Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 129
Chapter 6 Using Disks in a Virtual Machine
! “Using!the!DVD/CDROM!Drive!on!a!Client”!on!page 130
4Click!OK!to!save!your!changes!and!close!the!virtual!machine!settings!editor.
Choosing a Device Node for the DVD/CD-ROM Drive
Like!a!virtual!disk,!the!virtual!machine’s!DVD/CDROM!drive!can!be!associated!with!a!
specific!SCSI!or!IDE!device!node.
The!type!of!device!does!not!have!to!match!the!type!of!device!on!the!host,!so!if!your!
VMware!Server!host!has!an!IDE!CDROM!drive,!you!can!
still!configure!your!virtual!
machine!with!a!SCSI!CDROM!drive.
If!you!want!to!do!more!than!read!data!from!the!drive!!for!example,!burn!CDROMs!
!you!should!match!the!bus!types.!So!if!your!host!has!an!IDE!CDROM!drive,!
configure!the!virtual!CDROM!
drive!on!an!IDE!device!node.
However,!if!you!want!to!boot!from!a!virtual!CDROM!drive,!you!must!configure!the!
drive!as!an!IDE!device.
Using Legacy Emulation for DVD/CD-ROM Drives
The!virtual!machine!settings!editor!provides!a!Legacy!emulation!option!for!
DVD/CDROM!drives!attached!to!the!virtual!machine.
On!Windows!hosts,!this!option!is!deselected!by!default.
On!Linux!hosts!with!IDE!drives,!the!default!setting!for!this!option!depends!on!whether!
the!ide-scsi!module!is!loaded!in!your!kernel.!The
!ide-scsi!module!must!be!loaded!!
or!you!must!be!using!a!physical!SCSI!drive!—to!connect!to!the!DVD/CDROM!drive!in!
raw!mode.!
If!you!encounter!problems!using!your!DVD/CDROM!drive,!try!selecting!Legacy!
emulation.
In!legacy!emulation!mode,!you!can!read!from!data!discs!in!the!
DVD/CDROM!drive,!
but!some!other!functions!are!not!available.!For!example,!you!cannot!read!from!
multisession!discs!if!your!DVD/CDROM!drive!is!configured!for!legacy!mode.!You!
cannot!burn!CDROMs!either.
When!Legacy!emulation!is!deselected,!the!guest!operating!system!communicates!
directly!with!the!drive.!This!direct!communication!
enables!capabilities!that!are!not!
possible!in!legacy!emulation!mode,!such!as!using!CD!and!DVD!writers!to!burn!discs,!
reading!multisession!CDs,!performing!digital!audio!extraction,!and!viewing!video.
However,!in!some!cases,!the!DVD/CDROM!drive!might!not!work!correctly!when!the!
guest!operating!system!is!communicating!directly!with!
the!drive.!In!addition,!certain!