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shockme17
Contributor
Contributor

Can Fusion boot from USB Drives?

I was wondering if there is a workaroud to boot from external drives? I do computer repair, and it would be great to work on an OS (ie Windows) by just plugging it in directly to my Macbook and having the software recognize the drive as internal so it can boot properly..

Thanks!

18 Replies
maddymac
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

It may not to possible to boot using USB drive to install any VM due to the current limitation of BIOS; However you can launch VM which are stored in external USB devices in Fusion...

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

In the context of your question I'm making the assumption that you're removing a physical hard drive from an existing physical system placing it in an external USB drive enclosure and will connect that to the Mac to be used in Fusion and if my assumption is correct...

You can create a Virtual Hard Drive that represents the Raw Disk and then use the Virtual Hard Drive in a Virtual Machine. Have a look at the following thread as an example:

However if your intention is to place the physical hard drive back into the original system then you should be very careful not to install VMware Tools if this is going to be the primary disk in the Virtual Machine as doing this is not the appropriate method and/or manner from which to work with or examine the physical hard drive and/or installed OS. A better method would be booting the physical system with a Live OS CD. A Windows OS based Live OS CD such as WinPE or BartPE would certainly be the most compatible for Windows however I've been using Knoppix for many years with great success as a diagnostic and examination tool. The latest CD version “KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso” has the ability to write to an NTFS volume. This can also be used on other systems containing non-Windows OS. It is also an excellent tool for working with Virtual Machines from a diagnostic and/or data recovery standpoint.

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sulphur
Contributor
Contributor

yes you can

1) connect your external drive

2) goto the command line - Terminal - and type diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *111.8 Gi disk0

1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS MAIN 82.4 Gi disk0s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data 29.0 Gi disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *37.3 Gi disk1

1: DOS_FAT_16 BOOT 2.0 Gi disk1s1

2: DOS_FAT_32 UNTITLED 2 35.3 Gi disk1s2

make note of the disk number

3) Create a virtual disk file for the external usb drive

cd ~/Documents/'Virtual Machines'

'/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/'vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk1 1 USB-DRIVE1 buslogic.

This should create 2 files

USB-DRIVE1.vmdk

USB-DRIVE1-pt.vmdk

The parameters read like this /dev/disk1 = disk1 , 1 = partition 1, USB-DRIVE1 = location of Virtual Machines drive files, buslogic = interface parameter ( ide , buslogic , lsilogic ) only buslogic works for usb drives, have no idea why.

Make note in Unix-like OSes, the single quotes is used to enclose a path with a space in the name, 'Virtual Machines', without the quotes the command will fail.

4) Then just create a new VM and choose an existing virtual disk, and point it to the new file you just created, IE --> USB-DRIVE1.vmdk

walterav
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, a lot more easy than the method above!

Howto:

Software: VMware fusion 2.05, OSX leopard 10.5.7, plopbootmanager 5.0.3 download it here:

*Use the "first" "plpbt.img" file you see in the extracted folder, the one in the subfolder /install/ is not the one we need to use!

Steps:

Create a new virtual machine, I used a "ubuntu template", add a "floppy drive" and use the "plpbt.img" from the "zip" above*. Turn on the virtual machine, when you see the bootloader screen with a starbackground "black screen with moving white dots", switch back to your "host OS" to connect your "usb-stick" so you can assign/link it to the virtual machine "lower left corner of virtual machine window, with 'usb logo'", than go back to the "guest OS" and choose "usb" from the "plop boot manager menu" and it should run!

ps: it might work with older version of Vmware fusion, or OSX, or other Virtual machine templates

walterav
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Is it a good Idea to make this post http://communities.vmware.com/message/1324846#1324846 a sticky one?

Because the feature works easy and fast?

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beatbreaker
Contributor
Contributor

+1 found this very useful

also the link for the download isn't up anymore - I had to use this:

http://www.mediafire.com/?otz0z3mwel2

JasonPC
Contributor
Contributor

WalterAV and Plopboot FTW!! Here is the working link for the official download page: http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagerdl.html

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jz510
Contributor
Contributor

Using Fusion 3.1.3 on OS X 10.6.8 here, and in order to get Fusion to brinp up the Plop boot manager, I had to use the "plpbt.iso" file in the plopbootmanager file (plpbt-5.0.12.zip), not the .img  -  the .img would initiate a PXE network boot attempt, and never got to the "starfield" boot manager, and thus could not get the USB key to boot.  fwiw, ymmv.

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

I have no problem using the plpbt.img from the plpbt-5.0.12.zip file.  Are you sure the Floppy is connected and set as the primary boot device in the BIOS or from Virtual Machine > Settings... > Advanced > Startup Device?

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jz510
Contributor
Contributor

I believe the boot device Fusion used was a CD/DVD drive, loading the plop iso.  I couldn't find a floppy drive to add / nor any UI for it. 

