Here’s what I found, it may help someone else out there. This is for VSphere 5.1
1. If I try to clone a machine that is not running, the cloned machine will never boot and try to boot from PXE, it then says no OS found
Solution:
So to clone a machine I keep the Source VM running then it allows me to clone it.
2. If I try to Clone to template a fully activated Windows 2008 R2 machine . Any machine using that template will fail with the PXE boot error as above.
Solution:
The source machine needs to be turned off
You have to use Convert to Template, clone to template does not work I also use a fully activated Windows VM as my source.
I turn off the VM, copy the files for it into another folder, I then add this duplicate dummy VM to Vcenter and convert that version to a Template. This leaves your fully activated Windows VM alone.
I then use a customization file and attach it to the template when I create a VM and it works great.
My question for the group is?
Does Clone to Template work for you?
Does Cloning a machine that is turned off, work for you?