Manage Virtual Machine Templates

After you clone a virtual machine to a template, you can perform different operations with the template. You can rename the template, delete it from the vCenter Server inventory, or delete it from the disk. You can also register the template with vCenter Server.

Change the Template Name

If you move a template to another host or a data center folder, you can change the template name to make it unique in that folder.

1. Right-click the template and select Rename.
2. Enter a new name and click OK.

Delete and Remove Templates

You can delete a template by removing it from the inventory or deleting the template from the disk. If you remove the template from the inventory, it remains on the disk and can be reregistered with vCenter Server to restore it to the inventory.

By removing a templete, you unregister it from the vCenter Server inventory, but it remains on the disk at the same storage location and you can use the datastore browser to reregister the template at a later time. For example, if you decide to update the template rather than create one.

Note: Templates that you delete are permanently removed from the system and you cannot recover such templates.

Action	Description
Remove a template from the inventory	Right-click the template and select Remove from Inventory. To confirm removing the template from the vCenter Server inventory, click Yes. The template is unregistered from the vCenter Server inventory.
Delete a template from the disk	Right-click the template and select Delete from Disk. To confirm removing the template from the datastore, click Yes.

Reregister Templates

You unregister templates when you remove them from the vCenter Server inventory or when the hosts with which they are associated are removed from the vCenter Server inventory.

You can reregister templates to the vCenter Server inventory.

1. In the vCenter Server inventory, navigate to the datastore that contains the template.
2. Select the datastore and click the Files tab.
3. Locate the template folder and click it to display the template files.
4. Select the .vmtx file and click the Register VM icon.Result: The Register VM Template wizard opens.
5. On the Select a name and folder page, specify a name and location for the template and click Next.
6. On the Select a compute resource page, select a host or cluster on which to store the template and click Next.
7. On the Ready to complete page, review your selections and click Finish.
8. (Optional) To verify that the template is registered, check the host or cluster inventory.

   Inventory Object	Action
   Host	Navigate to the host. Click the VMs tab and select VM Templates.
   Cluster	Navigate to the cluster. Click the VMs tab and select VM Templates.

Result: The template is registered to the host and you can view the template when you navigate to the host and click VM Templates.