When you remove a virtual machine from the inventory, you unregister it from the host and vCenter Server, you do not delete it from the datastore. Virtual machine files remain at the same storage location and you can later re-register the virtual machine by using the datastore browser. This capability is useful if you need to unregister a virtual machine to edit the virtual machine's configuration file. The ability to remove a virtual machine and maintain its files is useful when you have reached the maximum number of virtual machines that your license or hardware allows.
Prerequisites
Verify that the virtual machine is turned off.
Procedure
- Right-click the virtual machine, and select Remove From Inventory.
- To confirm that you want to remove the virtual machine from the inventory, click OK.
