VMWare ESX and Workstation 7 running extra servers

[LCrous]

Hi

I am new to VMware but here goes.

I have installed VMWare workstation 7.1 and installed VmWare ESX4.1 within the workstation and on a seperate VM installed Vsphere client(outside of ESX) and it does start up and I can login. Everything works fine but as soon as I try to install a server within ESX itself it does not want to pickup the CD/DVD drive.

1. Checked BIOS but is doesn't show a + sign next to it. Changed the boot order to CD.Not working

2. Loaded onto the  data store a bootable ISO not working.

3. Tried client, ISO and physical and all other options I can think  of.

4. Yes and I checked the boxes for connect at power on.

Any suggestions?

[weinstein5]

Welcome the community - On the settings for the VM hosting your ESX server what are the settings CD settings? You will need to make sure a cd is configured for the VM -

Also just a word of caution I hope you are doing this as a lab or learning environment because the performance of the VMs running on your virtualized ESX host will not be good.