The purpose is to create a disk to keep contents shared across the VMs Following the instructions at http://www.vmware.com/support/ws45/doc/ws40_disks.html#1046465 Find your VM installation and run the following C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation> vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -s 10GB -a ide -t 1 -c "D:\Virtual Machines\vmDisk.vmdk" (s: size, a: interface, t: type (0-3 for increase and size options), c:create) Creating disk 'D:\Virtual Machines\vmDisk.vmdk' Virtual disk creation successful. How to browse a Vmdk? http://www.vmware.com/support/ws45/doc/disks_add_ws.html#1008949 Tried to add this newly created disk when the vm server was on by going to settings/add/hard drive/existing virtual. Got error: failed to add disk ide0:1 I shutdown the vm pc and add disk then try starting the machine. Then went to disk mgt in windows where I got the "Initialize Disk" prompt New Volume > Simple > Quick format and voila!!