This article describes how to add more than one CD/DVD drive to a Virtual Machine (VM).

Instructions

To add more than one CD/DVD drive to a VM, complete the following procedure:

1. Run the following command to find the UUID of the VM for which you need to add a new virtual CD-ROM drive.
   xe vm-list name-label=<name of the virtual machine>  

2. Check the availability of user device numbers for your VM.
   Note: VMs running on XenServer support up to eight virtual disk devices. The device number ranges from 0 to 7. Run the following command and check the “userdevice” values:
   xe vm-disk-list uuid=<uuid of VM>

   

   Note the highest value. If highest value for “userdevice” is 2, then use 3 for next step.

3. Run the following command and find a free VBD number:
   xe vm-param-list uuid=<VM UUID> | grep allowed-VBD-devices

4. Run the following command to add a new CD-ROM drive:
   xe vm-cd-add uuid=<VM UUID> device=<unused/free user device number from point 3>
   
   For newer version :
   xe vm-cd-add vm=<VM UUID> device=<unused/free user device number from point 3> cd-name=<Name of the iso>

5. Open XenCenter and check if the new CD drive is available.

   

   Note: Remember that the general limit of virtual devices still exists. For virtual disks, including virtual CD-ROM, it is eight virtual devices.

6. Insert ISO into DVD drive of VM.

7. To remove the device if necessary, run the following command:
   xe vm-cd-remove uuid=… cd-name=<ISO Name mounted in device to remove>
   For example, xe vm-cd-remove uuid=… cd-name=xs-tools.iso.
   Note: You might be prompted to insert the cd-name parameter. cd-name is the exact name of an ISO in one of the ISO repositories.