Rename VM in vCenter

[Bit101]

I want to rename a VM in vCenter from vmmachineTest to vmmachineProd

I do the rename i console and migrate to another host, but the folders and files does not change.

It´s still folders an files with vmmachineTest but the VM in vCenter is now vmmachineProd.

-Can I edit the folders and files without any risk? or in other Words what am I doing wrong?

Really appreciate your answer

[schepp]

Hi,

you need to do a storage vMotion for the files and folders to change the name. A normal vMotion (just the host resource) is not sufficient.

If you do not have storage vMotion licensed you can also power down the VM and cold migrate the VM to another datastore, that will do the trick as well.

There is a manual way of renaming the files on the command line as well, but you don't want to go that route, as you have to update all the config files as well 😉

Cheers

[sunborn]

What do you mean cold migrate? I have the same issue and was going to rename on console. What config files are there other than the vmx?

[schepp · Accepted solution]

With cold migrate I mean just shutdown the vm, and right click migrate and choose to change the datastore. You don't need storage vmotion license for that and it will rename everything.

When changing manually you need to change the names inside the configs as well, as the vmdks are configured in the vmx files. Also please note that for manually renaming the disks you will need to use vmkfstools, as the virtual disk is not just the one vmdk file you see in the datastore browser.

That said, migrating to a different storage is much simpler

Tim

[continuum]

> I want to rename a VM in vCenter from vmmachineTest to vmmachineProd
That action does nothing more than change the vmx-file parameter

displayName = "vmmachineTest"

to

displayName = "vmmachineProd"

[Bit101]

So, in other Word this tutorial about rename is useless?

Renaming a Virtual Machine and Virtual Machine Files in vSphere 6 - YouTube

[continuum]

> So, in other Word this tutorial about rename is useless?
No - what makes you think so ?

[Bit101]

Ok, I didn´t see and hear that he was changing to datastore 1 from datastore 1(1).

It´s easy to miss when the datastores is spelled and sounds so similar.

Now I gonna try the same again and see if names of folders and files Changes.

[Himadri]

Performa storage vMotion for the files and folders to change the name. A normal vMotion (just the host resource) is not sufficient.