Install Windows on rx7640

[JohnnyS]

Dear all,

I have a customer who needs to install windows 64 bits enterprise edition on a cell of his rx7640 server instead of the already installed OS HPUX 11iV3. The operating system shall be provided by the customer and not delivered by HP.
However can any version of windows 64 bit be installed on the server, or should it be a special version of windows specially for integrity servers.

I tried to install the OS provided by the customer but could not succeed, due in the EFI shell i issued the map -r command to map ios, and to my knowing that the dvd rom should be fs(x) but to my surprise it was blk5, then i tried to issue the setupldr command but also to my surprise i was not found.

So i am anxiously waiting to receive your comments about the windows version that i am using and suggestions to install it.

thank you in advance.

[Torsten.]

You need a ia64 version, x86 or x64 won't work.

[Davis Paul]

Hi JohnnyS,
I would like to add:
rx7640 will support Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise and Datacenter Editions
Regards,
Davis Paul.

[kris rombauts · Accepted solution]

Johnny,

as already mentioned, it is very likely that you used a install cd for x86 or x64, not IA64.
The cd/dvd's for Itanium based Windows systems provided by either Microsoft or HP have a special format and conatin multiple partitions. The EFI shell is capable of recognizing FAT and FAT32 but not CDFS i.e.

So because the map -r only returned block devices and no filesystems, the media you used is either bad/damaged or simply not for IA64.

The asiest way to install Windows on a Integrity server is using the HP supplied 're-install' media which puts a WIndows image on the boot disk and adds all necessary tools, drivers, utilities etc etc
so you're up and running in about 1 hour.

Here are the productnumbers that are available :

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (64-bit) T2373A
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition T8768A



This includes the Windows license.

http://h20341.www2.hp.com/integrity/cache/342101-0-0-0-121.html

HTH

Kris

[Duncan Edmonstone]

Hi,

Have you also established that the cards installed in this nPar actually support Windows? Not all IO cards are interchangeable between operating systems. Check the table here in the quickspecs for the rx7640:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12470_div/12470_div.HTML#Configuration

HTH

Duncan