Chapter 22 - Modifying VMs

Abstract

Virtual machines are made up of two files. The vmx file is the virtual machine's configuration file, while the virtual machine disk format (VMDK) file is the virtual machine's disk file or hard drive. When working with virtual machines, there are two main components or files that need to be understood. A virtual machine disk (VMDK) file is an encapsulation of an entire server or desktop environment in a single file. In a way, it can be seen as the hard drive for a virtual machine. The VMDK file can have four different forms. Type 0 (monolithic sparse disk), Type 1 (growable; split into 2 GB files), Type 2 (single pre-allocated; monolithic sparse disk), and Type 3 (pre-allocated; split into 2 GB fi les). Types 1, 2, and 3 use a disk descriptor file, while type 0 does not. To make changes to the VMDK file, it has to open and view the disk descriptor; otherwise, with the type 0 single disk. VMware products offer two modes for host emulation of the graphics inside the virtual machine: GDI (Graphics Device Interface; the classic Windows graphics mode) and DirectDraw (a mode designed for games and other applications that write directly to the hardware). This chapter also examines changing an IDE drive to a SCSI drive. Before changing the settings, it is needed to get the SCSI drivers in the system first. The easiest way to do this is to add another hard disk to the virtual machine as a secondary drive and configure this drive to be a SCSI drive.