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Table Of Contents
VMware Server User’s Guide
164 VMware, Inc.
Device Control on a Linux Host
OnLinuxhosts,guestoperatingsystemscanusedevicesthatarenotalreadyinuseby
thehost(devicesthatarenotclaimedbyahostoperatingsystemdriver).
Ifyourdeviceisinusebythehost,youcanunloadthedevicedrivermanuallyasroot
(su -)byusing
thermmodcommand.Or,ifthedriverwasautomaticallyloadedby
hotplug,youcandisableitinthehotplugconfigurationfilesinthe/etc/hotplug
directory.SeeyourLinuxdistribution’sdocumentationfordetailsoneditingthese
configurationfiles.
Sometimesdevicesthatrelyonautomaticconnection(asPDAsoftendo)experience
connection
problems.Ifyouhavesuccessfullyusedautoconnectiontoconnectthe
devicetoyourvirtualmachinebutlaterexperienceproblemswiththeconnectiontothe
device,trythefollowingprocedure.
To correct autoconnection problems
1Disconnectandreconnectthedevicebyunpluggingitphysicallyandpluggingit
backin.
2Ifyouseeadialogboxwarningthat
thedeviceisinuse,disableitinthehotplug
configurationfilesinthe/etc/hotplugdirectory.
Disconnecting USB Devices from a Virtual Machine
BeforeunpluggingaUSBdevice,besureitisinasafestate.
Followtheproceduresthatthedevicemanufacturerspecifiesforunpluggingthedevice
fromaphysicalcomputer.Thisisrequiredwhetheryouarephysicallyunpluggingit,
movingitfromhosttovirtualmachine,movingitbetweenvirtualmachines,or
moving
itfromvirtualmachinetohost.Thisisespeciallyimportantwithdatastoragedevices
(suchasaZipdrive).Ifyoumoveadatastoragedevicetoosoonaftersavingafile,and
theoperatingsystemhasnotactuallywrittenthedatatothedisk,youcanlosedata.
Configuring Sound
VMwareServerprovidesasounddevicecompatiblewiththeCreativeLabsSound
BlasterAudioPCIadapterandsupportssoundinavarietyofWindowsandLinuxguest
operatingsystems.
SoundsupportincludesPCM(pulsecodemodulation)outputandinput.Forexample,
youcanplay.wavfiles,MP3audio,andRealMediaaudio.
MIDIoutputfromWindows
guestsissupportedthroughtheWindowssoftwaresynthesizer.MIDIinputisnot
supported,andnoMIDIsupportisavailableforLinuxguests.