VMware vmx HDD boot order and CD-ROM boot order

Question

In a VMWare .vmx file one can set a key to define the order of HDDs to try for booting, e.g.:

bios.hddOrder = "scsi2:2,scsi0:1,ide1:0" 

This is useful when there are many possible bootable HDDs attached to the VM.

But one can have also more CD-ROMs (or DVDs) attached. Is there a key equivalent to bios.hddOrder but relating to CD-ROMs?

Solution

Choose the boot device using bios.bootOrder.

The virtual machine's boot order can be set to hdd, cdrom, or floppy. If set to cdrom or floppy and there are multiple devices, the virtual machine tries them sequentially until it finds one to boot from.

Example:

bios.bootOrder = "ethernet5,ethernet2,cdrom,hdd,floppy"

Source:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2011654

Comments

[antonio]

I copied the second line in your link in my question, you copied the first in the your answer.)) The problem is I'd like to set the priority when I have more cd-roms. In your (standard) VMware code, I can't distinguish between cd-rom on ide1:0 and ide1:1.

[jlehtinen]

:) The VM will try cd-rom's sequentially. So for your example it will try ide1:0 then ide1:1. You can't specify which drive to try first but you can use this behavior to your benefit by either changing the order on the IDE bus or by changing the location of your boot media. Might not be exactly what you're looking for, but I think that's the best vmware can offer.