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Table Of Contents
You can make a linked clone from a linked clone, but the performance of the linked clone
degrades. It is recommended that you make a new linked clone of the original parent virtual
machine, when possible. If you make a full clone from a linked clone, the full clone is an
independent virtual machine that does not require access to the linked clone or its parent.
Important You cannot delete a linked clone snapshot without destroying the linked clone. You
can safely delete the snapshot only if you also delete the clone that depends on it. Also, moving
the linked clone or the parent virtual machine breaks the connection between the linked clone
and parent.
Since a linked clone has a dependency on the parent, you cannot delete a parent if it has a clone.
You must first delete all linked clones and snapshots before you can delete the parent virtual
machine.
Using Full Clones
A full clone is a complete and independent copy of a virtual machine. A full clone shares nothing
with the parent virtual machine after the cloning operation. Ongoing operation of a full clone is
separate from the parent virtual machine. You can create full clones only with
Fusion Pro.
Because a full clone does not share virtual disks with the parent virtual machine, full clones
generally perform better than linked clones. Full clones take longer to create than linked clones.
Creating a full clone can take several minutes if the files involved are large.
Because a full clone duplicates only the state of the virtual machine at the instant of the cloning
operation, it does not have access to snapshots of the parent virtual machine.
You can delete a full clone without affecting the parent virtual machine.
Clone a Virtual Machine
You can clone virtual machines only if you have Fusion Pro. You do not need to find and manually
copy the parent virtual machine files.
Note
n You can access cloning options from the right-click menu, Virtual Machine menu and
snapshot manager.
n You cannot create linked clones from encrypted virtual machines.
n You cannot create linked or full clones from Boot Camp virtual machines.
n You can create full clones from encrypted virtual machines.
n You can create a cloned virtual machine from the powered off snapshot of the parent virtual
machine.
Prerequisites
n Familiarize yourself with the types of clones. See Using Linked Clones and Using Full Clones.
Using VMware Fusion
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