In Fusion's Startup Devices, only 3 are listed: HDD, CD/DVD (selected), or NAT.

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

I couldn't find a floppy drive to add / nor any UI for it. 

In Fusion's Startup Devices, only 3 are listed: HDD, CD/DVD (selected), or NAT.

Well if you couldn't find it then it's really not an accurate statement to say plpbt.img didn't work! Smiley Wink  I'll assume since you hadn't added a floppy you assigned the plpbt.img to the CD/DVD and of course since it's not an ISO Image it's expected not to work when not properly used. Smiley Happy

Virtual Machine > Settings... > Other Devices > click the + sign > Add Floppy...

VRComm
Contributor
Contributor

I know this is an old post and thread, but I came across it due to a similar issue in which my old PC finally went.

The drive was fine but the almost 10 year old motherboard decided it was done. None-the-less, I was looking

for an easy way to get the Windows 7 drive booted in Fusion on my intel based MacBook Pro.

After trying a few things, like the suggestions here. I restarted Fusion (v. 4.1.3) and realized I could use the Boot Camp VM.

It was smooth sailing after that. It boots the USB drive, installs the VM tools and drivers needed.

Don't know if you could go back the other way, but in this case, I don't think I will be doing that.

Hope this helps someone down the road. The how to for Boot Camp is in the help screen for Fusion.

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stephensteiner
Contributor
Contributor

You just saved my sanity! I'm happy to report this worked a treat on Fusion 7. Now I can build AND manage ESXi hosts from within my Mac!

BTW, the current download link is: http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/download.html

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ChaosKCW
Contributor
Contributor

Hi

HAs any one used plop with Windows 10 USB?

I have an official supplied by MS windows 10 Pro USB stick, the lastest VMWARE fusion and while plop boots fine, the USB option always fails to find windows10 (and yes I have connected it in VMWARE and its active).

Not sure how to get this to boot now ...

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ChaosKCW
Contributor
Contributor

Sulphur:

I cannot find      '/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/'vmware-rawdiskCreator anywhere on my mac, and have the latest VMWare fusion 8.1.0

Is there some other way to get this utility?

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pdwalker
Contributor
Contributor

Did you try /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-rawdiskCreator, because that is where my copy is.

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_flint
Contributor
Contributor

Slight edit to make it slightly easier for less experienced users to follow:

1) Connect your external drive
2) Goto the command line (Terminal.app) and type diskutil list

$ diskutil list /dev/disk0 #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER 0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *111.8 Gi   disk0 1:                        EFI                         200.0 Mi   disk0s1 2:                  Apple_HFS MAIN                    82.4 Gi    disk0s2 3:       Microsoft Basic Data                         29.0 Gi    disk0s3 /dev/disk1 #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER 0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *37.3 Gi    disk1 1:                 DOS_FAT_16 BOOT                    2.0 Gi     disk1s1 2:                 DOS_FAT_32 UNTITLED 2              35.3 Gi    disk1s2

Make note of the disk number (in this example it is 1 from /dev/disk1).

3) Create a virtual disk file for the external USB drive.
- Switch to the Virtual Machines directory (i.e. cd THE_PATH_TO_THE_DIRECTORY).

$ cd ~/Documents/Virtual\ Machines

- Run vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk1 1 USB-DRIVE1 buslogic. Replace /dev/disk1 with what you had in the previous step if it was not /dev/disk1.
Depending on your version of Fusion vmware-rawdiskCreator may be located in either /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/ or inside the VMware Fusion application itself (e.g. /Applications/Development/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/)


Example 1:

$ /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk1 1 USB-DRIVE1 buslogic

Example 2:

$ /Applications/Development/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk2 1 USB-DRIVE1 buslogic


This should create 2 files

  1. USB-DRIVE1.vmdk
  2. USB-DRIVE1-pt.vmdk


The parameters read like this:
/dev/disk1 = disk1, 1 = partition 1, USB-DRIVE1 = <location of Virtual Machines drive files>, buslogic = <interface parameter ( ide , buslogic , lsilogic ) only buslogic works for usb drives, I have no idea why>

Note: In Unix-like OSs (e.g. macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, etc), the single quotes is used to enclose a path with a space in the name, 'Virtual Machines'. Without the quotes, the spaces either have to be escaped with a / or the command will fail.

4) Create a new VM and choose an existing virtual disk, and point it to the new file you just created,  (i.e. USB-DRIVE1.vmdk in our example). If Fusion does not let you choose the .vmdk file then open the folder yourself and edit the .vmx file to point at the .vmdk file you created that points to the USB drive.

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jackiemeese
Contributor
Contributor

For some reason, Fusion now (Version 11.15.1) does not want to open the .vmdk created in this manner. I can open other .vmdks, but not this one.

Plot Boot Manager doesn't work either. It boots, but does not find the disk when you select to start off of the USB port.

Anyone have an updated solution? This would be really nice for testing.

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