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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 57
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates
Importing a Template from VMFS Storage
IfyouhaveanexistingvirtualmachineonanESXServersystem,youcanusethe
ImportfromVMFSoptiontoimportitasatemplateunderLab Managercontrol.
Becauseyouaremovingthevirtualmachineandnotcopyingit,theoriginalvirtual
machineislostinthisprocess.Ifyou
needtheoriginalvirtualmachine,makeacopyof
it.
TheoriginalvirtualmachineremainsregisteredundertheVIClientbutisnolonger
available.YoucanusetheVIClienttounregisterthevirtualmachine.SeetheVMware
Infrastructure3documentationforinformationonunregisteringavirtualmachine.
To import a template from VMFS storage (ESX Server machine)
1Inthe
leftpane,clickTemplates.
2ClicktheImportfromVMFSbutton.
3Entertheinformationforthetemplate:
a Selecttheserverhostingthe.vmxfile.
bEnterthepathto.vmxfile(forexample,[storage1]abc/abc.vmx).
cEnteraname.
d (Optional)Enteradescription.
eSpecifywhetherVMwareToolsisinstalledonthetemplate.
Ifyouselectthis
checkbox,theInstallVMwareToolsbuttonnolonger
appearsonthevirtualmachineconsole.Youcanstillaccesstheoptionto
installVMwaretoolsthroughthemouseovermenuonthevirtualmachine
console.
N
OTETheImportfromVMFSoptiondoesnotworkforavirtualmachinewithan
absolutepathtoits.vmdkfileoravirtualmachinethathassnapshots.Deleteany
snapshotspriortoimportingatemplatefromVMFSstorage.
Tocheckifyouhaveanabsolutepathtothe.vmdkfile,use
atexteditortoopenthe
.vmxfile,lookforthelinethatpointstothevirtualdisk(.vmdk),andverifythatthe
valuedoesnotstartwithaforwardslash(/).
NOTETheImportfromVMFSbuttonisonlyavailabletoadministratorusers.