Creating a Virtual Machine from a Template in VMM

  • Article

This topic describes how to create a virtual machine from a virtual machine template.

Considerations

  • You cannot change the system disk or startup disk configuration.
  • Templates are database objects that are displayed in Library view by selecting the Library Servers node in the navigation pane. Templates are not displayed when a library server or library share is selected.

Requirements

  • The virtual hard disk must have the Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 R2 operating system installed.
  • The virtual hard disk must have Virtual Machine Additions installed.
  • The operating system on the virtual hard disk must have been prepared using the System Preparation tool (SysPrep.exe).
  • The Administrator password on the virtual hard disk should be blank as part of the Sysprep process. However, the Administrator password for the guest operating system profile does not have to be blank.

Procedure

To create a virtual machine from a template:

  1. On the Actions pane in the Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console, click New virtual machine.
  2. Complete the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
Wizard Page Action

Select Source
  1. Select the Use an existing virtual machine or a template or virtual hard disk stored in the library option, and then click Select.
  2. In the Select Library Object dialog box, select the template that you want to use.

Virtual Machine Identity

Configure the following options:

  • Virtual machine name (required). Type a unique name for the virtual machine.
  • Description (optional). Type a description for the new virtual machine.
  • Owner (required). The owner must have a domain account in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS).

Configure Hardware

To configure additional hardware for the virtual machine, use the following procedures:

  • CPU Requirements -- Specify the processor resources on a host that you want a virtual machine to use. This entry does not actually specify hardware. The CPU type is used in calculating resource requirements for host ratings.
  • Amount of Memory -- Specify the amount of memory on a host that you want to allocate to any virtual machine.
  • Floppy Drive -- Specify the virtual floppy drive settings. The virtual floppy drive can read a physical floppy disk inserted into the physical floppy drive on the host or it can read a virtual floppy disk file.
  • DVD Drive or Virtual Hard Disk (IDE) -- Specify which IDE devices that you want to add and configure on a virtual machine.
  • Virtual Hard Disk (SCSI adapter) -- Specify one or more virtual SCSI adapters to a virtual machine. You can then attach a virtual hard disk to the SCSI adapter.
  • Network Adapters -- Configure one or more virtual network adapters to connect to virtual networks.
  • Virtual Machine Priority for Host CPU Resources -- Specify how CPU resources are allocated among virtual machines deployed on the same host.

Guest Operating System

Configure identity information, administrative credentials, and user access to computers based on the template. You can change any of the default values that you specified in the template.

Identity information: Enter the following settings:

  • Computer name -- Specify a computer name. To randomly generate a computer name for virtual machines based on the template, enter an asterisk in the Computer name field.
  • Full name, Organization name -- The Full name and Organization name fields provide required information for customization of the virtual machine during the Sysprep process. You can optionally provide the information through the template.
  • Product key -- If you want the template to provide a product key for virtual machines, enter a product key in the Product key field. To require users to provide their own product key when they create a virtual machine, leave the field blank.

Under Admin Password, specify the local Administrator password for the virtual machine. If virtual machines created with this template will not be in a domain, users must use this password to gain access to the local computer.

Note

To prompt for a password when the user creates a virtual machine with the template, enter an asterisk (*) in the Admin Password field. If you leave the field blank, virtual machine creation will fail.

Networking: Configure settings to determine network access for virtual machines:

  • If you want virtual machines that are created from this template to be in a domain, click Domain. Then specify a user account that will be used to add the computer to the domain at first logon. (This option is available only if you configured at least one virtual network on the Configure Hardware page.)

Important

For increased security during the automation of mini-Setup, enter a user account with limited privileges.

  • If the virtual machines that are created from this template will not be in a domain, click Workgroup, and then enter the name of the workgroup.

Scripts: Use the options under Scripts to provide additional settings for Sysprep:

  • To add settings to those that the wizard will pass to SysPrep, in the Answer file field, specify the SysPrep.inf file to run. The settings in the .inf file will be appended to those that the wizard passes.
  • To automate mini-Setup, in the [GUIRunOnce] Commands field, enter the commands to run at first logon.

Select Destination

When creating a VM from a template, you must choose the following option:

  • Place the virtual machine on a host.

Select Virtual Machine Host

(Host placement only)

Select a host to deploy the virtual machine on.

All hosts that are available for placement are given a rating of 0-5 stars based on their suitability to host the virtual machine. The host ratings are based on the virtual machine's hardware and resource requirements and anticipated resource usage. They are also based on placement settings that you can customize for VMM or for individual virtual machine deployments. The ratings are recommendations. You can select any host that has the required disk space and memory available.

  1. To see the placement settings that were used to rate the hosts, and optionally change those settings, click Customize Ratings to open the Customize Ratings dialog box.
    You can choose between two placement goals--either resource maximization on individual hosts or load balancing among hosts--and set the relative importance of the availability of CPU, memory, disk I/O capacity, and network capacity for the virtual machine. For more information, see "How Virtual Machine Manager Rates Hosts" (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=102852). If you change settings, the host ratings will be repeated to apply the new settings. When you finish reviewing settings, close the dialog box.
  2. To view additional information about a host rating, select the host in the list. The tabs in the details pane beneath the list provide the following information:
    • Details -- Displays the status of the host and lists the virtual machines that are currently deployed on it.
    • Ratings Explanation -- If a host receives a zero rating, this tab lists the conditions that caused the rating.
    • SAN Explanation -- If a SAN transfer cannot be used to move the virtual machine's files to the host, this tab lists the conditions that prevent a SAN transfer.

Select Path

Select the path to the folder that will store the configuration files for the virtual machine:

  • Specify the path on the host to which to save files associated with this virtual machine.

    Note

    If you would like to store other virtual machines on this path, select the Add this path to the list of host default paths checkbox to add the path to the list of default paths during virtual machine creation.

Additional Properties

(Host placement only)

To enable optional actions when the Virtual Server service starts and stops, you must specify the account that Virtual Server will run under. For account requirements, see " 'Run-as' Account Requirements for Virtual Server" (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=102862).

If the hardware supports hardware-assisted virtualization, and you would like to use that feature with the new virtual machine, select the Use Hardware Assisted Virtualization check box.

Summary

Review the configuration settings. To change settings, click Previous. To begin creating the virtual machine, click Create.

Note

Use the View Script button to display the Windows PowerShell - Virtual Machine Manager cmdlets that will perform the operation. All administrative tasks in Virtual Machine Manager can be performed at the command line or scripted.

Tutorial: Getting Started Creating Virtual Machines in VMM