VMware Workstation with raw disk in F12
Matthew Saltzman
mjs at clemson.edu
Thu Dec 17 19:06:56 UTC 2009
On Thu, 2009-12-17 at 10:14 -0800, Rick Stevens wrote:
> On 12/17/2009 09:19 AM, Michal wrote:
> > On 17/12/2009 16:49, Matthew Saltzman wrote:
> >> I'm trying to work with a dual-boot machine, with VMware Workstation 7,
> >> Fedora 12 as the host, and WinXP as the guest.
> >>
> >> When I define the VM and select the raw disk, VMware configures the disk
> >> as SCSI, even though the hardware is SATA. I changed the .vmdk file to
> >> make the disk IDE and set the geometry appropriately, but it still
> >> doesn't work. ISTR that there are also some changes needed to the .vmx
> >> file, but I can't seem to find any reference to it when I google. I
> >> have an old configuration (that was working before I made some changes
> >> to the disk partitions) that I've tried to extract changes from, but the
> >> new version is different enough that I can't tell exactly what I need.
> >>
> >> Any hints or sources?
> >>
> >> Thanks.
> >>
> >
> > I am confused what the problem is. Yes VMware configures it as SCSI even
> > though it's SATA...it will still work and run with no problems...
>
> On Linux, ALL block devices are treated as if they're SCSI. There is
> no differentiation between IDE, SATA, SAS, fiberchannel, iSCSI, USB,
> Firewire or true SCSI. Even IDE-based CDROMs show up as /dev/srX.
> This has been true for a very long time...at least a couple of years
> and an early 2.6 kernel (2.6.4 rings a bell for some reason).
>
> Since VMWare is being hosted by F12, it makes absolute sense why your
> SATA drive appears to be SCSI. I'm just rather surprised you just found
> this out.
Well, I did know that, actually. The problem is that when configured
this way using raw disks, the VM *won't boot*. The configuration that I
had working in F11 before the disk rebuild had the controller type
changed to IDE because otherwise it doesn't work.
BTW, the CD-ROM shows up in VMware as being IDE.
I have a grub floppy image that I use as a boot loader for the VM. The
boot loader starts and chains to the WinXP loader, then the VM hangs. I
should point out that the WinXP system disk was not changed when I
repartitioned. The grub on the bare metal machine dual boots just fine.
If I replace the controller type in the .vmdk file, I get a message that
the controller type is changed. The boot starts, but it bluescreens.
--
Matthew Saltzman
Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs
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