Virtual Machine - Stop the need to add and remove the CD-ROM device

Feature Requests
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1

Problem/Justification

Whenever I create a Virtual Machine I add a CD-ROM device so I can mount the ISO and boot of it, I then setup the OS.

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  • Once the OS is setup, I have to immediately shut the OS down and then remove the CD-ROM device from the Virtual Machine to prevent booting of that ISO again.
  • Adding and removing a CD-ROM device to have the presence of a CD-ROM or not is not user friendly.

My solution would be to add the following features

  • Allow ejecting the CD/ISO and keep the CD-ROM device present like a normal PC. In the device the mount will be removed and a checkbox ticked saying Ejected/Empty
  • Disable the CD-ROM device in the KVM configuration, but not remove. This would prevent a lot of lost time.
  • Ability to change the ISO of the CD-ROM device while the Virtual Machine is on (I have not tested if this is possible already), obviously this would generate an eject command to a Virtual Machine if it is running.
  • An option in the CD-ROM device to load a blank ISO if ejecting or disabling is not possible. The blank ISO would be part of TrueNAS rather than user uploaded, for convenience and security.

Impact

  • End users could use their Virtual Machines easier by not having to worrying about constantly removing a CD-ROM device just to boot a freshly installed OS.
  • Users tend to user Virtual Machines for installing and testing and this can involve using may different ISOs and currently many adding and removing of CD-ROM devices which can be time consuming.

User Story

A more friendly user experience when making Virtual Machines making it more likely that a user will come back and use this feature again.

This is one of the most annoying issues in TrueNAS :smile: and it would nice to get these additional feature(s) added.

2 Likes