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HOWTO by example 
1)
make a copy of a disk image (it can take a whiiiiiile) :
vmware-vdiskmanager -r old_winxp.vmdk -t 2 temp_winxp.vmdk
2)
in web manager create new machine,
name it "new_winxp",
when asked about a disk chose "use existing disk" and point it to the copy you made before,
you'll get directory new_winxp/ with 3 files inside - new_winxp.vmsd, new_winxp.vmx, new_winxp.vmxf
3)
move file(s) of your new disk image to new_winxp/
4)
rename your disk image:
vmware-vdiskmanager -n temp_winxp.vmdk new_winxp.vmdk
5)
edit new_winxp.vmx file and change paths to point to new location of your disk image
6)
power up the clone
Result - full clone of original virtual machine with all filenames reflecting name of clone and not the original machine
1)
make a copy of a disk image (it can take a whiiiiiile) :
vmware-vdiskmanager -r old_winxp.vmdk -t 2 temp_winxp.vmdk
2)
in web manager create new machine,
name it "new_winxp",
when asked about a disk chose "use existing disk" and point it to the copy you made before,
you'll get directory new_winxp/ with 3 files inside - new_winxp.vmsd, new_winxp.vmx, new_winxp.vmxf
3)
move file(s) of your new disk image to new_winxp/
4)
rename your disk image:
vmware-vdiskmanager -n temp_winxp.vmdk new_winxp.vmdk
5)
edit new_winxp.vmx file and change paths to point to new location of your disk image
6)
power up the clone
Result - full clone of original virtual machine with all filenames reflecting name of clone and not the original machine
as I described in a first step use vmware-vdiskmanager,
if you use vmware-vdiskmanager with option -r it will convert the disk, but it will not overwrite the original, it will create a converted copy of it (maybe there is an option to overwrite original files, but we don't really want to find it
),
if you choose the same type of disc (option *-t*) as the original you will actually create a clone of the original disk (just disk, not a machine)
vmware-vdiskmanager creates correct entries in .vmdk file in process of converting disk,
as .vmdk (disk description file) and all files containing parts of a disk are in the same directory you don't have to change paths in it as the paths simply don't exist there and the filenames will be correct wherever you will put the whole bunch of files
after creating new virtual machine and moving your disk to destination directory, where all files of that virtual machine are stored, all you have to do is to edit .vmx file deleting the path and leaving only name of .vmdk file
if you use vmware-vdiskmanager with option -r it will convert the disk, but it will not overwrite the original, it will create a converted copy of it (maybe there is an option to overwrite original files, but we don't really want to find it
),if you choose the same type of disc (option *-t*) as the original you will actually create a clone of the original disk (just disk, not a machine)
vmware-vdiskmanager creates correct entries in .vmdk file in process of converting disk,
as .vmdk (disk description file) and all files containing parts of a disk are in the same directory you don't have to change paths in it as the paths simply don't exist there and the filenames will be correct wherever you will put the whole bunch of files
after creating new virtual machine and moving your disk to destination directory, where all files of that virtual machine are stored, all you have to do is to edit .vmx file deleting the path and leaving only name of .vmdk file