As per default configuration trim/discard operations are not supported by VMware workstation. There a shrink command but it only works on windows guests, so we end up with huge VMDKs, and the only proposed solution to compact those VMDKs is to zero-out the free space and then use the shrink command, which is a terrible proposal to apply to an SSD as it ends up being pretty slow and very damaging to the SSD lifespan.
I’ve found online some vmx config options supported by vsphere which are apparently also supported by not only VMware workstation but by VMware player too:
scsi0:0.virtualSSD = 1
sata0:0.virtualSSD = 1
ide0:0.virtualSSD = 1
I’ve tried adding those to my Linux guest vmx file and tried running fstrim, but Linux tells me discard operations se not supported by the disk.
I’ve also tried to apply the option to my Windows 7 guest as I saw screenshots from a windows VM which showed the disk defragmentation tool listing the hard disk as being a solid state one. Unfortunately my windows guest kept detecting my hard drive as a non solid state one.
am I doing something wrong?
Is there any chance to allow support trim/discard operations on VMware workstation/player? It would be a huge space saver as then it would be really easy to support shrink functions on any kind of guest os.
Thanks in advance.
