I found the following old post from Feb 25, 2007 which solves the
problem I was having.

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....78ed98a1691a83

On Jul 23, 11:01*am, Dave wrote:
> I have been trying to build minix 3_1_3b in a vmware minix 3_1_2
> envinronment. *I follow the instructions in the UPDATING file up to
> the reboot step successfully. *However the reboot fails. *The
> instructions say to use " reboot -x 'unset image; boot' " but I have
> doubts about this since the man page does not say anything about a "-
> x" option for reboot. *Here are links to screenshots of my vmware
> window taken before and after the reboot:
>
> before reboot:http://picasaweb.google.com/to.dave....photo#52259186...
>
> after reboot:http://picasaweb.google.com/to.dave....photo#52259186...
>
> The significant message after rebooting appears to be:
>
> /dev/c1d0: No such file or directory
> Warning: couldn't get status of device
>
> If anyone can give me any pointers on what to try next I would very
> much appreciate it.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> *Dave
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The UPDATING file is at:
>
> https://gforge.cs.vu.nl/plugins/scms.../r3_1_3b/docs/...
>
> the UPDATING file contents:
>
> 20060818:
> * * * * You need flex in your $PATH, which has become part of thebase
> * * * * system. This needs bigger binaries.
> * * * * If you don't have flex yet, you can compile it first by doing:
> * * * * # cp /usr/src/etc/binary_sizes* /etc
> * * * * # binsizes big
> * * * * # cd /usr/src/commands/flex-2.5.4
> * * * * # sh build
> 20061222:
> * * * * Install binaries in the right order because the new readdir
> * * * * implementation and the new mount program are incompatible
> * * * * with older kernels and the new kernels require the new mount.
> * * * * # cd /usr/src
> * * * * # make includes
> * * * * # make libraries
> * * * * # make cmds
> * * * * # make depend
> * * * * # cd /usr/src/tools
> * * * * # make hdboot
> * * * * # make install
> * * * * # cd ..
> * * * * # make install
> * * * * Installing fails for boot. Reboot the system
> * * * * # reboot -x 'unset image; boot'
> * * * * Now install everything
> * * * * # cd /usr/src
> * * * * # make install
> 20061222:
> * * * * The archictecture-dependent/-independent split needs
> ARCH=
> * * * * in /etc/make.conf, included by some Makefiles and sourcedby
> * * * * some shell scripts. To install it, type 'make install' in
> * * * * src/etc, or simply copy the file over.
> 20070118:
> * * * * drivers.conf has been updated to include an ACL for mfs. it
> has
> * * * * to be installed before rebooting after an update of the mount
> command.
> 20070212 (r2751):
> * * * * mkfs needs more memory to make an image; chmem it or do
> * * * * # touch mkfs.c ; make /usr/bin/mkfs
> * * * * in /usr/src/commands/simple.