Create a Linked Clone

A linked clone is a VMware virtual machine that shares the virtual disk of the source virtual machine or system image. Linked clones are useful for quickly checking the compatibility of non-VMware images, such as .sv2i and .vmc files.

You can create linked clones only when you convert a virtual machine or other image source to a hosted destination.

Note

Linked clones converted from Virtual PC and Virtual Server machines, and from LiveState images are corrupted if the source is modified or powered on after the conversion.

 

Prerequisites

Before you begin, turn off the source virtual machine.

See Supported Source Types to verify that your source type is a supported third-party source.

Procedure

1	Select VMware Workstation or other VMware virtual machine as a destination and click Next.

2	On the View/Edit Options page, click Data to copy in the left pane.

3	In the Data copy type drop-down menu, select Linked clone.

4	Select another option to set or click Next to view a summary of the conversion task and add it to the task list.

You created a linked-clone conversion task.