Symptoms:

• Checking the Virtual Hardware that is associated with a virtual machine.
• You want to add a device to a virtual machine.
• You want to change the amount of memory assigned to a virtual machine.
• Even when the virtual machine is powered off the option to add virtual hardware is greyed out.

VMware Workstation 4.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Windows)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Windows)
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 12.x (Windows)
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Windows)
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware Workstation 3.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 5.x (Windows)
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware Workstation 5.x (Linux)
VMware ESX Server 2.5.x
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware Workstation 3.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 4.x (Linux)

To view or edit an existing virtual machine's configuration:

1. Connect the vSphere Client/VI Client to your vCenter Server or your ESX/ESXi Server host.
2. Select the virtual machine you want to view or edit from the inventory.
3. Power off the virtual machine.
   
   Note: Powering off the virtual machine is optional. However, the virtual machine must be powered off to change the properties of a virtual machine. You can still open the properties editor regardless of the power state.
   
   If the property you want to modify is read only, you must shut down the virtual machine to make any changes.
   
   
4. Right-click the virtual machine and choose Edit Settings. You see a screen similar to:
   
   
   
   
5. The selected guest operating system determines the devices that are available to be added to a given virtual machine. The devices that can be added are:
   
   
   • Serial port
   • Parallel port
   • Floppy drive
   • DVD/CD‐ROM drive
   • Ethernet adapter
   • Hard disk
   • SCSI device
     
     
   Click Add to add any of these devices.
   
   
6. Use the slide bar to modify the memory assigned to a virtual machine. This is visible when Memory is selected in the Hardware pane.
   
   Note: The virtual machine must be powered off to modify the memory assignment.
   
   
7. For more information about each of these devices, see the relevant VMware Documentation site.

Note: If the option to add virtual hardware is greyed out when the virtual machine is powered off:

1. Check the version of the virtual machine against the version of the ESX/ESXi Server host it resides on. It is likely the virtual hardware needs to be upgraded.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and choose to upgrade the hardware.
3. Make any changes you want to make to the virtual machines configuration.
4. Power on the virtual machine.
5. Upgrade VMware Tools.