VMWare Workstation can't read CD/DVD drive

Question

A fresh install of VMWare Workstation 7 (7.1.1 build 282343) on Windows 7 64 bit.

When I try to read a CD/DVD from a guest (either to install a fresh guest or to read a CD within an existing VM I get the following error: Cannot connect virtual device ide1:0 because no corresponding device is available on the host.

I've tried fiddling with the IDE channels as well as tried SCSI with no joy. What am I missing?

I can run ISOs fine but I don't want to have to convert everything to an ISO when I presume that this should just work fine.

Answer 1

Turned out to be a fairly simple fix... I opened up the host and connected the DVD drive in to a different SATA socket and VMWare saw it as soon as I started it up again. A bit strange as I didn't think SATA sockets had anything like the primary/secondary concept like IDE but at least it's resolved the problem.

Answer 2

I had the same problem. Fresh install of VMware Workstation 7.1.5 on Windows 7 64bit. Whenever I tried to read a CD/DVD on a guest I would get the error: Cannot connect virtual device ide1:0 because no corresponding device is available on the host. No matter if I was installing an OS from scratch or booting to a boot CD or installing software on a running guest. I tried copying another VM from another PC running VMWare Workstation 7. Same issue. I tried copying VMs from PC running VMware Server 2.0.2. Same error. Nothing helped. Also found that EVERY VM on the system had same dropdown selection for hardware device "CD/DVD IDE" - AutoDetect. No drive letter available, only "AutoDetect". I tried changing the IDE settings to every option available including LEGACY. I tried SCSI settings, nothing helped.

After reading this post, I thought of another fix. I went into device manager (right click My Computer - Manage - Device Manager) and deleted (uninstalled) the CD/DVD ROM device. Then right click on My Computer at top of Device Manager list of devices and select "Scan for Hardware Changes". Bingo!!!

Now all VMs have a Drive letter in the CD/DVD IDE device - AutoDetect and E:. Now every VM can access the CDROM drive and boot to the CD/DVD drive if needed.

Very frustrating problem and VERY glad to have found a solution.