Customize the Guest Operating System

When you customize a guest operating system, you can prevent conflicts that might result if you deploy virtual machines with identical settings, such as duplicate computer names. You can change the computer name, network settings, and license settings. You can customize guest operating systems when you clone a virtual machine or deploy a virtual machine from a template.

Prerequisites

To access customization options for Windows guest operating systems, Microsoft Sysprep tools must be installed on the vCenter Server system. The Sysprep Tool is built into the Windows Vista and Windows 2008 and later operating systems. For details about this and other customization requirements, see Guest Operating System Customization Requirements.

Procedure

1. Apply a customization specification to the virtual machine.

   Option	Description
   Select an existing specification	Select a customization specification from the list.
   Create a specification	Click the Create a new specification icon, and complete the steps in the wizard.
   Create a specification from an existing specification	Select a customization specification from the list. Click the Create a spec from an existing spec icon, and complete the steps in the wizard.

2. Click Next.