How to Create a Guest Operating System Profile

Article
01/17/2008

You can use a Virtual Machine Manager guest operating system profile to configure operating system settings on virtual machines that you deploy or plan to deploy on physical host servers. By importing a guest operating system profile into a template and then using the template to create multiple virtual machines, you can ensure a consistent operating system configuration for each virtual machine in the set of virtual machines created from that template.

You can use either of the following procedures to create a guest operating system profile:

Create a stand-alone guest operating system profile. Create a new stand-alone guest operating system profile based on defaults or by customizing one or more of the default settings.
Create a guest operating system by using a wizard. Create a guest operating system profile by running the New Template Wizard and then navigating to the Guest Operating System page. You can either configure guest operating system profile settings on the Guest Operating System page or import an existing stand-alone guest operating system profile into the template.

To create a stand-alone guest operating system profile

In Library view in the VMM Administrator Console, in the Actions pane, click New guest OS profile to open the New Guest OS Profile dialog box.

On the General tab, configure the following options:
1. In the Name field, type a name for the guest operating system profile.
2. In the Description field (optional), type a description for this profile.
3. In the Owner field, do one of the following:
  Option 1: If you want yourself to be the owner, accept the pre-populated value, DomainName\Username.
  Option 2: If you want to specify another person as the owner, click Select to open the Select User dialog box. Type a domain account name under Enter the object name to select (click examples to view the available formats that you can use to specify the account), click Check Names to verify that the user account exists, and then click OK to close the Select User dialog box.
Save the defaults or customize the profile by using one of the following options:

Option 1: If you want to save the guest operating system profile that uses only default settings, on the General tab, click Apply, and then click OK. You can modify these settings later.

Option 2: If you want to customize the guest operating system profile, click the Guest OS tab and then use one or more of the following procedures to configure individual settings for the profile:

How To Configure Guest Operating System Profile General Settings

How to Configure Guest Operating System Profile Networking Settings

How to Configure Guest Operating System Profile Scripts

To create a guest operating system profile by using the New Template Wizard

On the Actions pane in Library view, click New template. When the wizard starts, configure the information for each page as appropriate, and then click Next until you reach the Guest Operating System wizard page.

For information about how to complete each page of the New Template Wizard, see "How to Create a Virtual Machine Template."
On the Guest Operating System page, choose one of the following options:

Option 1: If you want to import an existing stand-alone guest operating system profile, select the name of the existing profile that you want to import from the Guest operating system profile drop-down list box. Click Next to continue to the next page and complete the wizard as usual.

Option 2: If you want to accept the default settings on the Guest Operating System page for all guest operating system components, click Next to continue to the next page and complete the wizard as usual.

Option 3: If you want to configure one or more guest operating system profile settings directly on the Guest Operating System page:
1. Use the appropriate procedure to configure one or more of the following settings:
  How To Configure Guest Operating System Profile General Settings
  How to Configure Guest Operating System Profile Networking Settings
  How to Configure Guest Operating System Profile Scripts
2. Save the wizard-based guest operating system profile by using one of the following methods:
  Option 1: Click Next to save your settings and continue to the next wizard page, and complete the wizard as usual.
  Option 2: To save your settings not only in this wizard but also as a stand-alone profile, click Save Profile to open the Guest OS Properties dialog box (which is identical to a stand-alone guest operating system profile dialog box). On the General tab, configure the following fields:
  Name. Type a name for the guest operating system profile.
  Description (optional). Type a description for this profile.
  Owner. Accept the pre-populated value, DomainName\Username if you want yourself to be the owner, or click Select to specify a different owner.
  Click Apply and then click OK to return to the Guest Operating System page, click Next to continue to the next page, and complete the wizard as usual.

How to Create a Guest Operating System Profile

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