VMware DISK MOUNT UTILITY WORKSTATION 5.5, DISK MOUNT UTILITY User Manual

VMware DiskMount Utility
User’s Manual
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Mounting Virtual Disks Outside of
Virtual Machines
The VMware DiskMount Utility allows you to mount an unused virtual disk in a Windows host file system as a separate drive without needing to connect to the virtual disk from within a virtual machine. You can mount specific volumes of a virtual disk if the virtual disk is partitioned.
DiskMount is a command line program called vmware-mount that works similarly to how you use the subst command on Windows. Once the disk is mounted, you can read from and write to the disk as if it were a separate file system with its own drive letter on your network. However, you cannot power on any virtual machine that uses this disk until the disk is unmounted.
You can perform activities such as scanning a virtual disk for viruses and transferring files between the host system and a powered off virtual machine.
When you are finished using the mounted virtual disk, delete the mapping so the virtual disk can be used by virtual machines again.

Considerations for Mounting Virtual Disks

You can use DiskMount with virtual disks created with VMware ESX Server 2,
VMware GSX Server 3 and 2.5.1, VMware ACE, and VMware Workstation 5 and 4.
Note: Virtual disks created with VMware ACE cannot be encrypted virtual disks. Encrypted virtual disks cannot be mounted with DiskMount.
You can run DiskMount on any versions of Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003.
You must mount virtual disks as drive D: or greater. You cannot specify a letter already in use on the host.
You can mount volumes formatted with FAT (12/16/32) or NTFS only. If the virtual disk has a mix of partitions (volumes) where, for example, a partition is unformatted or is formatted with a Linux operating system and another partition is formatted with a Windows operating system, you can mount the Windows partition with DiskMount.
You can mount a virtual disk that has a snapshot. Any changes you make to the virtual disk while it is mounted are discarded when you revert to the snapshot.
You cannot mount a virtual disk if any of its .vmdk files are compressed or have read-only permissions. Change these attributes before mounting the virtual disk.
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You cannot mount a virtual disk that is currently being used by a running or suspended virtual machine. Only disks that are in a powered off virtual machine can be mounted.

Statement of Support

The VMware DiskMount Utility is provided without support services from VMware under the terms in the VMware DiskMount Utility license agreement.

Installing the VMware DiskMount Utility

The VMware DiskMount Utility is available as a free download from the VMware Web site. To download DiskMount, go to www.vmware.com/download/diskmount.html.
Once you download the installer, run it on a Windows host machine. A VMware virtualization product such as GSX Server or Workstation does not need to be installed on the host.

Running the VMware DiskMount Utility

To run the VMware DiskMount Utility, open a command prompt on a Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host, then change to the directory where you installed the software.
The command syntax is:
vmware-mount [options] [drive letter:] [\\path\to\virtual disk]
The options you can use include:
Option Definition
/v:N Mounts volume N of a virtual disk. N defaults to 1.
/p Displays the partitions (volumes) on the virtual disk.
/d Deletes the mapping to a virtual disk drive volume.
/f Forcibly deletes the mapping to a virtual disk drive volume. Use this option
when a technical error or a correctable condition such as open file handles prevents DiskMount from unmounting the drive.
/? Displays vmware-mount usage information.
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Examples Using the VMware DiskMount Utility

Following are some examples that illustrate how to use DiskMount.
Mounting a Virtual Disk
Use this command to mount a virtual disk:
vmware-mount h: “C:\My Virtual Machines\w2003std.vmdk”
List Virtual Disk Volumes Currently Mounted
Use this command to review which virtual disks are mounted under DiskMount.
vmware-mount
Currently mounted volumes:
f:\ => “C:\My Virtual Machines\w2003std\w2003std.vmdk”
g:\ => “C:\My Virtual Machines\NT\NT.vmdk (volume 1)”
Mounting a Specific Volume in a Virtual Disk
Use this command to mount a specific volume in a virtual disk:
vmware-mount /v:2 h: “C:\My Virtual Machines\w2003std.vmdk”
Unmounting a Virtual Disk
Use this command to unmount a virtual disk so virtual machines can access it again:
vmware-mount h: /d
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