Guest OS must be powered off
Settings->Configuration Editor->Hardware
Click “Add…”
Select DVD/CD-ROM
Next
Use ISO image
Next
Browse to ISO image file name
Finish
OK
Boot guest OS
Mount the virtual CD-ROM. By default, /dev/cdrom is linked to the device file for the physical CD-ROM (e.g. /dev/hdc). The virtual CD-ROM has its own device file (e.g. /dev/hdb) which can be found in /var/log/messages (look for “hd?: VMware Virtual IDE CDROM Drive”). Use:

mount –t iso9660 /dev/hdb /mnt

2 Converting Physical to Virtual Machine

2.1 Converter Log Files

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp\vmware-temp

2.2 Restoring a Ghost Image

The goal of this procedure is to virtualize a physical machine by restoring a previously Ghosted machine image onto a VM.

Start with an existing VM (of the same OS as the Ghosted machine?), powered down.
Create a virtual disk of sufficient size.
Boot the VM
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management. You should see the new disk unallocated (no partitions).
Right click on the unallocated space and select “New Partition…”. Follow the wizard: Primary partition -> Size -> Drive letter -> Format as NTFS

2.3 Importing a Ghost Image

File -> Import…

[Welcome] Next

[Source] Next

[Source Type] Standalone virtual machine -> Next

[Select Virtual Machine] Browse for .sv2i image (Ghost) -> Next

Connecting

Retrieving operating system information

[Source Data] Import all disks and maintain size -> Next

[Destination] Next

[Destination Type] VMware standalone virtual machine -> Next

[Virtual Machine Name and Location] ATT-XP-Pro; c:\VMware\ATT-XP-Pro; Workstation 6.x -> Next

[VM Options] Create a full clone; Allow virtual disks to grow; Split disk into 2GB files -> Next

Getting target disk size(s)…

Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent

2.4 Importing a Physical Image Across the Network

File -> Import…

[Welcome] Next

[Source] Next

[Source Type] Physical computer -> Next

[Source Login] Physical machine -> A remote machine -> [IP address] -> Authentication -> U/P -> Next

Connecting

Retrieving operating system information

[Source Data] Select volumes and resize to save or add space -> Ignore page file and hibernation file -> Next

[Destination] Next

[Destination Type] VMware standalone virtual machine -> Next

[Virtual Machine Name and Location] ATT-XP-Pro; \\vaio\ATT-XP-Pro; Connect As…; Workstation 6.x -> Next

Checking destination availability

Unable to connect to the network share

3 Cut, Copy, Paste

For Windows host and guest, can use normal menu selections and keyboard shortcuts.

To copy from Linux guest to Windows host, X-Windows and the VMware Toolbox must be running.

4 File Sharing Between Host and Guest

4.1 Shared Folders

4.1.1 Create

Start a guest OS and click its tab to make it active

VM -> Settings -> Options -> Shared Folders

4.1.2 View from Windows Guest

On guest OS, in Windows Explorer browse: My Network Places -> VMware Shared Folders -> .host -> Shared Folders

5 Installation of Guest OSes

If you install the same guest OS frequently, make an ISO image of the installation CD and connect the virtual CD drive to the ISO image file.

6 I/O Device Control and Keyboard Sequences

Click anywhere in the guest window to give it control of the keyboard and mouse

“Ctrl-Alt” switches from guest to host

“Ctrl-Alt-Enter” switches a guest from windowed to full-screen mode

“Ctrl-Alt-Fn#” switches between guests without leaving full-screen mode

“Ctrl-8” performs backspace in FTP and other apps that interpret Backspace at ^H.

Press and hold third mouse button, move mouse up/down. Hardware panning in X-windows (Linux guest).

7 Log Files

C:\WINDOWS\Temp\vmware-temp

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp\vmware-Admin

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp\VMwareDnD

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp\vmware-temp

8 Networking

Three options:

bridged – connects the virtual network adapter in a virtual machine to the host’s physical Ethernet adapter
host-only – allows host to communicate internally with guest(s); not connected to external network unless setup proxy
NAT

DHCP server device can provide IP addresses to guests in host-only and NAT configurations

Configure which networking option to use with:

Settings->Configuration Editor...->Hardware->Network Adapter

8.1 Network Adapters

can have up to 3 virtual network adapters per VM

8.1.1 MAC Address

The MAC address of an adapter is assigned dynamically when the VM is powered on. To set the MAC address manually (and statically), edit the vmName.vmx file and add the line:

ethernet0.address = 00:50:56:XX:YY:ZZ

where XX in range [00:3F], YY and ZZ in range [00:FF].

