You can configure the CD/DVD drive of a virtual machine to connect to a physical CD or DVD device on the host so that you can install a guest operating system, VMware Tools, or other applications.
When you create a virtual machine, a controller is added by default and the CD/DVD drive is attached to that controller. The controller and driver type depend on the guest operating system. Typically, virtual machines with newer guest operating systems have a SATA controller and CD/DVD drive. Other guests use an IDE controller and CD/DVD drive.
If you connect to media that does not require you to power off the virtual machine, you can select the media to connect to from the CD/DVD drive connection icon on the virtual machine Summary tab.
When you add a CD/DVD drive that is backed by a USB CD/DVD drive on the host, you must add the drive as a SCSI device.
Prerequisites
- Verify that the virtual machine is powered off.
- You cannot use vMotion to migrate virtual machines that have CD drives that are backed by the physical CD drive on the host. Disconnect these devices before you migrate the virtual machine.
- Verify that you have the privilege on the virtual machine.