VMWare PowerCLI New-CDDrive question

[briangw]

So I'm trying to build a VM using PowerCli and I've run into an issue. I am trying to add a New-CDDrive cmdlet piping off of a New-VM entry. When looking at the parameters for New-CDDrive, I see the IsoPath and HostDevice parameters but nothing for the option of grabbing an ISO from my local hard drive. Does that not exist or is there a different parameter or method to use? IsoPath's decription says it pulls from a datastore while HostDevice says from a CD drive.

[briangw]

So nobody has tried this? I guess I'll ask in the VMWare forums.

[nickgw]

I haven't tried this, but I'd wager that ISOPATH can only utilize isos that have been uploaded to a datastore, like the description says. The VM and Host have no access to your local hard disk (or CD drive for that matter). The HostDevice is going to pull from the ESX host's CD drive, not your local CD drive.

[briangw]

Yes, that's true and it looks like it can't be done. An answer from the PowerCLI forums I posted to:

 

• I'm afraid not, the option to connect a VMs CD/DVD to a local ISO file is based on a private API.

  And hence not usable from PowerCLI nor from the vSphere API

So I'll need to dump ISOs onto one of our datastores