Unable to use the local physical CD/DVD drive connected to a Workstation server on a Windows Client

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

• You cannot connect a CD-ROM device to a virtual machine while connected to a Workstation server on a Windows Client.
• When you power on the virtual machine, you see the error:
  
  Could not open the client device "D:". It is being used by another virtual machine or some other program.

Environment

• VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
• VMware Workstation 11.x (for Windows)
• VMware Workstation 8.x (Windows)
• VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)

Cause

This issue occurs if the user account does not have sufficient administrative privileges.

Resolution

1. Right-click the shortcut for VMware Workstation
2. Click Run as Administrator to run the software with elevated rights