8.2 Virtual Switches

Created as needed up to a total of 10. Three have special meaning:

VMnet0 – “bridged”;
VMnet1 – “host-only”
VMnet8 – “NAT”

When VMware is installed on a Windows 2000 host, it creates Ethernet LAN connections for use with the host-only and NAT networking options. Use the ipconfig /all command to view the private IP addresses automatically generated for those LAN connections (e.g. 192.168.116.1/24 for host-only and 192.168.159.1/24 for NAT). These addresses are assigned by the virtual DHCP server (see C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\vmnetdhcp.conf).

8.3.1 Host-Only

Range	Address Use
<net>.1	Host machine
<net>.2 - <net>.127	Static addresses
<net>.128 - <net>.253	DHCP-assigned
<net>.254	DHCP server
<net>.255	Broadcast

8.3.2 NAT

Range	Address Use
<net>.1	Host machine
<net>.2	NAT device
<net>.3 - <net>.127	Static addresses
<net>.128 - <net>.253	DHCP-assigned
<net>.254	DHCP server
<net>.255	Broadcast

8.4 NAT

Supports any VM-initiated traffic using TCP and UDP, including FTP and ICMP echo. SMB file sharing is not supported through the NAT device (but it is supported between guests and the host). Externally initiated connections must be configured manually in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\vmnetnat.conf

8.4.1 DNS

The NAT device is a DNS proxy (forwards DNS requests from VMs to the DNS server configured on the host). However, nslookup doesn’t work if the NAT device’s IP is the first entry in /etc/resolv.conf.

8.5 Performance

Disconnect CD-ROM on startup.
Settings->Preferences->Priority->High-Low
Run Linux in X-Windows (uses the VMware supplied SVGA video driver which is much faster than the standard VGA mode)

9 Performance

Disable screen savers in VMs – saves lots of CPU cycles

Guests run faster in full-screen mode

Disable “Transition Effects”:

XP -> Control Panel -> Display -> Appearance -> Effects

10 Suspend and Resume

Suspend saves the current state of the guest OS and applications running in guest OS and halts the guest. Resume restarts the guest exactly where it was halted. Suspend must be done when guest is in windowed mode (not full-screen).

11 Technical Support

11.1Support Request Data Gathering Script

http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/intro_techsup_ws.html

11.2Support Request Form

http://www.vmware.com/support

11.3VMTN

https://www.vmware.com/vcommunity

12 Troubleshooting and Error Messages

12.1ATAPI

“Your virtual machine has sent an ATAPI (CD-ROM) command that is only supported when programming the drive via DMA. You will need to configure your guest operating system to use DMA when communicating with DVD/CD-ROM devices.

Note that some operating systems will report DMA is available without actually using it. In those cases, normal CD-ROM operations will still be available, but special features will only be available if you re-configure the virtual device as a SCSI device.”

This is not a setting inside VMware, this is a setting inside your Guest OS. For example, in Windows, go into Device Manager -- Properties of your Disk Controller (most likely Primary IDE Controller) -- Advanced Tab -- Change Transfer Mode to "DMA if Available" for the proper master/slave device.

[Darin: Didn’t work for me. XP Pro guest was already set to “DMA if available”. I disabled the CD-ROM by “Edit virtual machine settings” -> Hardware -> CD-ROM (IDE 1:0) -> Device Status -> Connect at power on]

12.2Can’t view client in full screen SVGA mode

I set the XP guest screen resolution to 1275 x 746, but when I attempt to go to full screen mode, I get the pop-up error:

“Your host does not support the current guest settings in fullscreen mode. Try reducing your guest's resolution or color depth and try again.

Failed to switch to full screen SVGA mode.”

