Is there a way to clone an existing VM on an ESXi server without having to re-import it?
Solution 1:
No need to use the converter to clone a VM.
Simply browse to the datastore:
- Click on the host > Configuration tab
- Select Hardware > Storage to display the datastores
- Right-click on the datastore with the VM you want to clone > Browse Datastore
- Create a new folder in the store
- Right click on the VM folder and select Copy (must be done in the right pane of the Datastore Browser)
- Paste the VM to a new sub folder (otherwise the VM will overwrite itself)
- Once copied, rename and move the folder if desired
- Select the .vmx file within the cloned VM and select 'Add to Inventory'
Solution 2:
Actually it's easier to just goto the host machine in VIC under summary tab and browse the datastore. Then create a folder for the new vm, copy the vmdk file from your source vm by copy and paste within the datastore browser and then create a custom VM for the new vmdk file. Make sure your VM and folder names match and it takes 1/10th of the time to do.
Example for me was:
7gig VM:
- Converter: 13mins
- Direct: 3mins
- Copy via Datastore browser: 1min
I made copies of 17 VM's in Under 20 mins which saved a ton of time from converter.
Solution 3:
[Editing my own answer]
Summary:
- the Converter took me about 15 minutes to run from WS6 to ESXi
- the Converter took about 45 minutes to run from ESXi to itself
- logging in with a command prompt and then copying as per the "unsupported" instructions worked, but took about 20 minutes to copy the VM, and I was unable to correctly start the result
My conclusion: just use the Converter repeatedly.
Thanks all for the ideas.
(Update, much later: here are the details for how to create a copy of a VM without running the converter repeatedly.)