KVM Clone

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Hello everybody.

I have a simple question.

If I clone an existing KVM image of win server with static IP, the clone will have the same IP?

It’s probably stupid question, but I want to be sure.

I have a full updated CentOS 7 box.

Thank you in advance.

Nikos.

4 thoughts on - KVM Clone

  • It totally depends on how you have assigned the address in Windows. If you manually assigned the IP address via Windows, then yes, the new one will have the same Windows License and the same IP address.

    If you assigned a static IP via DHCP (so Windows is set to DHCP, and you control the static IP address via your DHCP Server) .. you could modify the MAC Address in the KVM image config file and it would boot with a different address that you can control. It would still have the same Windows License though.

  • Yes, have done it a few times. If you need it to have a different IP address/name/license then bring up a new definition without a NIC, login via virt-manager. For the IP address, search the registry for the current IP address and change the appropriate entries. Use standard Windows utilities to change the description/name. For the license, search for “Product” and select “View your Product ID”, in that dialog there should be an option to change the product key. Once done add the same NIC as the other definition had and restart. This has worked all but once for me. The one time it didn’t, Windows discerned a network problem (IP address) and provided a way to fix it.

  • Since you asked, the circumstance warranting registry editing is cloning a running system to create a new instance for a different purpose while bringing it up on the same subnet. Yes, it’s a little messy but it works. And thanks for the pointer about virt-sysprep.