Running multiple VMs from one vdi

Nebster · Post by **Nebster** » 18. Nov 2008, 11:55

Hey all,

Is it possible to run multiple VMs from one vdi but using snapshots?

I want to have a base image and run multiple VMs from it.

Thanks,
Nebster

Post by **TerryE** » 18. Nov 2008, 14:32

If you want to run multiple VMs from the same VDI (other than cloning) you need to mount it as immutable (see UG and my tutorial All about VDIs for more info). The problem with immutable drives is that they forget all changes when you shut down the machine. The way around this is to configure your system with 2 drives: a big common immutable drive and a second smaller "personality" drive which you clone from a template for each machine.

The details of how you configure these is different for windows and Linux guests.

Nebster · Post by **Nebster** » 19. Nov 2008, 23:46

TerryE wrote:If you want to run multiple VMs from the same VDI (other than cloning) you need to mount it as immutable (see UG and my tutorial All about VDIs for more info). The problem with immutable drives is that they forget all changes when you shut down the machine. The way around this is to configure your system with 2 drives: a big common immutable drive and a second smaller "personality" drive which you clone from a template for each machine.

The details of how you configure these is different for windows and Linux guests.

This looks like exactly what I wanted. How would you do set up the personality drive on windows?

thanks