You can edit the properties of a virtual machine, including the virtual machine name and description, hardware and network settings, guest OS settings and so on.

Options available and their descriptions are listed below.

Prerequisites

To make changes to the CPU and/or Memory the virtual machine should be powered off.
Changes can be made to add hard disks or increase their space without powering the virtual machine off.


Procedure

  1. On the Virtual Datacenters dashboard screen, click the card of the virtual data center you want to explore and select Virtual Machines from the left panel.
  2. Click Details on the virtual machine you want to modify.
  3. Edit settings one section at a time clicking Save to apply the changes.

We do not recommend using Guest OS Customization, unless it is used for every VM. Enabled Guest OS Customization will change the operating system properties based on the details of the virtual machine in vCloud. This could potentially cause issues if the name or IP address is different in vCloud as compared to within the operating system. Especially on domain controllers or SQL and application servers.


General

OptionDescription
Virtual machine nameEdit the name of the virtual machine.
You can edit this property while the virtual machine is powered on
Computer NameEdit the computer and host name set in the guest operating system that identifies
the virtual machine on a network. This field is restricted to 15 characters because
of a Windows OS limitation on computer names.
You can edit this property while the virtual machine is powered on
DescriptionType an optional description of the virtual machine.
You can edit this property while the virtual machine is powered on.
Operating System FamilySelect an operating system family from the drop-down menu.
You can edit this property while the virtual machine is powered off. In addition,
you cannot edit this property if an operating system is already present on the
virtual machine.
Operating SystemSelect an operating system from the drop-down menu.
You can edit this property while the virtual machine is powered off. In addition,
you cannot edit this property if an operating system is already present on the
virtual machine.
Boot DelayThe time between when you power on the virtual machine and when it exits the
BIOS and launches the guest operating system software can be short. You can
change the boot delay to provide more time. Select the time in milliseconds to
delay the boot operation
Storage Policy

The time between when you power on the virtual machine and when it exits the
BIOS and launches the guest operating system software can be short. You can
change the boot delay to provide more time. Select the time in milliseconds to
delay the boot operation

This will migrate the virtual machine to the target datastore.

Virtual Data CenterView the name of the virtual datacenter the virtual machine is running in.
VMware ToolsView whether VMware Tools is installed on the virtual machine.
Virtual Hardware VersionView the virtual hardware version of the virtual machine.
Enter BIOS SetupSelect whether to force entry into the BIOS setup screen the next time the virtual machine boots.
You can edit this property while the virtual machine is powered off.

Hardware Properties

OptionDescription
Number of virtual CPUs

Edit the number of CPUs.

We do not recommend adding any more than 8 virtual CPUs as it can negatively
impact virtual machine performance.

The maximum number of virtual CPUs that you can assign to a virtual machine
depends on the number of logical CPUs on the host and the type of guest
operating system that is installed on the virtual machine.

Cores per socketEdit the cores per socket.
You can configure how the virtual CPUs are assigned in terms of cores and cores
per socket. Determine how many CPU cores you want in the virtual machine, then
select the number of cores you want in each socket, depending on whether you
want a single core CPU, dual-core CPU, tri-core CPU, and so on
Expose hardware-assisted CPU
virtualization to guest OS
You can expose full CPU virtualization to the guest operating system so that
applications that require hardware virtualization can run on virtual machines
without binary translation or paravirtualization
Total MemoryEdit the memory resource settings for a virtual machine. The virtual machine
memory size must be a multiple of 4 MB.
This setting determines how much of the ESXi host memory is allocated to the
virtual machine. The virtual hardware memory size determines how much
memory is available to applications that run in the virtual machine. A virtual
machine cannot benefit from more memory resources than its configured virtual
hardware memory size.
Memory hot addIf you enable memory hot-add, you can add memory resources to a virtual
machine while the machine is powered on. This feature is only supported on
certain guest operating systems and virtual machine hardware versions greater
than 7.
Virtual CPU hot addWe do not recommend enabling this setting as it can negatively impact virtual
machine performance.
If you enable virtual CPU hot-add, you can add virtual CPUs to the virtual
machine while it is powered on. You can add only multiples of the number of
cores per socket. This feature is only supported on certain guest operating
systems and virtual machine hardware versions.
Number of socketsView the number of sockets.
The number of sockets is determined by the number of virtual CPUs available.
The number changes when you update the number of virtual CPUs.
Removeable MediaView the available removable media, such as attached CD/DVD and floppy drive.

Hard Disks

OptionDescription
Size

Enter the hard disk size in MB. There are 1024 MB in a GB.

A 40960 MB disk equals 40 GB.

PolicyThe storage policy for the virual machine is used.
You can override this selection.
We recommend keeping the default virtual machine setting.
Bus TypeSelect the bus type.
The options are
Paravirtual (SCSI), LSI Logic Parallel (SCSI), LSI Logic SAS
(SCSI)
, IDE, and SATA.
Bus NumberEnter the bus number.
Unit Number

Enter the logical unit number for the hard disk drive.

The primary boot drive should be Bus 0, Unit Number 0

NICs

OptionDescription
Primary NICA flag displays when the primary NIC is selected.
Select a primary NIC. The primary NIC setting determines the default and only
gateway for the virtual machine. The virtual machine can use any NIC to connect
to virtual and physical machines that are directly connected to the same network
as the NIC, but it can only use the primary NIC to connect to machines on
networks that require a gateway connection.
NICNumber of the NIC
ConnectedSelect the check box to connect a NIC.
NetworkSelect a network from the drop-down menu.
IP ModeSelect an IP mode:
Static - IP Pool
Pulls a static IP address from the network IP pool.
Static - Manual
Allows you to specify a specific IP address manually. If you select this option,
you must type an IP address in the
IP Address column.
DHCP
Pulls an IP address from a DHCP server.
MAC AddressEnter the network interface MAC address. It will auto-fill on power on for new NICs.