:Clone a VM

You can quickly create a VM by cloning an existing VM. The new VM has the same hardware configurations, operating system, and software as the original VM.

Prerequisites

• A VM is created and an operating system is installed on the VM. For more information, see Create a VM and install an OS.

• VMware Tools is installed. For more information, see Install VMware Tools on a Linux OS or Install VMware Tools on a Windows OS.

• Optional. A VM customization specification is created. For more information, see Create VM customization specifications.

Procedure

1. Right-click the VM that you want to clone, and choose Clone - Clone to Virtual Machine.

   

2. In the Select a name and folder step, enter a unique name for the new VM and select a location to deploy the VM.

   

   Note

   You can use folders to group objects of the same type. This allows you to manage the objects in an easier manner. For example, if you grant a set of general permissions on a folder, the permissions apply to all objects in the folder.

   A folder can contain folders or a group of objects of the same type. For example, a folder can contain VMs and folders that contain VMs, but it cannot contain hosts and folders that contain VMs.

3. In the Select a compute resource step, select the host, cluster, resource pool, or vApp on which the VM runs, and then click NEXT.

   

4. In the Select storage step, select the storage space in which you want to store the configuration files and virtual disks of the VM. Select a storage policy from the VM Storage Policy drop-down list. The storage policy specifies the requirements on VM storage, such as the number of failures to tolerate (FTT) and the provisioning mode.

   

   Important

   You cannot store the VM in the vsanDatastore. The vsanDatastore is used to store management components such as vCenter, NSX Manager, and NSX Edge. You can store the VM in the WorkloadDatastore.

5. In the Select clone options step, select additional customization options for the VM. You can select to customize the guest operating system, customize the VM hardware, or power on the VM after it is created.

   

6. Optional. In the Customize guest OS step, apply the customization specification to the VM. For more information about how to customize the guest operating system of a VM, see Use VM customization specifications.

   

8. Optional. In the Customize hardware step, configure the VM hardware and click NEXT.

   

9. In the Ready to complete step, check the VM configurations and click FINISH.

   

Result

After the VM cloning is complete, the new VM is displayed in the VM list. You do not need to reinstall the operating system on the VM.