VMware

This Question is Answered

2 "helpful" answers available (6 pts)
1 Replies Last post: Apr 18, 2009 12:32 PM by WoodyZ  

New Boot Camp Entry Every Reboot? posted: Apr 18, 2009 11:35 AM

Click to view icebalm1's profile Lurker 1 posts since
Apr 18, 2009

Hi All,

I have a Mac Pro with 4 hard drives, 2 of which are in a RAID Array, one for Time Machine and one dedicated to Windows. It seems like every time I reboot MacOS X is reassigning the hard drives different BSD /dev/disk* nodes. As such, every time I launch VMWare Fusion it detects my Windows (bootcamp) drive on a different /dev/disk* node and thinks its new, adds an entry into the library window and forces me to set it up again as if I had never booted it before, including trying to install VMWare Tools, etc.

Anyone know how I could force MacOSX to give the drives the same /dev/disk* numbers each time my computer boots, they aren't being swapped, moved, etc. between drive bays, or if there's another way that Fusion can use to locate my bootcamp drive so it doesn't keep thinking it's new?

Thanks in advance,

    • icebalm1

Re: New Boot Camp Entry Every Reboot?

1. Apr 18, 2009 12:32 PM in response to: icebalm1
Click to view WoodyZ's profile Guru 10,119 posts since
Apr 22, 2004
This issue has been covered many time on this forum and I'm surprised you didn't find anything when you first searched before asking however here are the facts...

Fact 1. Apple doesn't guarantee the BSD Name of a Disk between reboots.

Fact 2. VMware unfortunately and inexcusably was unaware of this when they designed Fusion and as such when OS X assigns a different BSD Name to a Disk then it previously had and when this Disk has a Boot Camp partition that has already been prepared to run as a Virtual Machine then two or more entries for the one Boot Camp partition can and will appear on the Virtual Machine Library in all versions of Fusion to date.

==========

This is more prevalent on with a Mac Pro however I've experienced it with a MacBook Pro and especially when having external drives attached that have a Boot Camp partition on them. On a Mac that has a single hard drive and only a partition for OS X and a partition for Windows it's less likely to happen compared to the Mac Pro which often have more then one internal drive however I have experienced it on a MacBook Pro in of by itself however it is more likely to occur when multiple hard drives are in play.

AFAIC Until VMware corrects this issue it is not worth using the Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine and I went so far as to, with Fusion closed, rename "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-rawdiskCreator" so Fusion would stop enumerating the Boot Camp partition and placing an entry on the Virtual Machine Library. I then deleted the "/Users/${USER}/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp/../Boot Camp partition.vmwarevm" Virtual Machine and opened Fusion and deleted the Boot Camp partition entry on the Virtual Machine Library and will not use it on the Boot Camp partition until VMware fixes it!

VMware Developer

SDKs, APIs, Videos, Learn and much more in the Developer community.

Learn More

Developer Sample Code

Increase your developer productivity with VMware API sample code.

Learn More

VMworld Sessions & Labs

Online access to the latest VMworld Sessions & Labs and online services.

Learn more

Purchase PSO Credits Online

Purchase credits to redeem training and consulting services online.

Buy Now

Community Hardware Software

View reported configurations or report your own.

Learn More

VMware vSphere

Come witness the next giant leap in virtualization.

Register Today

Communities