12.2.1 Partial Solution

VMware -> View -> Autofit Guest

VMware -> View -> Tabs

VMware -> View -> Toolbars -> uncheck all options

12.2.2 Solution

VMware -> View -> Autofit Guest

VMware -> View -> Tabs

View -> Quick Switch (F11)

12.3Could not open virtual machine…appears to be in use

If you are certain that the guest is truly not running, go to the guest's folder and delete any .lck files and folders.

12.4Shared Folders Very Slow

12.4.1 Shared folders horrendously slow Mar 24, 2006 10:29 AM

I have the latest WS 5.5.

All my guests are XP32, the host is also XP32 - 4gb ram, AMD X2 4800, with fast disks.

I find Shared folders are horrendously slow. When navigating through them in Explorer it can take 30 seconds before the folder contents display. Once I'm in the folder access is general quick, but if I leave it and come back a short while later (even as short as 1 minute later), and then try to do something (select the files, right click on a file, anything) Explorer will again freeze for 30 seconds before anything happens.

When I do eventually get to the point where I can copy a file, it seems fast enough. And I have pointed Symantec Ghost to the shared folder as its location to backup the drive, and the time it took seemed resonable (1.5 minutes to High compress and backup a 3gb drive). However the huge browse times make frequent use of these folders highly annoying.

I've searched and found numerous old posts reporting the same problem - but most of them have no replies. I take it therefore that this is an inherant problem with shared folders and they are not intended to be a replacement for a network share.

I'm going to use a network share mounted as a drive instead - I just thought I'd post this in case there is an word from VMWare as to whether it will be fixed in future, and as help for others if they experience the same issue.

12.4.2 Re: Shared folders horrendously slow Apr 20, 2006 3:18 PM

I fought with this issue for a really long time. What is occurring is windows tries to do a name resolution for ".HOST" when you access a shared folder it waits for the resolution to fail (about 30 seconds) before working. If you don't have a network connected you will notice it occurs much faster. The solution is to add the following entry to C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc on the client HOST:

127.0.0.1 ".HOST" #PRE #Host Shared Folders

12.4.3 Re: Shared folders horrendously slow Apr 21, 2006 7:47 AM

You should add this to the lmhosts file (NOT lmhosts.sam).

lmhosts.sam is a SAMPLE file, it doesn't do anything. So create a new file called lmhosts in %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers\Etc in your VM of course and add the line:

127.0.0.1 ".host" #PRE

After doing this, save the file (if in NOTEPAD, make sure it does NOT have a .TXT extension, or any extension for that matter).

Then to force a reload of the file, from the command prompt type:

nbtstat -R

(note this must be a capital R)

12.4.4 Darin’s Solution

Created an lmhosts file and added the line:

127.0.0.1 .host #PRE

to it as well as to hosts file.

Seems to reduce the wait to a few seconds.

12.5VM Blue Screens soon after boot

“Attempt to execute non-executable memory”

Change the boot.ini statement

- Can you try to boot the particular VM [which was converted using Converter 3.0.1] in 'Safe mode' by pressing 'F8' during boot up.

- Open the 'boot.ini' file by right clicking on My Computer > properties > Advanced > Start up and Recovery tab > Settings > and select the Edit button in the System Startup tab.

- Add the option "/noexecute=AlwaysOff" in the boot.ini file which disables the Data Execution Prevention of Windows Operating Systems. Now try booting the VM

13 Versions

13.1Upgrading from v2 to v3

Three options:

reinstall guest OSes from scratch
use existing config file and virtual disk; upgrade VMWare Tools; no support for USB; no new BIOS; no new unified virtual video hardware (helps simplify install of VMWare Tools)
use existing config file and virtual disk; upgrade VMWare Tools then upgrade virtual hardware (one-way process – makes virtual disk incompatible with v2); Settings->Upgrade Virtual Hardware

13.2Upgrading from v5 to v6

V6 implements support for USB 2.0

To upgrade a virtual machine, make sure VM is powered off. Then select VM->Upgrade or Change Version…

14 Virtual Disks

Can be moved to new locations on same host computer or different hosts
Start small and grow as needed to max size
Can’t change max size once created

3 modes:

persistent – just like a normal disk
undoable – changes are written to a redo log file and can be undone even if the guest is rebooted
non-persistent – all changes to a disk are discarded when the guest is powered down

Use Settings->Configuration Editor... to change the mode of the guest (when guest is powered down).

