Can't add physical hard disk from Ubuntu host to Windows 7 guest

[wwynn]

When I try to add a physical hard disk to a Windows 7 guest on an Ubuntu host, I get the error: "Insufficient permission to access file". This happens whether the hard disk is mounted on Ubuntu or not. In Ubuntu, permissions on the folders home/<username>/vmware and /dev/sdc have been set to rwx by "chmod -R 777 vmware".

Steps:

- Launch Virtual Machine Settings
- Add hard disk; Use a physical disk
- Device is /dev/sdc (connected by eSata to the Ubuntu host)
- Usage: Use entire disk
- Disk file name: Windows7x64-0.vmdk
- "Finish" produces the error message.Steps:

The hard disk is connected via eSATA. The error message occurs whether the disk is mounted or not in Ubuntu. It also occurs if I try to add a partition, but the folder is /dev/sdc.

Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit host, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit guest.

It's probably something obvious to a Linux expert ....

[continuum · Accepted solution]

thats expected behaviour

either run WS as root - or try to add your user account to the disk-group

[wwynn]

Thanks! My account is a member of the disk group, so that does not help. Running VMWare WS as root (gksudo ... in the menu item properties), however, does the trick.

It's annoying to have to run an application as root, but it will do for now.

[wwynn]

Additional note: While eSata needs special rights, USB works without them. This difference is probably more related to Linux than VMWare Workstation.

[wwynn]

There is yet more on this that may be useful to others. eSata has the  rights issue when the connection is through the onboard external  controller of the ASUS M4A79T Deluxe. eSata has no issues when  the connection is through a RocketRAID 2314 (4 ports, external only).

Further, when I put two drives in the VanTec NexStart  dual drive dock BOTH drives are recognized without issues. These were hot-swapped in while the system was running.

So, the issue appears to be related to hardware and firmware, not to VMware or Linux. Nevertheless, thanks to "continuum" for advice that sufficed as a work-around.