vCenter

I'm working on a new system of VMWare (ESX 3.0.1 and VC 2.x). I want to clone an existing VM, but the options do not appear in the VM right click menu. Simply are not there. The Power, Shutdown, Snapshot, Report areas are all there (and a couple more.) We do have VMWare enterprise licenses. I can't find any special instructions on installation of Convert applets, and according to a sales rep, it should "just be there". Any directions for a newbie greatly appreciated!

thx

Bill

Is the VM you are trying to clone powered off? You can only clone a VM with it is powered off. Also make sure you are connecting to VC with the VI client and not ESX directly. The cloning options are only available through VirtualCenter.

Hello,

Are you pointing your VI client directly at the ESX host or at the VC server?

Provided you've connected to the VC and your VM is powered off, you'll see the option.

It's not an extra licence feature.

Thanks for all the replies. I am running the VI client on the VC server, the VM is powered off. The options are not even grey, they don't appear in the menu. I am logged onto the VCMS machine via RDP if that makes a difference. I see no options in the VC menu to show or hide anything or display advanced features (ala Exchange System Manager.)

The menu I see:

Power On (hilight)

Power Off (grey)

Suspend (grey)

Reset (grey)

Shut down guest (grey)

Standby guest (grey)

Restart guest (grey)

Snapshot (hi)

Add Permissions (hi)

Open Console (hi)

Send Ctrl-Alt-Del (grey)

Answer Question (grey)

Report Performance (hi)

Install VMWare Tools (grey)

Edit Settings (hi)

Rename (hi)

Remove from inventory (hi)

Delete from disk (hi)

thx

bill

You can run the VI client on the VC Server and still connect directly to the ESX server instead of the VirtualCenter Server. Can you verify that when you start the VI Client that you are entering the VC Server name and not the ESX Server name. What you are describing sounds like you are connecting directly to ESX where the Clone option does not exist.

Darn newbies. That was it exactly. I was using VI to connect to the ESX server, not the VCMS server. Thanks everyone for helping out.

Bill