Specifications

CHAPTER 6 Using Disks in a Virtual Machine
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This set of virtual devices is different from the set of physical hardware devices on the
host computer and is independent of the underlying hardware with a few exceptions
(the processor itself is such an exception). This feature provides a stable platform and
allows operating system images installed within a virtual machine to be migrated to
other physical machines, regardless of the configuration of the physical machine.
If an operating system is installed directly into a GSX Server virtual machine, the
operating system properly detects all the virtual devices by scanning the hardware.
However, if an operating system is already installed on the physical computer (for
example, in a dual-boot configuration), the operating system already is configured to
use the physical hardware devices. In order to boot such a preinstalled operating
system in a virtual machine, you need to create separate hardware profiles in order to
simplify the boot process.
Microsoft Windows operating systems, beginning with Windows 95 and Windows NT
4.0, allow you to create hardware profiles. Each hardware profile is associated with a
set of known devices. If more than one hardware profile exists, the system prompts
the user to choose between different hardware profiles at boot time.
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows
Server 2003 use Plug and Play at boot time to confirm that the actual devices match
the chosen hardware profile. Mismatches lead to the automatic detection of new
devices. Although this operation succeeds, it can be fairly slow.
Windows NT does not have Plug and Play support and uses the hardware profiles to
initialize its devices. Mismatches lead to errors reported by the device drivers and the
devices are disabled.
In order to set up hardware profiles for your physical and virtual machines, follow
these steps:
1. Before running GSX Server to boot an operating system previously installed on a
disk partition, boot the operating system natively and create two hardware
profiles, which you can call Physical Machine and Virtual Machine. To do this,
open Control Panel > System, then click the Hardware Profiles tab — or click
the Hardware tab, then click Hardware Profiles, depending on the operating
system. Click the Copy button and name the copies appropriately.
2. Windows NT only: While still running the operating system natively, use the
Device Manager to disable some devices from the Virtual Machine hardware
profile. To do this, open Control Panel > Devices, then select the individual
devices to disable. Devices to disable in the Virtual Machine hardware profile