Adding a CD/DVD-ROM Drive

To the virtual machine configuration, you can add a virtual CD/DVD-ROM drive that is either connected to a real CD/DVD-ROM on your physical computer or to an existing image file.

Note: A virtual machine can have up to four IDE devices (hard disks or CD/DVD-ROM drives) and 15 SCSI devices (hard disks or CD/DVD-ROM drives).

To add a new CD/DVD-ROM drive to a virtual machine:

1. Choose Configure from the Virtual Machine menu to open the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog.
2. Click the Add button in the bottom part of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog to launch Add Hardware Wizard.
3. In the Select Device window, select CD/DVD-ROM and click Next .

   To add a CD/DVD-ROM drive that will have a typical configuration, choose the CD/DVD-ROM icon and click the Add Typical Device button. The wizard will create a typical CD/DVD-ROM drive ready for use.

4. In the Add CD/DVD-ROM window, select the resource for the new CD/DVD-ROM drive and click Next . You can choose between the following options:
   • Real Device : select this option if you wish to add a real CD/DVD-ROM drive to your virtual machine.
   • Image File : select this option if you wish to use an existing image file as a virtual CD/DVD-ROM drive inside your virtual machine.

     Note: Parallels Workstation Extreme supports ISO image files and may also support CD/DVD disc images in the CUE and CCD formats.

   If you want the device to be connected to the virtual machine automatically at startup, select the Connected option. If you clear this option, the drive will be enabled in the configuration, but not connected to the virtual machine. You can connect it later when running the virtual machine.

5. Your next window will be different depending on what option ( Real Device or Image File ) you chose in the previous step:
   • If you chose to add a real device, select the corresponding device from the list in the Drive Name field.
   • If you chose to use an image file, type the path to the corresponding file in the Image File field or use the Choose button to locate the file.

   In both cases, you should specify the interface type for the CD/DVD-ROM device or image file:

   • IDE . Using this interface type, you can connect up to four virtual devices (hard disks or CD/DVD drives) to the virtual machine.
   • SCSI . Using this interface type, you can connect up to 15 virtual devices (hard disks or CD/DVD drives) to the virtual machine.

     Note: In some Linux distributions (e.g. RHEL 5.3), the SCSI driver may be not installed. In this case, you should install this driver in your Linux guest OS to be able to use the SCSI controller.

   You can also define the device position in the Location list or accept the position offered by Add Hardware Wizard.

   Note: The SCSI 7:0 location is not available for selecting, since it is occupied by the SCSI controller itself.

   If you selected the Real Device option, you can connect your physical computer CD/DVD-ROM drive directly to your virtual machine. In this case, you will be able to fully use this CD/DVD-ROM drive in the virtual machine (e.g. record data on discs). For these purposes, select the Passthrough option.

   Note: If you connect your physical computer CD/DVD-ROM drive directly to your virtual machine, this drive will not be available in the primary OS.

   

   When you are ready, click the Add Device button to add a new virtual CD/DVD-ROM drive to your virtual machine.