With VMware Server, you can take a snapshot of your virtual machine and preserve its state — including the data on its virtual disks — at a particular moment in time. You can continue working with the virtual machine and, if desired, return to the snapshot state at any time.
This is useful if you wish to undo changes you made to the virtual machine. You can take a snapshot of a virtual machine at any time and revert to that snapshot at any time, whether the virtual machine is powered on, powered off, or suspended.
Note: If you are using a legacy virtual machine — a virtual machine created under GSX Server 2 and not upgraded to use the new virtual hardware — you must power off the virtual machine before taking a snapshot. You also must power off the virtual machine before taking a snapshot if the virtual machine has multiple disks in different disk modes — for example, if you have a special purpose configuration that requires you to use an independent disk.
When you revert to a snapshot, you discard all changes made to the virtual machine since you took the snapshot.
Use the Snapshot and Revert buttons on the toolbar to take a snapshot and revert to it later.
You can take a new snapshot at any time. When you do so, you replace the previous snapshot. You can have only one active snapshot at a time.
The snapshot captures the entire state of the virtual machine at the time you take the snapshot. This includes:
When you revert to the snapshot, you return all these items to the state they were in at the time you took the snapshot.
You can specify what you want VMware Server to do with the snapshot any time the virtual machine is powered off. For more information, see Changing Snapshot Options.
You can remove the snapshot any time the virtual machine is powered off. Removing the snapshot does not destroy any data in the virtual machine. You keep all changes made since you took the snapshot, then permanently accumulate additional changes as you run the virtual machine. You cannot revert to a previous state because the snapshot no longer exists.
To remove the snapshot, shut down and power off the virtual machine. Then, choose Snapshot > Remove Snapshot.
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