VMware GSX Server 2.5.2

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If you intend to have other users access your virtual machines, you should consider the following points:

• On Windows hosts, the virtual machine files should be in a location on a system that is accessible to those users. When you create a virtual machine, by default all the files associated with it are placed in C:\Documents and Settings\ <username>\My Documents\My Virtual Machines on a Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 host; on a Windows NT host, the files are placed in C:\WINNT\Profiles\<username>\Personal\My Virtual Machines\. (One exception to this is the redo log file for a virtual disk in nonpersistent mode, which is located in your system's temp folder.) Other users typically do not have access to folders under <username>. When you configure the virtual machine in the New Virtual Machine Wizard, you can specify a location for the virtual machine elsewhere on your system or on the network.

• On Linux hosts, permissions for the virtual machine files — especially the configuration file (.cfg) and virtual disks (.vmdk) — should be set for other users according to how you want them to use the virtual machine. For instance, if you want users to run a virtual machine but not be able to modify its configuration, do not make the configuration file writable.

• If your virtual machine uses disks in nonpersistent mode, you should consider changing the location of the redo-log file, since by default it is placed in your temp directory, to which other users may not have access (redo logs for disks in undoable mode are placed in the same directory as the virtual machine's configuration file). To change the location of the redo log, complete the following steps.

  1. With the virtual machine powered off, open the Configuration Editor. Choose Settings > Configuration Editor.
  2. Click the Options tab (Windows hosts) or Misc panel (Linux hosts).
  3. Click Browse and select a directory that is shared with other users.
  4. Click OK to save the change and close the Configuration Editor.

     Note: Virtual machines with disks in nonpersistent mode perform better when the redo log is located in the system's temp directory.