Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 139
Chapter 6 Using Disks in a Virtual Machine
3 Select!what!you!want!to!connect!to!!a!physical!floppy!drive!on!the!host!
computer,!an!existing!floppy!image!file,!or!a!new!floppy!image!file.!Click!Next.
4If!you!selected!Use!a!physical!floppy!drive,!choose!the!drive’s!letter!(on!a!
Windows!host)!or!device!name!(on!a!
Linux!host)!from!the!dropdown!list!or!choose!
Auto!detect!to!let!VMware!Server!select!the!drive!to!use.!Click!Finish.
The!benefit!of!autodetect!devices!is!that!you!can!move!them!between!virtual!
machines!that!use!different!operating!systems,!such!as!Windows!and!Linux,!
without!having!to!reconfigure
!them.
If!you!selected!Use!a!floppy!image,!type!the!path!and!filename!for!the!floppy!
image!file!you!want!to!use,!or!click!Browse!to!navigate!to!the!file.!Click!Finish.
If!you!selected!Create!a!blank!floppy!image,!use!the!default!path!and!filename!or!
type!in!a
!new!one.!To!navigate!to!a!location,!click!Browse.!When!the!field!contains!
the!path!and!filename!you!want!to!use!for!the!new!floppy!image!file,!click!Finish.
NOTE By!default,!only!one!floppy!drive!is!enabled!in!the!virtual!machine’s!BIOS.!If!
you!are!adding!a!second!floppy!drive!to!the!virtual!machine,!click!inside!the!
virtual!machine!window!and!press!F2!as!the!virtual!machine!boots!to!enter!the!
BIOS!setup!utility.!On!the!main!screen,!choose!Legacy
!Diskette!B:!and!use!the!
plus!(+)!and!minus!()!keys!on!the!numerical!keypad!to!select!the!type!of!
floppy!drive!you!want!to!use.!Press!F10!to!save!your!changes!and!close!the!
BIOS!setup!utility.
Using VMware Virtual Disk Manager
VMware!Virtual!Disk!Manager!is!a!utility!in!VMware!Server!that!lets!you!create,!
manage,!and!modify!virtual!disk!files!from!the!command!line!or!within!scripts.!
One!key!feature!is!the!ability!to!enlarge!a!virtual!disk!so!its!maximum!capacity!is!larger!
than!it!was!when!you!created!it.
!This!way,!if!you!find!you!need!more!disk!space!on!a!
given!virtual!disk,!but!do!not !want!to!add!another!virtual!disk!or!use!ghosting!software!
to!transfer!the!data!on!a!virtual!disk!to!a!larger!virtual!disk,!you!can!simply!change!the!
maximum!size!of!the!
disk.!This!is!something!you!cannot!do!with!physical!hard!drives.
Another!feature!allows!you!to!change!whether!or!not!all!virtual!disk!space!is!
preallocated!or!growable,!and!whether!or!not!the!virtual!disk!is!stored!in!a!single!file!or!
split!into!2GB!files.!For!example,!you!might!find!
that!you!preallocated!all!the!disk!space!
for!a!virtual!disk,!but!need!to!reclaim!some!hard!disk!space!on!the!host.!You!can!convert!
the!preallocated!virtual!disk!into!a!growable!disk!and!remove!the!original!virtual!disk!
file.!The!new!virtual!disk!is!large!enough!to!contain!all!the
!data!on!the!original!virtual!
disk.!The!virtual!disk!grows!in!size!as!you!add!data!to!it,!as!if!you!never!preallocated!
the!disk!space!when!you!created!the!virtual!disk.