Adding Hardware to a Virtual Machine

You can use virtual machine hardware settings to add hardware to an existing virtual machine.

To add hardware to a selected virtual machine, select VM > Settings, click the Hardware tab, and click Add.

Note:

You cannot add hardware to a virtual machine while it is in suspended state.

The Add Hardware wizard prompts you to select the type of device that you want to add and to specify device-specific configuration settings. You can modify many of the configuration settings after the device is created by changing virtual machine hardware settings.

You can add the following types of devices to a virtual machine.

Virtual hard disks

A virtual hard disk is a set of files that appears as a physical disk drive to the guest operating system. You can configure a virtual hard disk as an IDE, SCSI, or SATA device. You can add up to 4 IDE devices, up to 60 SCSI devices, and up to 120 SATA devices (4 controllers and 30 devices per controller) to a virtual machine. You can also give a virtual machine direct access to a physical disk.

CD-ROM and DVD drives

You can configure a virtual CD-ROM or DVD drive as an IDE, SCSI, or SATA device. You can add up to 4 IDE devices, up to 60 SCSI devices, and up to 120 SATA devices (4 controllers and 30 devices per controller) to a virtual machine. You can connect virtual CD-ROM and DVD drives to a physical drive on the host system or to an ISO image file.

Floppy drives

You can add up to two floppy drives. A virtual floppy drive can connect to a physical drive on the host system, to an existing floppy image file, or to a blank floppy image file.

Network adapters

You can add up to 10 virtual network adapters to a virtual machine.

USB controller

You can add one USB controller to a virtual machine. A virtual machine must have a USB controller to use USB devices or smart card readers. For smart card readers, a virtual machine must have a USB controller regardless of whether the smart card reader is actually a USB device.

Sound card

If the host system is configured for sound and has a sound card installed, you can enable sound for virtual machines.

Parallel (LPT) ports

You can attach up to three bidirectional parallel ports to a virtual machine. Virtual parallel ports can output to parallel ports or to files on the host operating system.

Serial (COM) ports

You can add up to four serials ports to a virtual machine. Virtual serial ports can output to physical serial ports, files on the host operating system, or named pipes.

Printers

You can print from a virtual machine to any printer available to the host system without installing additional drivers in the virtual machine. Workstation Pro uses ThinPrint technology to replicate the host machine printer mapping in the virtual machine. When you enable the virtual machine printer, Workstation Pro configures a virtual serial port to communicate with the host printers.

Generic SCSI devices

You can add up to 60 SCSI devices to a virtual machine. A generic SCSI device gives the guest operating system direct access to a SCSI device connected to the host system. Generic SCSI devices can include scanners, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, and DVD drives.