Specifications

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VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
Generic SCSI on a Windows Host Operating System
Using the SCSI Generic driver in Windows, GSX Server allows your guest operating
system to operate generic SCSI devices — including scanners, tape drives and other
data storage devices — in a virtual machine.
Adding a Generic SCSI Device Not Detected by GSX Server (Advanced Users)
When adding a generic SCSI device to a virtual machine, if GSX Server does not
display the device you want to add (for example, scanners on a Windows 2000 host or
some tape backup devices), you need to add the device manually to the virtual
machine’s configuration file (.vmx).
Reasons GSX Server cannot detect a device include:
• A driver for that device is not installed on the host.
• A driver on the host prevents the device from being detected.
• The virtual machine uses a device for which there are no drivers available to the
host operating system.
Before you attempt the steps below, first verify that the device driver is installed on the
host. If the driver is not installed, install it then see if the device appears correctly to
GSX Server. If it does not appear correctly, or if you cannot or do not want to install the
driver on the host, then you need to add the device manually to the virtual machine.
When adding a device manually to the virtual machine, use scsiX:Y notation to
refer to the device on the host instead of a device name GSX Server uses like CdRom0.
For this type of notation, X is the SCSI bus on which the device is located on the host
and Y is the target ID the device uses on the host.
Caution: Adding a device in this manner is recommended for advanced users only.
Caution: Before you add the device, you must disable the original SCSI device driver
on the host. Some Windows operating systems do not process the send command
from the adapter if the device driver is owning the device.
There are a few circumstances requiring you to add the device manually. Follow the
steps that match your circumstance. In each case, power off the virtual machine, then
open the virtual machine’s configuration file (.vmx) in a text editor and make the
changes as described below.
1. The virtual machine does not contain any SCSI adapters or devices, or you want
to add a generic SCSI device to a new virtual SCSI adapter in the virtual machine.
In this case, to add the device to the virtual machine, you need to add the
following lines to the virtual machine’s configuration file: