VMX-file parameters

 Welcome - this is the Xth version of the introduction to the vmx-file list.

Before you complain: this is incomplete, out-dated, full of errors, completely unsupported, dangerous ...

Warning: sometimes this list is in contradiction to the VMware-documentation - but I guess that can't be helped

the shorter the better

Most of the times shorter vmx-files are better than long ones ;-)

Don't use parameters just because they were listed once in
a vmx-file created with vmxbuilder or easyvmx or Workstation.
These 3 tools usually write quite good vmx-files - anyway: homegrown is the best ;-)

Basics

Experts

Syntax

You can use # for comments.
The sequence of line doesn't matter.
Parameters with *.present work like a main-switch.
If parameter scsi0.present is activated every parameter in the sub-category is used. So if you have

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

then lines like

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"    

are used.
If you have

scsi0.present ="FALSE"

all lines starting with scsi0 are ignored.

What happens if you use unknown or mis-spelled lines? A line like
zoo.number_of_elefants = "387"         

causes an error-message and VMware-player will not start - this doesn't mean that there are no VMversions that count the number of elefants. Maybe a future version will ignore this line or even use it. So don't count on it. Better go with the rule:

Unknown or mis-spelled lines are ignored or give error-messages.

Memory

You can change the amount of RAM that a VM will use like this

memsize = "128"

If you don't assign a value for memory VMware will use the default-setting which is 32MB

memsize = "32"

Whenever you assign RAM manually make sure the value is a multiple of 4 - otherwise the VM will not start:

memsize = "255"

causes this error-message:

Memory size 255 not a multiple of 4 

Displayname

You can assign a displayname for your virtual machine by adding

displayName = "VMX-Test"

If you don't assign a nicname VMware will autogenerate one- useing the path and name of the vmx-file

displayName = "X:\home\moon\Desktop\vmx.sammler\minimal.vmx"

Movies

You may try to add this to your config.ini to enable sound in the recorded videos:

mks.movie.config.high.recordSound = "TRUE"

Note for webmasters

Please don't simply copy any of the vmx-pages. I have invited VMware to cooperate - I offered to skip the dangerous parameters in exchange for information on useful parameters.
By the way, the "Don't touch list" is the first result of this "cooperation" - I guess I don't need to mention that I didn't received any information on useful parameters in turn ...
As long as the vmx-documentation can be found at one place - I see a small chance that VMware accepts my invitation.
If this stuff is scattered all over the net VMware has a good reason to ignore my offer.
So if you run a site about virtualisation and are interested in improving the vmx-documentation: link here - don't copy.

Thanks Ulli Hankeln