VirtualBox

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1<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
2<!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
3<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="clone">
4 <title>Cloning Virtual Machines</title>
5
6 <body>
7 <p>
8 You can create a full copy or a linked copy of an existing VM.
9 This copy is called a <i>clone</i>. You might use a
10 cloned VM to experiment with a VM configuration, to test different
11 guest OS levels, or to back up a VM.
12 </p>
13 <p>
14 The <b outputclass="bold">Clone Virtual Machine</b> wizard
15 guides you through the cloning process.
16 </p>
17 <p>
18 You can start the Clone Virtual Machine wizard in one of the
19 following ways:
20 </p>
21 <ul>
22 <li>
23 <p>
24 Click the VM name in the machine list and then select
25 <b outputclass="bold">Clone</b> from the
26 <b outputclass="bold">Machine</b> menu.
27 </p>
28 </li>
29 <li>
30 <p>
31 Click <b outputclass="bold">Clone</b> in the
32 <b outputclass="bold">Snapshots</b> window for the
33 selected VM.
34 </p>
35 </li>
36 </ul>
37 <note>
38 <p>
39 The <b outputclass="bold">Clone</b> menu item is disabled
40 while a virtual machine is running.
41 </p>
42 </note>
43 <p>
44 The <b outputclass="bold">New Machine Name and Path</b>
45 page is displayed.
46 </p>
47 <fig id="fig-clone-wizard-name-path">
48 <title>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: New Machine Name and Path</title>
49 <xref href="images/clone-vm-1.png" format="png" platform="htmlhelp">
50 <image href="images/clone-vm-1.png" width="10cm" placement="break">
51 <alt>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: New Machine Name and Path</alt>
52 </image>
53 </xref>
54 <image href="images/clone-vm-1.png" width="10cm" placement="break" platform="ohc">
55 <alt>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: New Machine Name and Path</alt>
56 </image>
57 </fig>
58 <p>
59 The following clone options are available:
60 </p>
61 <ul>
62 <li>
63 <p><b outputclass="bold">Name:</b> A name for the cloned
64 machine.
65 </p>
66 </li>
67 <li>
68 <p><b outputclass="bold">Path:</b> Choose a location for
69 the cloned virtual machine, otherwise <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> uses the
70 default machines folder.
71 </p>
72 </li>
73 <li>
74 <p><b outputclass="bold">MAC Address Policy:</b> Specifies
75 whether to retain network card MAC addresses when cloning the
76 VM.
77 </p>
78 <p>
79 For example, the <b outputclass="bold">Generate New MAC
80 Addresses For All Network Adapters</b> value assigns a
81 new MAC address to each network card during cloning. This is
82 the default setting. This is the best option when both the
83 source VM and the cloned VM must operate on the same network.
84 Other values enable you to retain the existing MAC addresses
85 in the cloned VM.
86 </p>
87 </li>
88 <li>
89 <p><b outputclass="bold">Keep Disk Names:</b> Retains the
90 disk image names when cloning the VM.
91 </p>
92 </li>
93 <li>
94 <p><b outputclass="bold">Keep Hardware UUIDs:</b> Retains
95 the hardware universally unique identifiers (UUIDs) when
96 cloning the VM.
97 </p>
98 </li>
99 </ul>
100 <p>
101 Click <b outputclass="bold">Next</b>. The
102 <b outputclass="bold">Clone Type</b> page is displayed.
103 </p>
104 <fig id="fig-clone-type">
105 <title>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: Clone Type</title>
106 <xref href="images/clone-vm-2.png" format="png" platform="htmlhelp">
107 <image href="images/clone-vm-2.png" width="10cm" placement="break">
108 <alt>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: Clone Type</alt>
109 </image>
110 </xref>
111 <image href="images/clone-vm-2.png" width="10cm" placement="break" platform="ohc">
112 <alt>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: Clone Type</alt>
113 </image>
114 </fig>
115 <p>
116 The <b outputclass="bold">Clone Type</b> option specifies
117 whether to create a clone that is linked to the source VM or to
118 create a fully independent clone:
119 </p>
120 <ul>
121 <li>
122 <p><b outputclass="bold">Full Clone:</b> Copies all
123 dependent disk images to the new VM folder. A full clone can
124 operate fully without the source VM.
125 </p>
126 </li>
127 <li>
128 <p><b outputclass="bold">Linked Clone:</b> Creates new
129 differencing disk images based on the source VM disk images.
130 If you select the current state of the source VM as the clone
131 point, <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> creates a new snapshot.
132 </p>
133 </li>
134 </ul>
135 <p>
136 (Optional) Click <b outputclass="bold">Next</b>. The
137 <b outputclass="bold">Snapshots</b> page is displayed.
138 </p>
139 <note>
140 <p>
141 The Snapshots page is only displayed for machines that have
142 snapshots and the selected clone type is
143 <b outputclass="bold">Full Clone</b>.
144 </p>
145 </note>
146 <fig id="fig-clone-wizard-snapshots">
147 <title>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: Snapshots</title>
148 <xref href="images/clone-vm-3.png" format="png" platform="htmlhelp">
149 <image href="images/clone-vm-3.png" width="10cm" placement="break">
150 <alt>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: Snapshots</alt>
151 </image>
152 </xref>
153 <image href="images/clone-vm-3.png" width="10cm" placement="break" platform="ohc">
154 <alt>Clone Virtual Machine Wizard: Snapshots</alt>
155 </image>
156 </fig>
157 <p>
158 You use this page to select which parts of the snapshot tree to
159 include in the clone. The available options are as follows:
160 </p>
161 <ul>
162 <li>
163 <p><b outputclass="bold">Current Machine State:</b> Clones
164 the current state of the VM. Snapshots are not included.
165 </p>
166 </li>
167 <li>
168 <p><b outputclass="bold">Everything:</b> Clones the
169 current machine state and all its snapshots.
170 </p>
171 </li>
172 </ul>
173 <p>
174 Click <b outputclass="bold">Finish</b> to start the clone
175 operation.
176 </p>
177 <p>
178 The duration of the clone operation depends on the size and number
179 of attached disk images. In addition, the clone operation saves
180 all the differencing disk images of a snapshot.
181 </p>
182 <p>
183 You can also use the <userinput>VBoxManage clonevm</userinput> command to clone a VM. See
184 <xref href="vboxmanage-clonevm.dita"/>.
185 </p>
186 </body>
187
188</topic>
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