Simple (full) clone - how to do it?

[mnjensen]

I am using Windows 10 with a Vm-Ware 15.5.1 machine on a Windows10 host with some programs that I need to use in different versions. Sometimes I will need to use the programs in the current versions and sometimes I will need to use them in an updated version. So I want to make a clone of the current version and update that. Then I can select which clone to start depending on my needs.

But I have some questions:

What is the easiest way to do this?

I tried using the clone function under Manage but just got informed that "you cannot make a clone of a virtual machine with a physical disk". But I need a machine with a disk.

I read that the cloning procedure assigns new MAC addresses to the IP address - I don't want that since my switches filters quite aggressively and only allows known traffic.

I would like to just renaming a few (or using a search and replace if it is many) file and folder names and then have a functioning copy (now my VM-ware machine is in a folder called KALAE1VMWin10 (and many of the files in the folder has this name too). But could I rename the folder and file names to KALAE2VMWin10 and it would still work?

[scott28tt]

You could use snapshots - that function can be used to have multiple states of the same VM which you can switch between, but I wouldn’t personally want to leave any VM using snapshots for a prolonged period.

[mnjensen]

Thank you Scott - but I want to have full independent VM-ware virtual machines with the two versions.

[RDPetruska]

Why is it that you need to access a physical disk?

[loungehostmaste]

* power off the guest
* copy the folder with the guest files
* answer "i moved it" to avoid a new MAC when starting the copy
* avoid power on both at the same time
* that's it