View or change general virtual machine settings, such as the name and location of the virtual machine, configuration file location, and operating system.

Change the Virtual Machine Name

A virtual machine must have a name that is unique within the folder where the virtual machine is located. If you move a virtual machine to a different datastore folder or host that has an existing virtual machine of the same name, you must change the virtual machine's name to keep it unique.

When you change the name of a virtual machine, you change the name used to identify the virtual machine in the vCenter Server inventory. This action does not change the name used as the computer name by the guest operating system.

The virtual machine name also determines the name of the virtual machine files and folder on the disk. For example, if you name the virtual machine win8, the virtual machine files are named win8.vmx, win8.vmdk, win8.nvram, and so on. If you change the virtual machine name, the names of the files on the datastore do not change.

Note: Migration with Storage vMotion changes the virtual machine filenames on the destination datastore to match the inventory name of the virtual machine. The migration renames all virtual disk, configuration, snapshot, and .nvram files. If the new names exceed the maximum filename length, the migration does not succeed.

Procedure

  1. Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
  2. Click the VM Options tab and expand General Options.
  3. Delete the existing name and enter a new name for the virtual machine in the VM Name text box.
  4. Click OK.

View the Virtual Machine Configuration and Working File Location

You can view the location of the virtual machine configuration and working files. You can use this information when you configure backup systems.

Prerequisites

Verify that the virtual machine is powered off.

Procedure

  1. Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
  2. Click VM Options tab and expand General Options.
    The path to the location of the virtual machine configuration file appears in the VM Config File text box. The path to the virtual machine working location appears in the VM Working Location text box.

Change the Configured Guest Operating System

When you change the guest operating system type in the virtual machine settings, you change the setting for the guest operating system in the virtual machine's configuration file. To change the guest operating system itself, you must install the new operating system in the virtual machine.

You might change the guest operating system, for example, if you are upgrading the guest operating system installed in the virtual machine.

When you set the guest operating system type for a new virtual machine, vCenter Server chooses configuration defaults based on the guest type. Changing the guest operating system type after the virtual machine is created does not retroactively change those settings. It affects the recommendations and setting ranges offered after the change.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

  1. Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
  2. Click the VM Options tab and expand General Options.
  3. From the Guest OS drop-down menu, select the guest operating system family.
  4. From the Guest OS Version drop-down menu, select the guest operating system version.
  5. Click OK.