VMware Workstation 3.0 for Linux: Setting Up Hardware Components

Support knowledgebase (fhassel_vmware_hardware)
Applies to

SuSE Linux: Versions since 7.3
Kernel: Versions since 2.4.10
VMware Workstation: Version 3.0

Situation

You would like to integrate hardware components such as serial or parallel ports, sound devices, and existing partitions in your guest operating system running in a virtual machine (VMware version 3.0).

Procedure

First of all, make sure that all VMware users belong to the groups audio, lp, and uucp. This will grant them the necessary permissions for the sound devices, and parallel and serial ports.

In addition, the users shall be added to the group disk in order to have access under VMware to an operating system or partition installed on the hard disk.

This can be done by starting the module "Edit and create users" from the menu "Security/Users" in the YaST2 Control Center. Select "user" in the mask, click on "Edit" and then on "Details..." and finally add the users to the corresponding groups in the next mask.

Please use the module usb-uhci instead of uhci if you want to address USB devices. In case the following message is displayed when VMware starts:

VMware Workstation has detected the alternate UHCI host controller driver ("uhci") for USB.
Using USB devices within a virtual machine is unsupported with this driver loaded.
Please use the "usb-uhci" UHCI driver instead.
please proceed as described in the article "Problems with USB in SuSE Linux 7.3" ( http://sdb.suse.de/en/sdb/html/uhci_73.html).

In order to use the parallel port in bidirectional mode, the device entry in the configuration editor must be /dev/parport0 instead of /dev/lp0. Please change the group for the device /dev/parport0, thus enabling users to access this device. This can be done by entering:

chown root:lp /dev/parport0
In case the following message is displayed when VMware starts:
Unsupported parallel port hardware (no PS/2 or ECP Mode) for /dev/parport0
please change the parallel port mode from unidirectional (SPP) to bidirectional (ECP, EPP or ECP+EPP) on your computer's BIOS. Please also check if the parallel port cable for the bidirectional mode is laid out.
See also:
o Problems with USB in SuSE Linux 7.3
o Setting Up a USB Printer Under VMware Workstation 3.0 for Linux

Keywords: VMWARE, HARDWARE, RESOURCES, PARALLEL, SERIAL, PORT, SOUND, USB

Categories: X Applications

SDB-fhassel_vmware_hardware, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany - Version: 29. Jan 2002
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 29. Jan 2002 by ip (sdb_gen 1.40.0)