VMware adding real hard drive to virtual session

[speedracer2007]

I have an external 500 gig USB hard drive that I want to put all of my windows programs and data on from within a Vmware Windows session. After starting the VMware console I do the following:
Edit Virtual machine settings >add>hard disk>next>use physical disk >/dev/sdf >entire disk>disk file info ((use default info line))>finish.

At this point I get an error msg: ERROR Insufficient permission to access file.

What does this mean and how can I fix it??

Once a VM session is started at the bottom I get a msg "Do not have Vmware tools installed" Again, what does this mean and how can I rectify it??

Thanks to all for any help given..

[leo5111]

in the vmware console look for option install vmware tools and install em it adds a few drivers

[speedracer2007]

Thanks for the info about the system tools they have been added.

Now for the more pressing problem. Does anyone know how to let a Vmware virtualization session have access to an external physical USB hard drive?? I have created a Windows XP session and want to install all of the programs and data to the external hard drive. From the Fedora 7 desktop It is recognized as an icon appears on the desktop and when I click on it I have access to it however, it does not show up in the virtual windows session when I click on "MY COMPUTER". I tried to enter it as described in the original msg and received the error msg as stated. Any and all help in getting this task accomplished would be appreciated. THANKS TO ALL..

[sideways]

Originally Posted by speedracer2007

Thanks for the info about the system tools they have been added.

Now for the more pressing problem. Does anyone know how to let a Vmware virtualization session have access to an external physical USB hard drive?? I have created a Windows XP session and want to install all of the programs and data to the external hard drive. From the Fedora 7 desktop It is recognized as an icon appears on the desktop and when I click on it I have access to it however, it does not show up in the virtual windows session when I click on "MY COMPUTER". I tried to enter it as described in the original msg and received the error msg as stated. Any and all help in getting this task accomplished would be appreciated. THANKS TO ALL..

Try starting vmware from a root session and then adding the physical drives.

Incidentally, I run my native (not a virtual image) windows install from F7 using vmware, and I have about 5 partitions spread over 3 disks. I'm trying to put together a howto for this, since in F7 it is quite tricky. You need to install the vmscsi.sys driver as a generic SCSI device in windows first. otherwise you just get BSODs, the driver is available in vmware tools which comes for free in a file named windows.iso with vmware server package. You also must create a separate hardware profile for vmware in windows, (just copy the default one to start with) since many custom drivers will be installed, also, if you have many disks, disk drive letters have to be remapped under My Computer->Management->Disk Management.
There are a few other tricky bits, VMware Tools has to be installed directly by copying the files from windows.iso to the windows c: drive and running setup from there (VMware Tools bring performance up to near native speed, at least for office and programming tasks, 3d gaming is not possible))

Anyway, root login should solve your initial problem. I will try to get a detailed howto together for running a native windows installation in vmware (It saves having to keep rebooting in a dual boot environment)