeness:

 

Unraid boots off the VMDK, that's it.  The bzroot and  bzimage files are used for this (as well as the syslinux boot loader) as far as I know.

 

Everything else comes from the passed through USB stick, including the config.key file, plugins, configuration.

 

Modifying the VMDK file probably won't change anything.

Yep, just figured that out.  Thanks for the enlightenment!

Also, if you are unable to pass-through the USB key I am going to assume your hardware doesn't properly support VT-D/IOMMU as that is required for hardware pass-through. Your CPU, Motherboard and BIOS all have to support it to work.

 

I don't know what hardware you are running, but your inability to do this likely indicates that at least one component either doesn't have these features included or enabled.