How do I install a 2 cpu WindowsNT4.0 Virtual Machine on VMware ESXi3.5

Make sure that after the initial copying of files, you pop out or disconnect the CD-ROM.

Ack, sorry; misread your question. I would check VMware's knowledgbase, it is pretty extensive.

Can you first try with a single CPU and do you get the same crashing of the guest OS?

Do you have an application that will do multithreading?  If not than multiple CPU will not be of any benefit with windows nt.

NT4 does support SMP or two or more CPUs, but it also does have limitations.

1. NT4 must be BETTER installed on a SMP machine from the beginning.

2. several manual steps are required if you have to upgrade an existing NT4 box to support the 2nd processor. see the following MSKB article for detailed information.

How to Manually Add Support for a Second Processor
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/156358

that means, if you changed the CPU settings of an existing NT4 VM on VMware, you have to follow the step 2 to manually add SMP compatible DLLs for the NT4 box.

hope it helps,
bbao

1) I can successfully install WindowsNT4.0 on ESXi3.5 using the WindowsNT option. During the VM setup there is no option to specify the # of Processors. End result...a single processor VM.
After OS install and SP6a and all patches, I power VM off and do not have the choice to change # of processors used by VM.
2) When creating a new VM  with the "other" OS option, I can select 2 processors, I start the NT4.0 OS install, it starts copying files then BSOD's and reboots. Starts a continuous install loop as I just described.
I cannot find any certified documentation at VMware that states 2 proc are the max for an NT VM.

Sorry, I meant to say:
I cannot find any certified documentation at VMware that states 1 processor is the max allowed for an WindowsNT4.0 VM.

have you applied SP6? also make sure the files to be copied for SMP upgrade should be SP6 files too.

This could be difficult as very few still use NT4.
I have not installed NT4 for many years but have imported it into ESX recently.
The things I can think of.
NT4 doesn't natively support the LSI controller but it does support the buslogic (VMWare SCSI) so be sure you have set the SCSI controller to Buslogic.
Don't worry about how many CPU's it installs with, 1 is fine to start with. If you can get it up and running SP6 it and install the VM tools (which will fail to install the VGA driver)
Once running you can change the Kernel easily enough.
I don't remember all of the steps so I won't try to explain a process in which you must be very precise.
On that point, don't remember if the multi CPU HAL is actually supported in ESX. I know it wasn't in ESX version 2.5. I would suggest going with the uni cpu model to start with. You will likely find it's the fastest NT4 server you have ever seen with just 1 CPU.