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harry907
Contributor
Contributor

Connecting to a cd drive or usb drive problems

I keep getting issues when I select the CD drive or usb to connect to I get an error

remote device connection

could not open the client device it is being used by another virtual machine or some other program

I have checked all my virtual machines and none of them have a connection to it

how do I get round this

Thanks

16 Replies
Wolfert
Contributor
Contributor

I have experienced the same problem.  I've setup my VM to use the "Client Device" as its CD/DVD.  When I go to connect  my CD/DVD after powering up the VM I get an error dialog of “Could not open the client device E: it is being used by another virtual machine or some other program.”  The only thing running on this new computer is ESXi 5.0  I’ve just loaded up  ESXi on this box and am trying to load my first VM off of a MS Server 2003 media.  I tried a ROCKS boot cd as well on a twin of this system with the same result.

I’ve also set the VM’s BIOS boot order to hit CD first as well as a 15,000 ms delay on boot to give time to hit the CD Tool and attach the physical CD/DVD drive.  That all doesn’t matter because no matter what I do I get the same in use error.  Help?  Ideas?

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stupidsignupreq
Contributor
Contributor

117 people in one month have searched and viewed this problem and apparently nobody at VMWare has an idea or gives a shit. Is this what I paid the big bucks for?

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TVE
Contributor
Contributor

I came across the same problem. I generally run the vSphere Client as normal user unter Windows 7.

To be able to connect the local CD drive to a virtual machine, I have to run the vSphere Client as administrator! This is my work around.

Ansgar

stupidsignupreq
Contributor
Contributor

That doesn’t work. I get the same running as admin as regular. There appears to be no way to get the virtual server to read a CD no matter where I point it.

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CenturyHousing
Contributor
Contributor

Right-click the VM -> Edit Settings -> CD/DVD Drive 1 -> Emulate IDE

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SAngeli
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

I confirm that what was last advised is correct.

I was able to use my local PC CD-ROM by just changing that simple setting under the VM.

VM -> Edit Settings -> CD/DVD Drive 1 -> Emulate IDE


What I dislike about VMware ESXI a lot is that when I have to perform a new install of an OS I do not have the appropriate time to let the VM boot, me mounting the CD-ROM, and letting the VM bios find the CD-ROM. I always have to edit settings and delay boot of about 5000 ms.

I wish this could be a feature where to enable/disable when needed.

Spiro

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wgp
Contributor
Contributor

I find the best way to do it is tick the boot-into-bios option. Once it's sitting at the bios, I can connect up the drive and exit out of the bios to continue booting. It's a one-off option so you don't need to go back into the settings to untick it..

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Cam3ron
Contributor
Contributor

I had a similar issue today trying to build a brand new VM with Win 2008 Server r2 64bit. My cd wouldn't boot. Here's what I did to make it work.

Download or create an ISO from my Windows 08 Server media. Place the ISO file on a network share in a folder with rights for the user.  Right Click the VM & choose edit settings ---- click CD|DVD --- place a check @ "connect on power" on and "connected" ---- select "Datastore ISO File" ----- then click browse and select your ISO file ---or--you could probalby place a UNC path \\server\share\myfile.ISO  in the Datastore field.

Also, I selected to force the vm to go into the BIOS on first startup, and I made sure that the CD-DVD was the first bootable device in the BIOS.....Escaped from BIOS and my machine booted right into Windows 2008 Server setup and has been running all day.... Hope this helps.

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Wolfert
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks Cameron,

This is exactly what I did. One thing I’ve tried to do and failed at since is getting my 2008 SR2 server to have a Unix share that is accessible by this process. I’d love to have a Unix share on the box that I can drop to the share from my Windows server and then be able to connect to the Unix share from the drive redirector when I’m configuring VMs on different boxes. I’ve got to where I can see the ISO’s in my NFS share but can’t read them! Bother… You would have any idea on how to create an NFS share on Sever 2008 R2 that I can do this with would you?

Ken

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JohnEllis201110
Contributor
Contributor

Running the vSphere Client as administrator solves this issue for me.

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MattGeorgey
Contributor
Contributor

Harry,

It happens when multiple vCenter / VI client instances are running.

Closing all the running instances and connecting it again should probably solve the problelm.

Else connect to the ESXi server using VI client and then you should be able to connect to the CD/DVD/USB drive.

Hope it helps.. Smiley Happy

~Georgey

wendell_henry
Contributor
Contributor

The other solutions in this thread did not solve my problem, but this one was the answer.  Thank you very much.

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6Hunter9
Contributor
Contributor

Run vSphere client as administrator works for me too.

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ACarrasqueiro
Contributor
Contributor

Tks MattGeorgey,

I closed the vSphere Client, running it again the problem was solved.

Very simple.

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cabimas66
Contributor
Contributor

Well On my case, I am installing 3 ESXI servers, and I got this error on the third one, to solve the problem I had to "run as administrator" the VMware Vsphere client.

Thanks for your help "TVE"

Enrique

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irfanjamil
Contributor
Contributor

Work for me Thanks again

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