When you select a custom configuration, the New Virtual Machine wizard prompts you to select the I/O controller type for the virtual machine. Workstation Pro automatically configures your virtual machine with the SCSI controller best suited for the guest operating system, but you can change the controller.

Workstation Pro installs an IDE controller and a SCSI controller in the virtual machine. SATA controllers are supported for some guest operating systems. The IDE controller is always ATAPI. For the SCSI controller, you can choose BusLogic, LSI Logic, LSI Logic SAS, or VMware Paravirtual (PVSCSI) adapter. If you are creating a remote virtual machine on an ESX host, you can also select a VMware Paravirtual SCSI adapter.

BusLogic and LSI Logic adapters have parallel interfaces. The LSI Logic SAS adapter has a serial interface. The LSI Logic adapter has improved performance and works better with generic SCSI devices. The LSI Logic adapter is also compatible with ESX Server 2.0 and later.

PVSCSI adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can provide greater throughput and lower CPU utilization. They are best suited for environments where hardware or applications drive a high amount of I/O throughput, such as SAN environments. PVSCSI adapters are not suited for DAS environments.

Note: The choice of SCSI controller does not affect whether the virtual disk can be an IDE, SCSI, or SATA disk.

Some guest operating systems, such as Windows XP, do not include a driver for the LSI Logic or LSI Logic SAS adapter. You must download the driver from the LSI Logic website. Drivers for a Mylex (BusLogic) compatible host bus adapter are not obvious on the LSI Logic website. Search the support area for the numeric string in the model number, for example, search for 958 for BT/KT-958 drivers.

Selecting the VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) Adapter

In a Windows virtual machine:

Since the Windows ISO does not include a driver for the VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapter.

  1. Add a Floppy Drive and select the driver file from the C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\Resources\*.flp folder on the Windows host.

    If you are running a Windows virtual machine on a Linux host, the driver is saved in the /usr/lib/vmware/resources folder by default.

  2. During the Windows setup, select Load Driver > Browse and select the PVSCSI adapter driver file.

In a Linux virtual machine:

The Linux distribution already includes the PVSCSI driver.

For more information about driver support, see the VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide. For guest operating system support information, known issues, and SATA support, see the VMware Compatibility Guide available on the VMware website.