Accepted Solutions
IMO Whether or not it is required is somewhat irrelevant if the existing convention in the .vmx configuration file has the values of the parameters quoted and therefore any that I add will also be quoted.
Now will it work if you don't quote the value of the parameter, well I just tested by unquoting the values of several parameters and it worked fine until one of those values had spaces in it at which point I received an error, "File "/../../DSLinux.vmwarevm/DSLinux.vmx" line 10: Syntax error." so technically the answer is no if there are no spaces in the value of the parameter and yes for the values of the parameters that have spaces.
Which brings me back to my opinion and following established convention, which is to quote the values of the parameters in the .vmx configuration file whether or not it's needed since it's plainly obvious the VMware Application themselves quote the values in the .vmx configuration file! 
IMO Whether or not it is required is somewhat irrelevant if the existing convention in the .vmx configuration file has the values of the parameters quoted and therefore any that I add will also be quoted.
Now will it work if you don't quote the value of the parameter, well I just tested by unquoting the values of several parameters and it worked fine until one of those values had spaces in it at which point I received an error, "File "/../../DSLinux.vmwarevm/DSLinux.vmx" line 10: Syntax error." so technically the answer is no if there are no spaces in the value of the parameter and yes for the values of the parameters that have spaces.
Which brings me back to my opinion and following established convention, which is to quote the values of the parameters in the .vmx configuration file whether or not it's needed since it's plainly obvious the VMware Application themselves quote the values in the .vmx configuration file!
WoodyZ wrote:
IMO Whether or not it is required is somewhat irrelevant if the existing convention in the .vmx configuration file has the values of the parameters quoted and therefore any that I add will also be quoted.
Now will it work if you don't quote the value of the parameter, well I just tested by unquoting the values of several parameters and it worked fine until one of those values had spaces in it at which point I received an error, "File "/../../DSLinux.vmwarevm/DSLinux.vmx" line 10: Syntax error." so technically the answer is no if there are no spaces in the value of the parameter and yes for the values of the parameters that have spaces.
Which brings me back to my opinion and following established convention, which is to quote the values of the parameters in the .vmx configuration file whether or not it's needed since it's plainly obvious the VMware Application themselves quote the values in the .vmx configuration file!
Thank you for your quick reply and experimentation. I noticed the missing quotes when XPMode using Virtual PC inside of Win 7 Pro on Fusion 4 started to act oddly. I tried adding quotes and didn't see any change either, but with the standard syntax seeming to call for quotes, I've left them there. XPMode in VPC used to be virtually useless but running now on a Westmere processor, it's almost as quick as in VMWare Player, though without all the good features.
Jim Mattson wrote: The quotes aren't necessary. I left them off in that document, because Windows users often seem to end up with "smart-quotes" when manually editing their configuration files, and smart-quotes definitely don't work.
I never end up with "smart-quotes" when manually editing a .vmx configuration file under any Host Platform because I suppose I use a proper editor however quotes are absolutely necessary with any parameter value that has spaces in it and VMware products like Fusion and Workstation by default quote all parameter values regardless of spaces or not when the .vmx file is created. Additionally one would think that common sense dictates that established conventions should be followed! Therefore since parameter values with spaces absolutely require quotes and the VMware product itself by its own defaults quotes all parameter values in the .vmx configuration file, then when manually editing it is better to maintain consistency even if technically a parameter value without a space in it does not need to be quoted to work. (Sloppy coding always seems to lead to issues.)
WoodyZ wrote:
Jim Mattson wrote: The quotes aren't necessary. I left them off in that document, because Windows users often seem to end up with "smart-quotes" when manually editing their configuration files, and smart-quotes definitely don't work.
...one would think that common sense dictates that established conventions should be followed!
In some circumstances, assuming common sense could be asking too much. I'm following a thread on the Apple MacBook Pro forum in which the OP is complaining that Apple charges too much for a laptop that it didn't make liquid-proof, something he was surprised to discover after dumping some wine on the keyboard.