Use the following procedure to save a hardware profile based on the hardware settings that you configure while creating a new virtual machine or a virtual machine template.

A hardware profile is a collection of hardware settings that can be imported into a new virtual machine or a new virtual machine template. Hardware profiles help you ensure consistent hardware settings in virtual machines.

1. On the Hardware Settings page of the New Virtual Machine Wizard or the New Template Wizard, click Save Profile to open the New Hardware Profile dialog box.

2. On the General tab, enter a name and description of the hardware profile and specify the owner. The owner must have an Active Directory account.

3. On the Hardware Settings tab, you can edit the settings that were imported from the virtual machine or template. Any changes that you make to the hardware profile do not update the virtual machine or template.

   To view procedures for configuring other hardware components, click one of the following links:

   • Startup Order—Select the order of devices to start the operating system.
     
     
   • CPU Requirements—Specify processor requirements for the virtual machine.
     
     
   • Memory—Specify the amount of memory to allocate to the virtual machine.
     
     
   • Floppy Drive—Configure the virtual floppy drive to read a physical floppy disk on the host or to read a virtual floppy disk file stored in the library.
     
     
   • DVD or CD Drive—Add a virtual DVD or CD drive to an IDE bus.
     
     
   • Virtual Hard Disk—Add a virtual hard disk to an IDE device or a SCSI adapter.
     
     
   • Network Adapters—Configure one or more virtual network adapters for a virtual machine.
     
     
   • Priority and Availability—Configure the virtual machine's priority for CPU resources on the host. Configure the virtual machine to be highly available.
     
     

4. When you finish configuring hardware settings, click OK to save the new profile and return to the Hardware Settings wizard page.

5. If you changed settings in the hardware profile that you just saved, and want to import those changes into the virtual machine or template that you are creating, select the profile from the Hardware Profile list.

See Also