Specify IP + guest hostname on a virtual machine (without booting it)

Question

My question is simple but I am not sure if it is possible :

Is there a way to specify a custom IP address AND a different hostname before I boot a virtual machine from VMWare Workstation ? (Win 7 or Win XP guest OS)

Example :

Virtual Machine #1 is running Windows XP
1. Run a copy of virtual machine #1 with ip 192.168.0.10 and with hostname PC01
2. Run a second copy of virtual machine #1 with ip 192.168.0.60 and with hostname PC28

Thanks

As far as I know you can't do this in VCenter. Not sure about Workstation. — smcg, Jun 14 '12 at 18:33

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 14 '12 at 18:42

0

Unfortunately not the IP address is stored in the OS only VMWare doesn't provide this. The only network-related stuff you'll find stored in the *.vmx file is the Mac address.

Good luck

answered Jun 14 '12 at 18:42

Joost Verdaasdonk

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Your question was also about hostname this is also only stored in the OS en not he config. (missed that the first time) – Joost Verdaasdonk Jun 14 '12 at 18:44

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '12 at 18:46

In my experience you can either 1) disconnect the network adapters, boot with VMWare Console, and re-assign; 2) create a script that can be invoked by bootloader or in early OS boot process that can rewrite the values of hostname and /etc/sysconfig/network.

Specify IP + guest hostname on a virtual machine (without booting it)

2 Answers2