Configuring virtual machine startup

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Configuring virtual machine startup

You can start a virtual machine from a startup disk attached to either the virtual IDE adapter or the first virtual SCSI adapter only.

As with a physical computer, the order in which devices are checked for startup media is specified in the BIOS (basic input/output system) of the virtual machine. The default order is as follows:

  1. Floppy drive
  2. CD-ROM
  3. Hard drive

If no system disk or startup CD is found, Virtual Server checks the hard drive channel attachments for a startup disk. The startup disk must contain either the operating system for the virtual machine or the boot loader for an operating system that resides on another disk. You can start a virtual machine from a virtual hard disk attached to either the virtual IDE adapter or a virtual SCSI adapter.

To start a virtual machine from the IDE adapter, typically you would attach the virtual hard disk with the operating system to primary channel 0. When you attach the first virtual hard disk to a virtual machine, primary channel 0 is the default attachment. However, you can modify the channel attachment when you attach the virtual hard disk or at any time when the virtual machine is turned off. By default, Virtual Server checks the IDE channels in the following order to find a startup disk:

  1. Primary channel 0
  2. Primary channel 1
  3. Secondary channel 0
  4. Secondary channel 1

If a startup disk is not found on any IDE channel and a startup disk exists on any channel of the first virtual SCSI adapter, Virtual Server starts the virtual machine from that disk. If you want to bypass checking the IDE channels, you can configure a virtual machine to start directly from a virtual hard disk attached to a SCSI channel. For instructions, see Specify a SCSI disk as the startup device.

For more information about adding and removing virtual hard disks, see Adding and removing virtual hard disks.

Note

Only the first SCSI adapter can be used to start a virtual machine. All channels on the first SCSI adapter start with SCSI 0 in the Attachment list on the Virtual Hard Disk Properties page. For example, channel 0 on the first SCSI adapter is shown as SCSI 0 ID 0 in the Attachment list.