Debian: cdrom issues with new VM install
 

Ive two issues Im pretty sure at this point are related.

Installed a new Debian VM that was pre-built.

I cant get apt-get or aptitude to work, nor get vmtools installed via CD.

Im pretty sure its something with the cdrom. Vmware (ESXi4) is reporting drive is attached, and /dev/cdrom is there.

Apt looks like this:
Failed to fetch cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 r1a _Sarge_ - Official i386 Binary-1 (20051224)]/dists/unstable/contrib/binary-i386/Packages.gz Please use apt-cdrom to make this CD recognized by APT. apt-get update cannot be used to add new CDs

Mounting the cd drive (for vmtools) looks like this:
CactiVM:/var/lib/apt# mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
mount: /dev/cdrom is not a valid block device
CactiVM:/var/lib/apt# mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
mount: you must specify the filesystem type
CactiVM:/var/lib/apt# mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
mount: /dev/cdrom is not a valid block device

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0

Does the CD drive work outside of VM?

I'd recommend trying another VM distro or two just to see if it's an issue with the Debian VM or with VMs in general