Using the Macbook Air's and Mac Mini's Remote Disc feature with Fusion

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article also explains how to use the Remote Disc feature available on Macbook Air and the newer Mac Mini, which doesn't have an optical drive in them.

Symptoms:

When using the Remote Disc feature of a MacBook Air:

• Installing an operating system from CD or DVD produces the Fusion error:
  
  Unable to find a CD-ROM drive.Failed to connect virtual device ide1:0
   
• Connecting the CD/DVD drive to a virtual machine does not pass the disc to the guest operating system

Environment

VMware Fusion 10.x
VMware Fusion 1.x
VMware Fusion Pro 10.x
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware Fusion 7.x
VMware Fusion 8.x
VMware Fusion 2.x
VMware Fusion 11.x
VMware Fusion 3.x
VMware Fusion Pro 8.x
VMware Fusion 6.x
VMware Fusion Pro 11.x
VMware Fusion 4.x

Resolution

Fusion 4.x and above

Remote discs can be accessed by Fusion 4.x and later to install guest operating systems as well as to install software inside the guest.

Note: Before you can use a Remote Disc in Fusion, you must first enable CD/DVD Sharing in your Mac OS. For more information, see Apple's article DVD or CD sharing: Using Remote Disc.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of October 16, 2012. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

To install a guest operating system using a Remote Disc:

1. From the Apple menu bar, go to File > New.
2. For Fusion 6.x and above:
    
   1. Click Install from disc or image.
   2. Click Continue.
   3. Click Use another disc or disc image.
   
   For Fusion 5.x:
    
   1. Click Continue without disk.
   2. Click Choose a disk or disk image.
       
3. Choose Remote Disc from the Devices list in the sidebar.
4. Choose the correct disc image from a Mac on your network and click Open.
5. Follow the on-screen prompts to choose the operating system type that matches your installation media, appropriate license information and settings. For more information, see Creating a Virtual Machine Using Windows Easy Install in Getting Started with VMware Fusion.
6. Click Finish to begin the Windows installation process.
7. Allow the installer to complete as it would on a physical PC.

To add a Remote Disc as a new CD/DVD drive:

1. Shut down the virtual machine.
2. From the Apple menu bar, select Virtual Machine > Settings.
3. Click Add Device.
4. Select CD/DVD and click Add.
5. From the drop-down, choose Choose a disc or disc image.
6. Select Remote Disc from the Devices list in the sidebar.
7. Choose the correct disc image from a Mac on your network and click Open.
8. Close the Settings pane.
9. Start the virtual machine and the CD/DVD inserted in the remote drive will be accessible from your virtual machine.

Fusion 3.x and earlier

Remote Disc does not present the remote CD/DVD to the MacBook Air as physical disc, but instead as a file system. The data still comes across, but the format/structure of a CD/DVD is missing.

Disk Utility can be used to create an ISO of the required disc. Fusion accepts this ISO as a valid CD/DVD for use in operating system installations, or as a disk image to connect the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive. For details, see Creating a Fusion virtual machine with a disk image (video included).

 

Additional Information

Creating a Fusion virtual machine with a disk image