Connecting and
Disconnecting Virtual Devices
You can connect
and disconnect virtual devices by using the
connectdevice
and
disconnectdevice
options
of
vmware-cmd
.
The following types of devices
are supported.
- Network adapters
- CD/DVD drives
- Floppy drives
These devices must already be
defined in the virtual machine virtual hardware list.
The command options connect and
disconnect a defined ISO or FLP file or a physical device on the host. After
you connect a device, its content can be accessed from the guest OS. For
network adapters, the options connect the virtual NIC to its defined port group
or disconnect the NIC. This is equivalent to selecting or deselecting the
Connected check box in the
.
The terms
CD/DVD drive
,
Floppy drive
. and
Network adapter
are case-sensitive.
You can connect or disconnect
devices if the following conditions are met.
- The virtual machine has a guest operating system that supports hot-plug functionality. See theOperating System Installationdocumentation.
- The virtual machine is using hardware version 7 or later.
- The virtual machine is powered on.
The following examples
illustrate connecting and disconnecting a virtual device. Device names are case
sensitive.
- Theconnectdeviceoption connects the virtual IDE device CD/DVD Drive 2 to the specified virtual machine.vmware-cmd -H <vc_system> -U <user> -P <password> --vihost <esx_host> /vmfs/volumes/Storage2/testvm/testvm.vmx connectdevice "CD/DVD drive 2"
- Thedisconnectdeviceoption disconnects the virtual device.vmware-cmd -H <vc_system> -U <user> -P <password> --vihost <esx_host> /vmfs/volumes/Storage2/testvm/testvm.vmx disconnectdevice "CD/DVD drive 2"