Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 149
Chapter 6 Using Disks in a Virtual Machine
CAUTION Corruption!is!possible!if!you!allow!the!virtual!machine!to!modify!a!
partition!that!is!simultaneously!mounted!under!Windows.!Since!the!
virtual!machine!and!guest!operating!system!access!a!physical!disk!
partition!while!the!host!continues!to!run!Windows,!it!is!critical!that!
you!not!allow!the!virtual!machine!to!modify
!any!partition!mounted!
by!the!host!or!in!use!by!another!virtual!machine.!To!safeguard!
against!this!problem,!be!sure!the!physical!disk!partition!you!use! for!
the!virtual!machine!is!not!in!use!by!the!host.!
Use!Disk!Management!(Start!>!Settings!>!Control!Panel!>!Administrative!Tools!>!
Computer!Management!>!Storage!>!Disk!Management).!Select!the!partition!you!
want!to!unmap.!Choose!Action!>!All!Tasks!>!Change!Drive!Letter!and!Path.!Click!
Remove.!
7Use!the!virtual!machine!settings!editor!(VM!>!Settings)!to!change!any!
configuration!options!from!the!Wizard!defaults!!for!example,!to!change!the!
amount!of!memory!allocated!to!the!virtual!machine.
8At!this!point!you!are!ready!to!begin!installing!the!guest!operating!system!onto!the!
physical!disk
!you!configured!for!the!virtual!machine.!For!more!details,!read!the!
installation!notes!for!various!guest!operating!systems!in!the!VMware!Guest!
Operating!System!Installation!Guide,!available!from!the!VMware!Web!site.
Configuring a Linux Host
1Identify!the!raw!partition!on!which!to!install!the!guest!operating!system.
Check!the!guest!operating!system!documentation!regarding!the!type!of!partition!
on!which!the!operating!system!can!be!installed.!For!example,!operating!systems!
like!DOS,!Windows!95,!and!Windows!98!must!be!installed!on!the!first!primary!
partition!while!
others,!like!Linux,!can!be!installed!on!a!primary!or!extended!
partition!on!any!part!of!the!drive.!
Identify!an!appropriate!raw!partition!or!disk!for!the!guest!operating!system!to!use.!
Check!that!the!raw!partition!is!not!mounted!by!the!Linux!host!and!not!in!use!by!
others.!Also,
!be!sure!the!raw!partition!or!disk!does!not!have!data!you!will!need!in!
the!future;!if!it!does,!back!up!that!data!now.
2Check!the!operating!system!partition!mounts.!Be!sure!the!existing!disk!partitions!
that!you!plan!to!use!in!the!virtual!machine!are!not!mounted!by!Linux.
3Set!the!device!group!membership!or!device!ownership.
The!master!physical!disk!device!or!devices!need!to!be!readable!and!writable!by!the!
user!who!runs!VMware!Server.!On!most!distributions,!the!raw!devices,!such!as!