6.0.1

Customize Windows During Cloning or Deployment
You can customize Windows guest operating systems for the virtual machine when you deploy a new
virtual machine from a template or clone an existing virtual machine. Customizing the guest helps prevent
conflicts that can result if virtual machines with identical settings are deployed, such as duplicate computer
names.
You can prevent Windows from assigning new virtual machines or templates with the same Security IDs
(SIDs) as the original virtual machine. Duplicate SIDs do not cause problems when the computers are part of
a domain and only domain user accounts are used. However, if the computers are part of a Workgroup or
local user accounts are used, duplicate SIDs can compromise file access controls. For more information, see
the documentation for your Microsoft Windows operating system.
IMPORTANT The default administrator password is not preserved for Windows Server 2008 after
customization. During customization, the Windows Sysprep utility deletes and recreates the administrator
account on Windows Server 2008. You must reset the administrator password when the virtual machine
starts the first time after customization.
Prerequisites
Verify that all requirements for customization are met. See “Guest Operating System Customization
Requirements,” on page 47.
To perform this procedure, start the Guest Customization wizard when you clone a virtual machine or
deploy one from a template.
Procedure
1 On the Select clone options page of the Clone Existing Virtual Machine wizard, select Customize the
operating system and click Next.
2 Type the virtual machine owner’s name and organization and click Next.
3 Enter the guest operating system's computer name.
The operating system uses this name to identify itself on the network. On Linux systems, it is called the
host name.
Option Action
Enter a name
a Type a name.
The name can contain alphanumeric characters and the hyphen (-)
character. It cannot contain periods (.) or blank spaces and cannot be
made up of digits only. Names are not case-sensitive.
b (Optional) To ensure that the name is unique, select Append a
numeric value to ensure uniqueness. This action appends a hyphen
followed by a numeric value to the virtual machine name. The name is
truncated if it exceeds 63 characters when combined with the numeric
value.
Use the virtual machine name
The computer name that vCenter Server creates is identical to the name of
the virtual machine on which the guest operating system is running. If the
name exceeds 63 characters, it is truncated.
Enter a name in the Clone/Deploy
wizard
The vSphere Web Client prompts you to enter a name after the cloning or
deployment is complete.
Generate a name using the custom
application configured with vCenter
Server
Enter a parameter that can be passed to the custom application.
Chapter 2 Deploying Virtual Machines
VMware, Inc. 49