Need help with VMware "i moved it" or "i copied it" - not showing up on new VMs

[shaselai]

I moved a couple of new VMs (via vm converter) to my VSphere and I thought when i start a new VM it asks me if i "Moved it" or "copied it" but i dont get anything like that and the default seems to be "copied it". I might have selected "apply all" one time or another but how do i change it back so i have the option again? thanks

[weinstein5]

Welcoem to the Community - I believe using converter will take care of everything behind the scenes creating a new uuid for the VM - it is when you manually copy or move the VMs files that you will be asked that -

[shaselai]

but i want to have the option of "moved it" so i have the same IDs though....

[weinstein5]

When you say IDs - What do you mean?

[shaselai]

i mean the uuid. But basically i have a license and it is dependent on the VM's id so if i select "Copied it" i get new ID which invalidates the license. but if i select "i moved it" i can still use the same license since the uuid is still the same.... that's why i am trying to have the option of choosing "moved" instead of the default "copied it".

[weinstein5]

This might be of assistance -

Specifying a UUID for a Virtual Machine

In some circumstances you may want to assign a specific UUID to the virtual machine. To do this, you need to override the automatically generated UUID value. Power off the virtual machine and edit its configuration (.vmx) file to set the value of the UUID parameter. Use a text editor to edit the configuration file. The format for the line is:

uuid.bios = ""

The UUID value must be surrounded by quotation marks. A sample configuration line looks like:

uuid.bios = "00 11 22 33 44 55 66 77-88 99 aa bb cc dd ee ff"

After you add this line to the configuration file, power on the virtual machine. The new UUID is used when the virtual machine boots.

obtained from http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1541

[shaselai]

i see... will that have the exact effect as "i moved it"?

[weinstein5]

it should because you would be able to manually set the UUID - 

[bulletprooffool]

If you would like to re-create the original VM, I'd simply skip Converter and use a copy of the files.

I tend to use FastSCP for this. When you import the VM on the other end and start it, it should prompt you as it will identify the original location has changed.

Watch out though, as if your VMs are in the same environment, duplicate UUIDs and Mac addresses can cause issues.

converter assumes you are replacing a VM - so defaults automatically.

[shaselai]

is there way to do the "copy/move" with the client? the solution seems to be to edit the .vmx directly and with the vmsphere client's desktop i cant do that.. I do know vm sphere client did have the option given before though...