Step by step procedure involved in cloning a virtual machine in vmware using only the hypervisor ESXi interface without the need of vCenter appliance or hypervisor command line.
- Shutdown the VM to be cloned
- Create a VM without hard disk attached
When passing through Cutomize settings , note the option to delete hard disk . Select it and create VM without hard disk attached
- Copy the VMDK hard disk file to the new VM directory
Under VM details on expanding the hard disk tab , the disk file path gets displayed . Note this path . In the datastore browser , browse this folder and copy the file to the destination folder of the new VM
- Attach hard disk file to the new VM
Edit the new VM settings , under the hard disk , Add new hard disk - select the newly copied file in the target folder.
- Start the VM
Starting the VM should get the operating system loading which is present on the VMDK file. Optionally after boot , network details may be edited and IP address may be changed if its a static IP. If the network interfaces don't come up with a result unrecognized device , simply remove the file 70-persistent-net.rules file from /etc/udev/rules.d and reboot the VM.