Apply a Customization Specification to a Virtual Machine

You can add guest OS specification to an existing virtual machine. 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.

When you clone an existing virtual machine, or deploy a virtual machine from a VM template in a folder, you can customize the guest operating system of the resulting virtual machine during the clone or the deployment tasks.

When you deploy a virtual machine from a template in a content library, you can customize the guest operating system only after the deployment task is complete.

Prerequisites

• Verify the guest operating system is running.
• Verify that VMware Tools is installed and running.
• Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1. Right-click a virtual machine in the vSphere inventory, and select Guest OS > Customize Guest OS.
   The Customize Guest OS wizard opens.
2. 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 new specification from existing one icon, and complete the steps in the wizard.

3. Click Finish.

What to do next

Power on the virtual machine.