boot the original virtual machine

[shaneadamson]

I work at the Loveland Public Library and am new to virtualization and have recently started investigating VMware. Beyond the obvious cost benfits there are considerable benefits of virtualization regarding staff time. Currently our lab machines are protected by Deep Freeze. Upon any reboot the desktop erases all changes made and restores the original desktop and settings. Can VMware accomplish something like that without the use of a third party software? I have heard of the refresh feature in VMware, but have not actually tried it. Even if it does work I am not sure it can be automated or linked to a reboot or startup. Does anyone know of a way to make a Virtual Machine revert to the original image when booted?

[chandlm]

Which VMware product are you using, Workstation, Server, or ESX...?

[shaneadamson]

We are using a variety of software from VMware. ESX, VCenter, Connection Server, and I think View Workstation.

[esiebert7625]

There are a lot of ways to achieve this in virtualization. Perhaps the easiest is to use non-persistent disk types which reverts back to the original disk state whenever the VM is powered off and back on. You can also use scripting to do this using snapshots and templates.

http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/win/disks_win.html

Eric Siebert

VMware Communities User Moderator

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[TomHowarth]

Moving to a more appropiate forum

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Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert

VMware Communities User Moderator

Blog: www.planetvm.net

Contributing author on "[VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment|http://www.amazon.co.uk/VMware-VSphere-Virtual-Infrastructure-Security/dp/0137158009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256146240&sr=1-1]”.

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