VMWare Fusion 4: Easier Boot to BIOS

I found this cool method to quickly boot to bios, especially useful for unattended operations.
Adding this line into the .vmx file will boot the virtual machine into BIOS on the next power-up.

bios.forceSetupOnce = "TRUE"

VMWare Fusion 4: Unable to Add Hard Disk

After removing the original hard disk from an existing Virtual Machine, I was unable to re-add the existing hard disk back to the same Virtual Machine.  I went through the proper procedure but the apply button did not work.  When selecting "Show All" to go back, I was then asked if I wanted to add the device.  Naturally, I said yes, but that did not work either.  There was no errors or indication why this would not work.

I did manage to get it working by manually editing the  vmx file.

Step 1
Power off the virtual machine and remove from the library.

Step 2
Change the following:
scsi0:0.present = "FALSE"
to
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"

Add the following line:
scsi0:0.fileName = "{Name of VMDK}.vmdk"

Step 3
Add the virtual machine back to the library and review settings to see if the change worked.

Sstep 4
Power up and enjoy!

CIFS Share Mount as non-root

Trying to run smbmount as a non-root I received the error:

mount.cifs: permission denied: no match for...

Option 1 - Permanent:

Set this up in fstab would be a permanent solution on every boot.
Add a line like this to your fstab file.

Open Share:

//server/path/to/share /mount/point cifs dir_mode=0775,guid=1000 0 0

Protected Share:

//server/path/to/share /mount/point cifs credentials=/root/.smbpass,dir_mode=0775,guid=1000 0 0

For a protected share, create the file /root/.smbpass Add these lines to the file.

username={username of server}

password={password}

 

Option 2 - Temporary:

For me, my laptop moves around in many server environments so I use a more flexible method that does not auto-mount on boot.

If using Ubuntu you can use the "Connect to Server" under "Places" but I prefer using the following command.  I find it is simpler and quicker.  Either method you choose, once connected you can create a bookmark in nautilus allowing easier re-mount by selecting the bookmark.  You only need to decide whether to permanently store the share password or ask for it on each mount.

Open or Protected Shared:

gvfs-mount smb://server/path/to/share

If the share is protected you will be asked for:
User [localuser]: {username of server}
Domain [WORKGROUP]: {server domain of user account}
Password: {password}

This will add the share and allow you to unmount it without using root.


Additional Information:


Shares goto ~/.gvfs by default but you can always map them to another area if needed.