Specifications

CHAPTER 4 Managing Virtual Machines and the VMware GSX Server Host
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• The local system account — the virtual machine runs as the local system
account (Administrator). You can enable this option only if you are logged in to
the host operating system as an Administrator.
• A specific user account — the virtual machine runs as the user account
specified in the New Virtual Machine Wizard or the virtual machine settings
editor. This account must be able to access the GSX Server host.
The user account is specified when you create the virtual machine and you can
change it in the virtual machine settings editor.
Understanding Permissions and User Accounts
If the virtual machine is configured to run as the user who powers it on, the user must
have Read and Write permissions to the virtual machine files, such as the
configuration file, virtual disk files and snapshot files. The user account must be an
administrator account if the virtual machine needs to access devices like physical
disks, USB controllers and generic SCSI devices.
An easy way to allow this user to access a virtual machine is to set the permissions for
the directory containing the virtual machine files and let the user inherit the rights for
that directory.
If another user connects to this virtual machine while it is running, that user only
needs permissions for the configuration file.
For virtual machines configured to run as a specific user account or run as the local
system user, any user connecting to the virtual machine needs permissions for the
configuration file only.
An easy way to allow these users to access the virtual machine is to grant Read and
Write permissions to all the files in the virtual machine’s directory except for the
configuration file. Grant Read & Execute permission to the configuration file and
disallow the inheritance of permissions on the file.
Changing the User Account
You can change the user account for a virtual machine by choosing VM > Settings >
Options > Startup/Shutdown and changing the user account information there.
If the virtual machine is configured to run as the user account who powers it on, you
need to make sure the virtual machine is in a location that is accessible to that user. If
you need to locate the virtual machines in a different area, or on another system on
the network, make sure the user has access to the virtual machine resources (such as
virtual disks, physical disks, devices and snapshot files).