Specifications

Administration Guide
76 VMware, Inc.
Figure 2-2. UUID dialog box
This!dialog!box!has!four!options:
! If!you!moved!this!virtual!machine,!you!can!keep!the!UUID.!Select!Keep!and!click!
OK!to!continue!powering!on!the!virtual!machine.!
! If!you!copied!this!virtual!machine!to!a!new!location,!create!a!new!UUID,!because!
the!copy!of!the!virtual!machine!is!using!the!same!UUID!as!the!original!virtual!
machine.!Select!Create!and!click!OK!to!continue!powering!on!the!virtual!machine.!
! If!the!original!virtual!machine!is!being!used!as!a!template!for!more!virtual!
machines,!you!can!create!a!new!UUID!the!first!time!you!power!on!each!copy.!After!
you!configure!the!virtual!machine,!move!it!to!a!new!location!and!power!it!on.!
When!the!message!appears,!select!Always
!Create!and!click!OK!to!continue!
powering!on!the!virtual!machine.!The!virtual!machine!is!set!up!to!create!a!new!
UUID!every!time!it!is!moved.!Power!off!the!virtual!machine!and!begin!using!it!as!
a!template!by!copying!the!virtual!machine!files!to!other!locations.!
! To!move!the!virtual!machine!numerous!times,!and!keep!the!same!UUID!each!time!
the!virtual!machine!moves,!select!Always!Keep!and!click!OK!to!continue!
powering!on!the!virtual!machine.!
Suspending!and!resuming!a!virtual!machine!does!not!trigger!the!process!that!generates!
a!UUID.!The!UUID!in!use!at
!the!time!the!virtual!machine!was!suspended!remains!in!use!
when!the!virtual!machine!is!resumed,!even!if!it!has!been!copied!or!moved.!However,!
the!next!time!the!virtual!machine!is!rebooted,!the!UUID!is!generated!again.!If!the!virtual!
machine!has!been!copied!or!moved,!the!UUID!is!
changed.
Comparing the Generated UUID to Configuration File Parameters
When!a!virtual!machine!is!powered!on,!ESX!Server!generates!a!UUID!as!described!
above!and!compares!it!to!the!values!for!uuid.location!and!(if!it!exists)!uuid.bios!in!
the!configuration!file.
If!the!automatically!generated!UUID!matches!the!value!of!uuid.location,!ESX!Serv er!
checks!for!uuid.bios.!If!uuid.bios!exists,!
its!value!is!used!as!the!virtual!machine’s!
UUID.!If!uuid.bios!does!not!exist,!the!automatically!generated!value!is!used.