Proper use of snapshots

[snert]

I read the post in the HowTo>General Advice about snapshots. I understand what they are. I cannot seem to do what I wanted to do but from various screenshots I think I can. I've read the documentation about it but I must be missing something. What I have is a Windows 2008 base machine. It was fully patched at the time. Part of my job requires working with many end customers and remotely connecting to them requires dozens of different VPN software. Installing them all on one VM will eventually cause me problems which is why I use a VM rather than my local machine. My plan was to have a VM for each different VPN.

So, the plan is:

- Base VM with Windows
|
L___Snapshot for VPN type 1
|
L___Snapshot for VPN type2
|
.
.
.
L___ Snapshot for VPN type x

In essenece I have one base install, and that is used by the others which I can boot up individually. I understand I would have to do Windows updates on each one and if I need to upgrade the base to a newer version of Windows it will be a pain inthe neck, but this has to be easier than setting up a base VM, then cloning it to have a complete VM for each VPN as it takes up tonnes of room with the number I have.

Could I use linked clones for this? If so, how do I do it? I've been using Virtualbox for years and I still can't get my head around this bit properly.

Ta.

[mpack]

That scenario implies linked clones, not snapshots.

Snapshots are like restore points on WIndows: you don't flit between them.

This is not an endorsement: personally I don't trust any difference image scheme further than I can throw it. Linked clones do at least have the advantage that it is not a chain, so the fragility is not being compounded at each addition.

[snert]

Cheers. I won't take it as an endorsement :)

I'll see if I can give the linked clones a go. See what happens.