Specifications

CHAPTER 6 Using Disks in a Virtual Machine
205
6. To configure a virtual machine to run from a physical disk partition, start the New
Virtual Machine Wizard (File > New > New Virtual Machine) and select Custom.
7. When you reach the Select a Disk step, select Use a physical disk.
8. Complete the wizard steps, specifying the appropriate disk or partition to use for
this virtual machine.
Caution: Corruption is possible if you allow the virtual machine to modify a
partition that is simultaneously mounted under Linux. Since the virtual machine
and guest operating system access an existing partition while the host
continues to run Linux, it is critical that the virtual machine not be allowed to
modify any partition mounted under Linux or in use by another virtual machine.
To safeguard against this problem, be sure the partition you use in the virtual
machine is not mounted under the Linux host.
9. Complete the remaining steps in the wizard.
10. If you have multiple IDE drives configured on a system, the VMware BIOS
normally attempts to boot them in this sequence:
a. Primary master
b. Primary slave
c. Secondary master
d. Secondary slave
If you have multiple SCSI drives configured on a system, the VMware BIOS
normally attempts to boot them in the order of the SCSI device number.
If you have both SCSI and IDE drives configured, the VMware BIOS normally
attempts to boot SCSI drives followed by IDE drives, in the order listed above.
You can change the boot sequence using the Boot menu of the virtual
machine’s Phoenix BIOS. To enter the BIOS setup utility, power on the virtual
machine and press F2 as the virtual machine begins to boot.
11. Power on the virtual machine. Click the Power On button. The virtual machine
starts, runs the Phoenix BIOS, then boots from the master boot record (MBR).
Choose the target operating system from the list of options offered by the boot
manager.
12. Remember that your virtual machine hardware environment, which the guest
operating system is about to run in for the first time, probably differs significantly
from the physical hardware of your machine.