Relink linked clone to different snapshot

[SteenSchmidt]

Hi,

We have a base VM with a linked clone linked to snapshot S1. Is it possible to relink the linked clone to a new snapshot S2 on the base VM, such that the linked clone will incorporate the differences from the base VM between S1 and S2?

One use case (there are many variations over this):

Our base VM is Windows 7 which has >20 linked clones. Now we have to do Windows Update on >20 clones. It would use up much less space if we could do Windows Update on the base VM and then relink all the linked clones to a snalshot after that Windows Update.

The same if we wanted to add a common tool to all our linked clones; much easier and faster to do on the base VM and then relink the clones.

Is this possible?

Cheers,

Steen

[continuum]

You could do that manually - but you would not enjoy the results that much.
The new blocks in the update-snapshot will probably already be referenced in the current working state of the linked clone.
So you can not assume that this operation produces clean NTFS in the guest - I would not rely on those linked clones anymore.

So you may safe a little bit of work but pay with untrustworthy linked clones.

Spend your time on scripting updates for your linked clones if that is an option.