Problem description:
I always have a problem to press the F2 or ESC key at the startup of the Virtual Maschine. The first response in the VC at startup is hte  booting OS 

The solutions:

Solution1: Create BIOS-file in another VM and copy it to your VM's
Create a new VM with a small disk and disconneted floppy and CD-Rom. Don't installed any OS.
Start this VM. If you miss to press the F2 key do reset and try again. This solutions will let you have another go without the annoyance of the starting OS.
If you mange to adjust the BIOS you have the correct .nvram file. Just copy the nvram file to the destination VM and overwrite the file on this VM with your correct version.

Solution 2: Web interface fullscreen mode
Open the webinterface: http://youresxhost
Navigate to your VM.
Start the VM and enter Fullscreenmode.
Restart the VM from the OS.
The startup windows should now show up.
   

Some more solutions from users responses (to my post) on the VMware forum

Just hit the desired key as often as possible while wild clicking into the console to gain focus. (This doesn't works in my  environment)