Each IDE interface supports one primary and one secondary device. For an IDE device to work correctly on the VMware virtual platform, it must be configured at ide0:0 or ide1:0, so that there is a primary device on the interface. A single IDE device configured as secondary (ide0:1 or ide1:1) will not work.
This issue occurs if:
- You have added a device to the virtual machine and have selected an incorrect IDE slot.
- You have removed an IDE primary device from the virtual machine, while a secondary device continues to exist.