Cloning a VM without creating a new network adapter

[JDizzle84]

I have a test environment that I clone VMs to regularly to test out various pieces of software. All of my VMs are using the VMXNET3 nics, and every time I clone a VM, the old nic is orphaned and a new nic is installed in my guest os. This wipes out the network configuration, and makes some services and applications not work properly because they are tied to the nic.

Is there a way to clone a VM and not have it create a new network adapter each time?

[rajivdp]

The reason why a new NIC (MAC address) is created every time you clone a VM is, if cloned VM retains the same NIC as source VM, then if both a VM are powered on in same subnet of VM network then there will be MAC address duplicate problem in network arise. So if you clone a VM, ESX will remove the NIC (MAC address) settings of a source VM and configure with a new NIC.

> Is there a way to clone a VM and not have it create a new network adapter each time?

No.

[zXi_Gamer]

some services and applications not work properly because they are tied to the nic.

These applications might be binded to the mac address of the nic [maybe due to licensing..] The only other way you can workaround is retaining the MAC address, provided the parent VM is NOT powered on and is unregistered [Remove from inventory]..

Maintaining and Changing the MAC Address of a Virtual Machine

Again,

Is there a way to clone a VM and not have it create a new network adapter each time?

Well, you can use the "Experimental feature" of Edit Virtual Hardware at the end screen of the Cloning process. But when you create a nic after cloning, you would end up having a new mac assigned as explained by rajivdp.