14.1How to increase/decrease virtual disks

14.1.1 Solution 1

Posted: Jun 5, 2007 4:56 AM in response to: Kimbo

Many options:

Linux is easier than windows

1. create new disks, copy/move over the data, when happy with it, replace current disk mount with new disk mount, delete old disk

2. Use the virtual disk manager and a partition grower of your choice.

VMware Virtual Disk Manager - build 45731.

Usage: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe OPTIONS <disk-name> | <mount-point>

Offline disk manipulation utility

Options:

-c : create disk; need to specify other create options

-d : defragment the specified virtual disk

-k : shrink the specified virtual disk

-n <source-disk> : rename the specified virtual disk; need to

specify destination disk-name

-p : prepare the mounted virtual disk specified by

the drive-letter for shrinking

-q : do not log messages

-r <source-disk> : convert the specified disk; need to specify

destination disk-type

-x <new-capacity> : expand the disk to the specified capacity

Additional options for create and convert:

-a <adapter> : (for use with -c only) adapter type (ide, buslogic o

r lsilogic)

-s <size> : capacity of the virtual disk

-t <disk-type> : disk type id

Disk types:

0 : single growable virtual disk

1 : growable virtual disk split in 2Gb files

2 : preallocated virtual disk

3 : preallocated virtual disk split in 2Gb files

The capacity can be specified in sectors, Kb, Mb or Gb.

The acceptable ranges:

ide adapter : [100.0Mb, 950.0Gb]

scsi adapter: [100.0Mb, 950.0Gb]

ex 1: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -c -s 850Mb -a ide -t 0 myIdeDisk.vmdk

ex 2: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -d myDisk.vmdk

ex 3: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 0 destinationDisk.vm

ex 4: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -x 36Gb myDisk.vmdk

ex 5: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -n sourceName.vmdk destinationName.vmdk

ex 6: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -k myDisk.vmdk

ex 7: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -p <mount-point>

(A virtual disk first needs to be mounted at <mount-point>)

RDPetruska

Posts: 11,144

From: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Registered: 1/11/05

Re: Is it possible to increase/decrease virtual disks?

Posted: Jun 5, 2007 5:21 AM in response to: Kimbo Reply

In case Liz's post isn't clear...

You can use the vmware-vdiskmanager command-line utility (found in the Workstation folder) to *increase* the size of your virtual disk. You will still need to run a partitioning utility inside of the guest to either create a new partition, or extend the existing one, in the newly available free space.

There are no tools to *decrease* the size of your virtual disk. Create a new, smaller disk, attach it to your guest, and use a disk imaging utility to move all the files from the larger disk onto the smaller one. Then, remove the larger disk from your VM's configuration.

14.1.2 Solution 2

http://4sysops.com/archives/expanding-a-virtual-vmware-disk/

I was disappointed the first time when I realized that one can’t change the size of a virtual disk with the VMware user interface. So I googled this problem, hoping to find an easy-to-use tool. What I found out was that the virtual disk can be resized on the command line using the VMware Virtual Disk Manager Utility. The documentation about this feature on the web is for VMware Workstation 4.5, but it also works with version 5.5 and also for VMware GSX Server.

The command to expand a virtual disk looks like this:

vmware-vdiskmanager -x 10GB myDisk.vmdk

The new size of the virtual Disk will be 10 GB in this example. myDisk.vmdk is the file of the virtual disk on the host system. Usually this file won’t be located in the same folder as vmware.exe. Thus, you have to specify the full path to the vmdk file. Don’t forget to enclose the path in quotation marks, if the folder names contain spaces. You can find vmware.exe in the VMware installation folder.

My second disappointment was that one can’t expand a virtual disk if it contains snapshots. With a heavy heart, I deleted all my snapshots of this virtual machine. I was surprised how much time VMware needed for this. The size of the disk was 4 GB and I had three snapshots. I didn’t measure the time, but it must have taken at least 15 minutes. This is amazing considering that it only takes a few seconds to create a snapshot.

