How to clone a Windows Virtual Machine in VMware Server 2.0 (or 1.0):

many believe that the free VMware Server 2.0 does not have cloning capability. but it does! though it's quite easy as far as the concept goes, it is troublesome in certain ways. here is what you can do to clone a VM in Server 2.0:

1. shutdown the VM you want to clone
2. copy the VM to a new folder in the datastore (usually in "C:\Virtual Machines") using your favorite copy utility - mine is ROBOCOPY
3. after you copy the VM, rename all the files in the new VM folder to the new VM name, for example: rename oldvm.vmx to newvm.vmx
4. edit the vmx, vmdk (only the virtual disk configuration text files) and vmxf files, and replace the old VM name with the new VM name
5. in the VI Web Access client (aka VMware Server Home Page link), click on "Virtual Machines", then "Add Virtual Machine to Inventory"; browse to the new VM folder, click on the new VM vmx file and click OK to register the new VM
6. power on the new VM and choose "copied_it" option if prompted
7. log on and rename the guest OS (reboot needed) then run NEWSID utility (downloadable) to regenerate the SID (reboot needed)
8. at this point, you nave a fully functional cloned VM in the VMware Server 2.0 environment

notes: many of the steps can be automated - using VB Script, I have automated 3, 4 just because they are really manually intensive. ideally, the whole process short of shutting down the inital VM should be scripted.

- Kenny