Specifications

Basic System Administration
216 VMware, Inc.
Preparing for Guest Customization
Whenyoudeployanewvirtualmachinefromatemplateorcloneanexistingvirtual
machine,youhavetheopportunitytocustomizethenewguestoperatingsystem.The
GuestCustomizationwizardguidesyouthroughtheconfigurationoptions.
BeforeyouruntheGuestCustomizationwizard,ifyouintendtoperformaguest

customization,dothefollowing:
 Verifythatyoursystemmeetstheguestcustomizationrequirements.Ifyouplanto
customizeaWindowsguestoperatingsystem,youmustinstallthecomponents
requiredtosupportaWindowsguestoperatingsystemcustomization.Thisis
describedinAppendix B,“InstallingtheMicrosoftSysprepTools,”onpage 351.
 InstalltherequiredcomponentsontheWindowsmachinewheretheVirtualCenter
serverisinstalled.
Virtual Hardware Requirements for Guest Customization
Guestcustomizationrequiresthatthesourcevirtualmachineusedtocreatetheclone
ortemplateshasthefollowing:
 VMwareToolsinstalled.
 SCSIdisks.
ThedefaultconfigurationforVMwareWorkstation,andVMwareServercreating
aWindowsXPorWindowsServer2003virtualmachineisIDEdisks.Ifyouare
customizingavirtualmachinewithIDEdisks,itcanbedeployedonlytoa
VMwareServerhost.
VirtualCentercustomizationoperatesonthediskattachedto
thevirtualSCSInode
withthelowestaddressontheSCSIcontrollerwiththelowestindex.Asaresult,
youmustmakesurethattheguestoperatingsystembeingcustomizedresideson
adiskattachedasSCSI0:0nodeinthevirtualmachineconfiguration.
N
OTEAfterdeployingandcustomizingnon‐volume‐licensedversionsof
Windows XPorWindows 2003,youmightneedtoreactivateyourMicrosoft
operatingsystemonthenewvirtualmachine.
NOTEIfavirtualmachinehasmixedIDEandSCSIdisks,thefirstIDEdiskis
consideredthebootdisk,andVirtualCenterpassesittothecustomizer.“First”is
incontroller:deviceorder,thatis,ide0:0,ide0:1,scsi0:0,scsi0:1,andsoon.