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Using the vmrun Command to
Control Virtual Machines
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You can use the vmrun command-line utility in VMware Fusion to control virtual machines and
automate guest operations on VMware virtual machines. The vmrun utility is associated with the
VIX API libraries.
The capabilities of the vmrun utility are summarized in the following sections.
Power Commands
Power commands control virtual machine operations. You can use power commands to start
(power on), stop (power off), reset (reboot), suspend, pause, and unpause a virtual machine.
Snapshot Commands
A snapshot captures the state of a virtual machine at the time of the snapshot, including all data
on virtual disks. You can then use the snapshot to revert the virtual machine to its previous state.
Snapshots are useful for data backup and as a placeholder for development and testing. You can
use snapshot commands to list existing snapshots of a virtual machine, create a snapshot, delete
a snapshot, and revert a virtual machine to its state at the time of a snapshot. Revert to snapshot
does not resume running a virtual machine, even if it was running at the time of a snapshot.
Network Adapter Commands
Network adapter commands allow you to control the virtual network adapters associated with a
virtual machine. You can use network adapter commands to list, add, update, and remove a
network adapter.
Host Network Commands
Host network commands allow you to list the host virtual networks and to list, update, or remove
a port forwarding configuration.
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