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lse123
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

also a 64GB flash drive usb 3.0 can host a VM eg win 8.1? If yes, VM must setup Saved as one file or many files?

VMware Fusion® (for Mac)

I plan to buy a Yosemite Mac and have guest VM Win 8.1 (or Win 9 after released) plus VM Ubuntu 14.04 plus VM Blackberry emulator [that in windows requires VMware free Player] ... what are the solutions from cheaper to expensive?


also a 64GB flash drive usb 3.0 can host a running VM eg win 8.1? If yes, VM must setup Saved as one file or many files?


To run 8.1 windows as guest requires upgrade my (win 7 host) VMware free Player ?


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wila
Immortal
Immortal

I'm not sure I understand your question, but .. if you plan on running a VM from a USB3 stick and want to run that VM from either VMware Fusion as well as on Windows using VMware Workstation / Player then:

Save VM as multiple files and use file system FAT32 as that is the only filesystem that supports read/write by Windows as well as OS X.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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lse123
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

if use FAT32

VM must setup, Saved ITSELF [on usb software] as one file or many files BY VISUALIZATION SOFTWARE? or works on both setups?

IN CASE EVERY TIME YOU RUN THIS VM IN usb flash drive these files will updated : rewritten? i have to wait on shut down of VM, How it works?


inserting this usb, in an OS whatever, and it assign a differ drive then have to choose location [VM], in settings of Fusion or Player after say VM has MOVED in alert after run?

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

Yes you can run a VM from your USB stick by either VMware Fusion or VMware Workstation or VMware Player. It does indeed mean that it is best to completely shutdown the guest OS before you can move it to the other machine. Be careful with unmount/ejecting the USB stick so that all changes have been written out before you pull it out of the machine.

You are correct that the virtualisation software will prompt you that the VM has changed on changing platforms, if asking if the VM was copied or moved, answer "moved" as otherwise your windows software will for sure need to be re-activated.

PS: Please do not change the color of your text, as it makes it hard to read.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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lse123
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

choose MOVED every time even in a machine first run... (not machine created the usb with win 8.1)?

when run from usb stick : the VM Win 8.1 must be in usb exist only in one file, or better choose (set it up) to many files consist the VM? Any case after run/shutdown win 8.1 vm from usb stick eg a file 10GB changed, should be edited or fully get replaced? 

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

If you add the following option the the .vmx configuration file you'll not be prompted each time you move the VM and it will act as though you answered "I moved it".

uuid.action = "keep"

Have a look at: Editing the .vmx file for your Fusion virtual machine (1014782)

BTW if you set uuid.action = "create" it acts as though you answered "I copied it".

As you the virtual hard disk being monolithic or split, if the USB Flash Drive is formatted FAT32 you have to use a split virtual hard disk in this use case! Smiley Wink

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lse123
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

And this

...split virtual hard disk in this use case....

should not delete and recreate from scratch files - upon run/shutdown,... correct?


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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

The "use case" I'm referring to is if using a FAT32 formatted volume for storage because of its individual file size limitation you cannot use a monolithic file greater then 4 GB on FAT32, so you need to use split disks for the vHDD.  As to changing it from monolithic to split while on the USB Flash Drive that all depends on how big the file is now and how much free space in on the USB Flash Drive.  You have to have as much free space as the monolithic files size is now plus some additional for overhead in the process otherwise the conversion will fail.

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lse123
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

So if have a 64GB USB - what HDD you recommend setup Win 8.1 pro VM?

IF setup 50GB may initial install of win 8.1 pro fresh only 10GB? so only 10GB on usb?

can backup VM? If yes on origin failure, i must run backup VM, And choose MOVED (alert) VM choice?

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

Flash drives give pretty poor performance.  You'll be better off with a real external pocket drive formatted for use on a Mac.

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lse123
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

yet you recommend SSD EXTERNAL DISK?

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

The better combination would be USB 3.0 Port and a USB 3.0 SSD Drive vs. a USB (2.0/3.0) Flash Drive.  If your Computers only have USB 2.0 Ports while a USB SSD Drive will have better performance then a USB Flash Drive nonetheless performance under a USB 2.0 Port is slow! Smiley Wink

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schmudde
Contributor
Contributor

I had a quick point of clarification on this question, because I'm looking to do a similar thing.

1) I can just run Linux (and no Windows), correct?

2) If I'm just planning to use Ubuntu and OSX, I can use something other than FAT32, correct?

3) Can I run everything on an external drive, including Parallels?

4) If that is highly undesirable, I want to make sure this information is incorrect:

If you are using Parallels Desktop, You can create a virtual machine on a sufficiently fast external drive, or move an existing one from your internal hard drive. (VMware Fusion does not support running a virtual machine on an external hard drive.) ~ http://bit.ly/1tdecR6

This seems inaccurate to me. My understanding is that I can all Virtual Machines off an external USB3 Flash drive.

Thanks,

Schmüdde

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi Schmüdde,

schmudde wrote:

I had a quick point of clarification on this question, because I'm looking to do a similar thing.

1) I can just run Linux (and no Windows), correct?

You can run any of the supported guest operating systems, that does include linux and windows.

2) If I'm just planning to use Ubuntu and OSX, I can use something other than FAT32, correct?

If you don't need to use your disk outside of OSX then I would use OSX native file system. It is perfectly fine.

3) Can I run everything on an external drive, including Parallels?

Umm.. you're asking that on the VMware Fusion forum? Can you run a competing product of an external disk? You probably can, but beware that configuration files will be stored locally (not on the external disk)

4) If that is highly undesirable, I want to make sure this information is incorrect:

If you are using Parallels Desktop, You can create a virtual machine on a sufficiently fast external drive, or move an existing one from your internal hard drive. (VMware Fusion does not support running a virtual machine on an external hard drive.) ~ http://bit.ly/1tdecR6

This seems inaccurate to me. My understanding is that I can all Virtual Machines off an external USB3 Flash drive.

Sure you can, you can run them of ANY storage that your host machine has access to, so I don't know what that is about (I did not follow you bit.ly link), but it certainly isn't correct.

You can run your VMs from external USB3/Firewire/NFS/iSCSI/thunderbolt/.. basically any storage as long as your host can mount it.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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schmudde
Contributor
Contributor

Wila - Thanks for your answers - it cleared everything right up. Sorry about that question about Parallels - I meant Fusion. I'm definitely purchasing Fusion but sometimes my brain takes a day off.

Cheers,

ü

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