Use a physical drive as a real one in a VM

[HamzaUmar]

Hello,

          My CD/DVD-Drive is an old one "TSST-Corp TS H492b" and it has some firmware issues with newer version of windows. It works perfectly fine with Microsoft Windows XP but has some issues with Windows 7 and Windows 8 (It takes 25 to 30 minutes to read a disc). My guess is the issue is with the 'newer' version of "cdrom.sys" driver in Windows 7/8. But with Windows XP it works fine.

             Now my question is : Is there a way for guest OS of Virtual Machine to recognize my physical drive as it is recognized by the host OS ?. Just wanted to know whether it is possible or not. I want that as the host OS recognizes my DVD-Drive as "TSST-Corp TS H492b", the guest OS should also recognize it like that but uses its own drivers i.e. cdrom.sys of Windows XP. Wanted to know if its possible or not and also a workaround if there exists one.

        A reply is appreciated.

Thanks,

Hamza Umar

[abhilashhb]

Hi HamzaUmar,

Below is the link for VMware Workstation document that talks about connecting your CD,DVD Drive directly to your virtual machines. If you directly connect it to your XP VM it might work with the XP's CD-ROM driver.

You anyway get a trial copy of VMware workstation which can be used to test this. And if it works well you could buy the Workstation.

VMware Workstation 10 Documentation Center

[HamzaUmar]

Thank you very much for replying, Abhilash. But I cannot see any close reference on how to connect the CD/DVD-Rom "directly" to VM. There are things like "Legacy emulation mode" and "SCSI/IDE" which I will definitely try.

Thanks anyway.

[RDPetruska]

Check the checkbox for "Connected" to connect the CD-ROM drive to your guest.  It's that simple.

[HamzaUmar]

Thanks RDPetruska for replying, but my question is : Would the drive be connected to guest OS like in host OS?

I mean I want it to be detected as "TSST-Corp TS H492b" in guest OS and that OS should use its own CD-ROM drivers. Not some damn "Virtual drive" or Virtual CD/DVD -Rom. Well my question is clear. I'm hopin' that checking "Connected" solves the problem. I'll also try the "Legacy emulation mode" and "SCSI/IDE" thing. Afterwards i'll post here what happened. Thanks guys.

[HamzaUmar]

Nope.   I tried everything I could. You see whether it's "legacy emulation" or "SCSI/IDE" stuff, in the settings CD/DVD settings it says : "Use a physical drive" or an "ISO image". So that means whatever you do, you can't disconnect any physical CD/DVD drive from host PC and connect to a VM directly. Well thanks anyway for replying guys.

[OscarDavey]

Hello,

Sorry for misunderstanding

I want to know, do you like to buy VMware Workstation 10 for using DVD-ROM ?

Buy new one.

In any case you can check working with VMware Workstation 10 in trial period.

Hope helped you.

Your Oscar

[HamzaUmar]

Thanks Oscar. I have experimented with a trial version and it doesn't work. I was thinking of purchasing this product for another purpose, not this one. Since it doesn't work I'm probably getting a new drive.