Device Manager does not display devices that are not connected

To work around this behavior and display devices when you click Show hidden devices:
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
At a command prompt, type the following command , and then press ENTER:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1Type the following command a command prompt, and then press ENTER:
start devmgmt.msc
Troubleshoot the devices and drivers in Device Manager.

NOTE: Click Show hidden devices on the View menu in Device Managers before you can see devices that are not connected to the computer.
When you finish troubleshooting, close Device Manager.
Type exit at the command prompt.

Note that when you close the command prompt window, Window clears the devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 variable that you set in step 2 and prevents ghosted devices from being displayed when you click Show hidden devices.
If you are a developer or power user and you want to be able to view devices that are not connected to your computer, set this environment variable globally:
Right-click My Computer.
Click Properties.
Click the Advanced tab.
Click the Environment Variables tab.
Set the variables in the System Variables box.
NOTE: Use this method only for troubleshooting or development purposes, or to prevent users from accidentally uninstalling a required device that is not connected to the computer (such as a USB device or docking station that is not connected to a laptop computer).

ESX voor Thuis

Tijdens de migratie cursus zijn we op een volgend theoretisch model gekomen, dat op iedere grotere machine moet kunnen draaien, zelfs op IDE of SATA disken:

Installeer ESX3 op de machine. Wijs alle extra dataruimte toe aan de service-console in een extra partitie (zoals /vmimages op ESX2 gebruikelijk is). Installeer en configureer de NFS server in de service-console. Hierbij moet je er op letten dat ook NFS over TCP werkt (standaard is alleen NFS over UDP). Exporteer de extra disk ruimte.

Nu kan je ESX opstarten maar die ziet in het geheel geen dataruimte. Nog niets aan de hand. Onder netwerking moet je er voor zorgen dat de vmkernel en de service-console op de zelfde virutele switch zitten. Bijvoorbeeld door extra nics of door ze gewoon bij elkaar op de switch te zetten. Als ze elkaar maar intern zien, anders gaat al het nfs verkeer 2 keer over de fysieke netwerk kaarten.

Laatste stap: gebruik de nfs-storage op de service-consol in de vmkernel en bouw hier je gasten op.

Suc6

PS1: Als je al een nfs-server hebt draaien, kan je die natuurlijk ook gebruiken. Omdat de vmkernel alleen nfs over tcp spreekt, moet je nfs-server dat beantwoorden.
PS2: In het bovenstaande kan je NFS vervangen door iSCSI door een software-iSCSI server in de service-console te installeren maar dat heeft veel meer voeten in de aarde. De service-console is gebaseerd op RH EL3 dus gebruik bij voorkeur sources die daarop zijn voorbereidt.
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Pas op voor applicatie beheerders met schroevendraaiers...

Preventing MAC Bridging on a Windows XP Host

VMware Workstation

Details
I get an error message that says a network adapter cannot be part of the Windows Network Bridge, because it may be incompatible with my local network. Why do I see this message? Do I need to make any changes to my configuration?

Solution
VMware products do not allow the Windows XP MAC Bridging feature to bridge a virtual machine's virtual network adapters to physical network adapters on the host machine. This is done to prevent the VMware DHCP Service from leaking DHCP traffic onto the physical network.
If you need to use MAC bridging with one or more virtual network adapters, you can override the MAC bridging prevention mechanism by creating an option in your Windows XP host registry called AllowBindingToMACBridge and setting it to 1.

• To set this option, do the following.
  Open the registry on your Windows XP host.Choose Start > Run > regedit.
  Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class and look for the key {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002bE10318}.
  Make sure it is the right key by selecting it and verifying that (Default) has the value Network adapters.
  Under {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002bE10318}, there are subkeys 0000, 0001, 0002 and so forth. Select each subkey until you find the one that corresponds to the VMnet adapter in question. The correct key has the DriverDesc with value VMware Virtual Ethernet Adapter ?.
  Add a DWORD value called AllowBindingToMACBridge, and set it to 1.
  Right-click the subkey, then choose New > DWORD Value.
  Type AllowBindingToMACBridge and press Enter.
  Right-click the new option and select Modify.
  In the Value date entry field, type 1.
  Close the registry.

Note: If you see more than one subkey that looks like the correct VMnet adapter, VMware suggests you add the AllowBindingToMACBridge DWORD to each subkey.
Overriding the MAC bridging prevention mechanism may cause DHCP traffic to leak onto your physical network.

Note: Do not confuse MAC bridging with the bridged networking used for virtual machines

Verschillen VMWare Server vs Workstation

Even snel gegoogled naar de verschillen:

 VMware Workstations offers the following (this list is not necessarily complete):
* Multiple snapshots
* Cloning
* Teams + PVNs
* Movie recording

VMware Server provides:
* Remote administration capabilities (via UI consoles and a web interface)
* The ability to run VMs as services after the host powers on

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Correct, though there are other differences.

VMware Server does not support multiple snapshots, cloning, teams, or movie capture. These are things that Workstation handles but Server does not.

It's really a matter of what you want to do. Server is useful if you want to host services (a server VM of some kind containing, say, a web server, database, etc.), leave them headless, and connect to them remotely.

If you just want to run a Windows VM or Linux VM on your desktop or laptop for development purposes, playing a game, using Office, etc., then Workstation would suffice. Certainly if you're using a Windows VM and want to ensure that you have a mostly crash-free, virus-free, spyware-free environment, multiple snapshots would be beneficial, as you could take a snapshot after installing each program you want to try and always jump back if something gets screwed up.

VirtualBox

InnoTek VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU Public License (GPL). See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction; see "InnoTek" for more about our company.

Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows and Linux 32-bit hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD.

VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on. VirtualBox is a community effort backed by a dedicated company: everyone is encouraged to contribute while InnoTek ensures the product always meets professional quality criteria.

On this site, you can find sources, binaries, documentation and other resources for VirtualBox. If you are interested in VirtualBox (both as a user, or possibly as a contributor), this website is for you.