Finally, I was able to expand the virtual disk. The virtual disk manager needed several minutes to enlarge the virtual disk to a size of 10 GB. Of course, you can only do this after you shut down the virtual machine. It is recommended that you backup the vmdk file first, just in case something goes wrong.

I was disappointed the third time when the Virtual Disk Management Utility eventually finished its task. Expanding the virtual disk was successful, but the tool suggested using a third-party tool to resize the partitions within the virtual disk. So basically I was back to where I started. I, now, had a bigger virtual disk, but the system partition of my virtual machine still remained the same size.

Luckily, I remembered that I have an old version of Partition Magic. Since my virtual disk was full, I had to create a second virtual disk on this virtual machine first to get some free space for Partition Magic. I suppose, you know that one can add a new virtual disk by changing the virtual machine settings. Partition Magic 7.0 had no problems enlarging the system partition on my VMware virtual disk.

All in all, it took me about an hour to resize my virtual disk, including the search for a solution for my problem and the time to find my old Partition Magic. I guess I was a bit too optimistic with my five minutes estimation. I hope that future versions of VMware will offer more comfort here.

14.1.3 Solution 3

You can extend the size of the partition using windows utility diskpart.exe - works on Win2k and later.

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

MS page says this about diskpart.exe:

"Only the extension of data volumes is supported. System or boot volumes may be blocked from being extended..." Of course good old sysresccd has a bunch of tools to handle this. ;)

Use gparted livecd: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

15 Virtual Hardware Devices

15.1Adding

From: VMware Technical Support [webform@vmware.com]

Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 7:53 AM

To: Darin Davis

Subject: RE: VMware Support Request SR# 193507504

DO NOT CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE if you want to respond to this email.

Dear Darin,

As you stated in your previous e-mail that there is no Audio device present in the Device Manager under the 'Sound, Video and Game Controllers' tab, I would request you to try the below recommendations and let me know the results.

- Power-Off the particular Virtual Machine and in the Workstation menu bar select > VM > Settings, and in the Hardware tab check if there are any Sound Adapter's present.

- If not, Click on the Add button in the same window and from the available hardware list select > Sound Adapter > Next > Finish, which will add a new Sound adapter to the Virtual Machine.

- When you boot the Guest Operating System next time, the sound adapter will be configured by the Guest Operating System automatically. If not, open the Device Manager and select > Action > Scan for Hardware Changes, which will show an 'Creative AudioPCI [ES1371, ES1373]' under the Sound, Video and Game Controllers' tab and I am sure that this will resolve the issue.

Also, I would kindly request you to send us the 'vm-support' logs at the earliest, as requested in my earlier e-mail's which will help me to proceed further with this case.

Please let me know if you have any clarifications.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,

Ragavendra

Technical Support

VMware, Inc. (An EMC Company)

16 Virtual Machines

A single VM is stored in a directory on a Windows host in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMs\vm_name (the default for pre-v3) or in C:\My Documents\My Virtual Machines\vm_name (the default for v3). If vm_name is “linux”, the vm_name directory will have the following files:

linux.vmdk (virtual disk)
linux.vmx (config file)
nvram (state of the VM’s BIOS)
linux.vmss (suspended state file)
VMware.log

16.1Deleting Permanently

VM -> Delete from Disk

17 VMware Tools

installed on the guest operating system; features:

supports 32-bit displays, high display resolution, significantly faster graphics performance
time sync between host and guest OS
automatic grab and release of mouse cursor
copy/paste between host and guest OS
improved mouse performance in some guest OSes

without it, graphics in the VM is limited to 640x480, 16 color

provided as ISO image files. When Settings->VMWare Tools Install... selected, VMWare temporarily connects the guest’s virtual CD-ROM (if guest is a Windows client) to the VMWare Tools ISO image file. If the guest is a Linux client, admin must manually mount the linux.iso image as a virtual CDROM (see page 83 of manual and section 1 “Adding ISO Image as a CD-ROM to Redhat Guest”).

The VMware Toolbox (/usr/X11R6/bin/vmware-toolbox) must be running to enable copy/paste from guest to host and mouse cursor auto-focus.