Access ATAPI DVD writer on VMware ESXi 4.x Windows Guest VM

To access the physical DVD writer on Windows Guest VM, there is no alternative but setting up a SCSI device for this.

IDE passthrough on CD/DVD-ROM device seems not to be really promising as I have tried through different ESXi 4.x boxes.

Finally, I found this way to get through this. You need to open up vSphere interface at a remote machine for monitor and control. You also need a remote desktop session connected to the target Windows Guest VM for checking read/write access on the target physical DVD drive.

Using remote VMware vSphere interface, it is easy to add new SCSI device for physical DVD drive. Before adding new SCSI device, you may want to shutdown Windows guest VM first. 

Once SCSI DVD device is added to Guest VM's profile, you may start the VM again to see if the device is detected.

When you can login to Windows Guest VM, it's time to try on remote vSphere interface by clicking CD/DVD-ROM device icon to connect to host physical device. You should see the device raw ID as shown in the selection list for choice on vSphere interface. Once connected, the physical SCSI DVD drive should be ready to go for Read & Write operations on your Windows Guest VM.

Start headless Windows guest VM in Virtualbox

Virtualbox offers open source implementation of desktop virtualization technology for muli-OS users and developers.

Newest version of Virtualbox is v4.3.6 while running a headless VM as remote server instance can lead to lower resources consumption and faster response on the host computer.

Before starting a headless VM, you need to make sure the VM has Remote Display setup properly. Once a headless VM starts running, the easy way to access the VM would be using RDP viewer. This is particularly useful when you run a headless Windows VM.

To run a VM in headless mode, we can issue the following command:

$
$ vboxheadless --startvm "WHATEVER NAME IT IS FOR VM"

In case of using Virtualbox GUI, you can hold SHIFT key while clicking on START button for the target VM.

If you run into a famous error like NS_ERROR_CALL_FAILED: segmentation fault 11, you should take a look at the setting of the VM whereas 3D acceleration under Video tab should be turned off. You probably don't need 3D acceleration on a headless server VM so it doesn't cause much performance impact at all.