Copying Vmware Player guest virtual disks from one guest to another

[MacNala]

What disks need to be copied from one guest virtual machine to another to allow the second to start without error?

Are there any changes which must be made to the file eg. name, etc before starting second machine?

I am familiar with Virtual PC where there is one .vhd to move is it the same with VMware Player 3.0.0 build 203739

Host machine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit guest machines Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.

[continuum]

it is impossible to answer this question in general. VMs may have have upto 60 virtual disks and each of those virtual disks may be split in upto 477 single files.

Also you may have several snapshots per virtual disk ...

Only thing that can be said for all cases is: never rename rename vmdks with explorer or other normal tools - use vmware-vdiskmanager instead or better - keep the names

Best post detailed example

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[MacNala]

Thanks for confirming that I need to do a lot more than copy virtual disks.

I also need to buy ACE and possibly Workstation as well.

I was evaluating the product for personal use and at the prices I see quoted to get equivalent function I am not going to proceed with any VMware prioduct.

[continuum]

what makes yoy think that you need to buy ACE or Workstation ???

never said anything like that

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[MacNala]

Yoiu mentioned snapshots. If I read the manual correctly I cannot create a snapshot unless I have ACE. I believe ii is implicit that to have ACE you need Workstation.

If you have information as to how to use multiple snapshots I would be delighted I can't even find out how to take one.

Perhaps a liitle background might be helpful.

I am trying to set up a series of virtual machines with different versions of the same OS to reflect the situation as patches and updates become available. It is important that I keep a version of the OS at the initial install state. Then as each batch of updates comes along I can test the applications and create a snapshot or file copy. The ability to revert to previous levels of update could be by restoring a previous snapshot or copying guest files from an archive of the different levels.

I have had great success using Virtual PC 2007 with the technique described both with XP and Vista but it does not support 64-bit guest machines. The need for 64-bit OS is a pressing need. If we were to stick to 32-bit OSs I would not be having this evaluation trouble. I have looked at MS Hyper-V and also Virtualbox both of which as well as Vmware support 64-bit OSs. For various reasons Hyper-V seems to be a sledgehammer to crack a nut and I have had networking and driver problems with Virtualbox. The latter seems to be a possiblity.