Create a Virtual Machine in vSphere

You can create a virtual machine in vSphere from scratch or by cloning an existing VM. This procedure describes creating a VM from scratch.

Prerequisites

• Familiarize yourself with the custom configuration parameters for virtual machines. See Virtual Machine Custom Configuration Parameters.

Procedure

1. Log in to vSphere Client.
2. Right-click any inventory object that is a valid main object of a virtual machine, such as a data center, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host, and select New Virtual Machine.
3. Select Create a new virtual machine and click Next.
4. Follow the prompts to specify the virtual machine custom options.
5. On the Customize hardware page, select Virtual Hardware to configure hardware settings.
   1. Click Add New Device and select a CD/DVD drive, set the media type to use an ISO image file, select the ISO image file of an appropriate operating system, and select Connect at power on.
6. On the Customize hardware page, select VM Options to configure virtual machine settings.
   1. (Optional) In the Boot Options, set Boot Delay to 10,000 milliseconds.
      You can set the boot delay to easily access the virtual machine's BIOS on boot and modify the system settings. After you modify the system settings, you can reboot the boot delay.
7. Click Finish to create the virtual machine.

What to do next

Install the operating system.