[RESOLVED] Revert VMware Player

[agmorgan]

I used this guide to get a Virtual Machine running (using the free VMware Player) to work as a test environment
http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2005/10/2...indows-xp.html

It was my impression that virtual machines could be shut down and revert to their initial state.
This is attractive because it means I can have a stable base system then install my application and check that it works.
If it doesn't, I can revert back to the stable system, make changes to the installation procedure and test it again without worrying about the first installation contaminating it in any way.

However, when I close VMware player, all the changes to the virtual machine seem to be saved.
I can't see how to revert to the baseline, except for making a copy of the file (~3GB) and overwriting the original with the copy each time.

Surely there is better way than this. Anyone know how to do it?

[Lord Orwell]

the changes aren't saved when you close it. they are saved while you are using it! It's got a file on the hard disk that's used as a hard drive and system settings file. How do you expect it to work without a hard drive? You have to keep the 3gb file on backup.

[agmorgan]

It seems it is possible with VMware ACE
http://www.vmware.com/support/ace/do...ceset_ace.html

Under Revert to installed image, you may select Enable revert to installed virtual machine image. If you enable this feature, VMware ACE captures an image of the virtual machine at the time it is installed on the end user's machine. The end user may then revert to this original state by choosing VMware ACE > Troubleshoot > Revert to the Installed <vmname> Environment, where <vmname> is the name of the virtual machine.

The virtual machine image is similar to a snapshot. It includes the state of the virtual machine's disks., the contents of the virtual machine's memory and the virtual machine settings.

Although that costs ~$1500
Was sort of hoping to do it for free

[Lord Orwell]

you can! It explains in detail exactly what it does: It backs up the virtual machine to another file! You can easily do this yourself.

[agmorgan]

It was pointed out that Microsoft offer Virtual PC 2007 for free as well, but it also has the benefit of reverting built in.
It does this by writing changes to a separate file and only committing them to your virtual hard disk when you specify.
I think I like this better as it doesn't require quite so much disk space.

There is a tool to convert VMware images to Microsoft's virtual pc images.
http://vmtoolkit.com/files/folders/c...rs/entry8.aspx
Help on doing it here http://vmtoolkit.com/blogs/paul/arch...onversion.aspx

[Lord Orwell]

i personally prefer parallels desktop, but whatever. You didn't give the link to virtual pc. here it is:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...c/default.mspx