General Settings Panel

Choose: VM > Settings > Options > General

Use the options on this panel to change basic information about the virtual machine:

•	Virtual Machine Name Section

•	Guest Operating System Type Section

•	Working Directory Section

Virtual Machine Name Section

The name of the virtual machine appears on the tab for that machine, in the Favorites list, if you add it there, and in the Virtual Machines list on the team summary page if the virtual machine is part of a team. You can change the name of the virtual machine when the virtual machine is powered on or off.

The original name of the virtual machine is used to create the directory where the virtual machine files are stored. Changing the name of the virtual machine does not change the name of this directory. Changing the name also does not rename the virtual machine files on the host.

Guest Operating System Type Section

You might want to change the guest operating system if you are upgrading the guest operating system installed in the virtual machine, or if you accidentally specified the wrong operating system version when you created the virtual machine.

When you set the guest operating system type while creating a new virtual machine (for example, through the New Virtual Machine wizard), Workstation chooses configuration defaults based on the guest type. However, changing the guest type on this panel simply changes the guest type setting in the configuration file.

The virtual machine needs to be powered off if you want to change this setting. When you change the operating system type by using the Version list, the setting for the guest operating system type in the virtual machine’s configuration file is changed. The guest operating system itself is not actually changed. To upgrade the guest operating system itself, you need to get the appropriate software from the operating system vendor.

Working Directory Section

The working directory is where Workstation stores suspended state (.vmss), snapshot (.vmsn), virtual machine paging (.vmem), and redo log files. By default, this directory is the same as where the virtual machine files are stored. You might want to change the working directory in the following situations:

•	If you want to organize all your snapshots in a separate directory, or if you plan to take many snapshots and use a large amount of disk space, place the working directory on a disk with a lot of space.

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If you need to run a virtual machine that is stored on a network share or iPod, which might slow performance, you can change the working directory to your local hard disk. Then you can take a snapshot, power on the virtual machine, use it, and discard the snapshot when you are finished. The virtual machine then reverts to its original state.

•	If you want to create a paging file on a fast disk with a lot of disk space but leave the virtual disk and configuration file on a different disk, you can change the working directory so that it’s located on the fast disk.

The virtual machine needs to be powered off if you want to change this setting.

 

Note Changing the working directory does not change the directory where the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file or the log files are stored. If you want to change the name or location of this virtual machine directory: 1 Make sure the virtual machine is powered off. 2 If the virtual machine appears in the Favorites list, right-click its name in the list and choose Remove from Favorites. 3 In your file system, rename the directory where the virtual machine (.vmx) file is stored. 4 In Workstation, choose File > Open, browse to the new location, and open the .vmx file. 5 Add the virtual machine back to your Favorites list, if desired.