Install Direct3D on Windows 7 Enterprise Eval. Guest

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wizoomer95
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Joined: 9. Aug 2017, 23:58

Install Direct3D on Windows 7 Enterprise Eval. Guest

Post by wizoomer95 »

Hi, guys. I'm currently running a Windows 7 Enterprise Evaluation virtual machine on VirtualBox on an OS X El Capitan host. I would like to be able to install guest additions with Direct3D support, but unfortunately, the installer won't let me unless I boot in "safe mode". And, as you may already know, there is a nasty bug with no fix yet that makes booting the evaluation OS into safe mode (with or without networking) all but impossible.

Before anyone says, "Just use another version of Windows", I need Windows 7 with Direct3D support to run a specific application that won't work on newer versions of Windows. The only workaround I can think of is "patch" the guest additions installer that doesn't check if it's booted in safe mode to continue the install. I can still manage to boot in "Low VGA Mode", which disables any graphics drivers and forces Windows to run in 640x480 resolution, thus any "automatically start new drivers" issues that wouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately, the low-res boot option isn't enough to allow the installation to proceed, so I would still need to patch it. The only thing stopping me is not knowing how to do the patch if it's even possible. Can someone help me figure out this problem?
socratis
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Re: Install Direct3D on Windows 7 Enterprise Eval. Guest

Post by socratis »

wizoomer95 wrote:unfortunately, the installer won't let me unless I boot in "safe mode".
Safe mode is required only for WinXP and for Win7 with the D3D option. Do you really need the older XPDM (Direct3D) drivers and not the WDDM ones?
wizoomer95 wrote:And, as you may already know, there is a nasty bug with no fix yet that makes booting the evaluation OS into safe mode (with or without networking) all but impossible.
I certainly don't know anything about that "feature". What's the nasty bug you're referring to?
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mpack
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Re: Install Direct3D on Windows 7 Enterprise Eval. Guest

Post by mpack »

wizoomer95 wrote:The only workaround I can think of is "patch" the guest additions installer that doesn't check if it's booted in safe mode to continue the install.
That would be pointless. It has to be done in safe mode because the older style GAs replaced some Direct3D system DLLs. If you do that without being in safe mode then Windows will automatically revert the changes.
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