Administration Guide › Managing Virtual Environments › VMware vSphere and vCenter Server › VMware vCenter Provisioning and Common Use Cases › Create a Snapshot

Create a Snapshot

Create a snapshot to preserve the current state of a virtual machine so that you can return to the same state at a later time. A snapshot preserves the entire state of the virtual machine, including memory contents, settings, and virtual disk state. You can create snapshots for virtual machines that are powered on, powered off, or suspended.

To create a snapshot

1. Open the Explore pane.

   Available groups, services, and systems appear.

2. Find and right-click a virtual machine on the Explore pane and select Management, Snapshots.

   The Snapshots pane appears.

3. Select New from the Actions drop-down menu.

   The Create New Snapshot dialog appears.

4. Enter the snapshot name and description, specify whether to enable capture memory, and click OK.

   A confirmation message appears.

5. Click Summary for the virtual machine.
6. Verify that an event confirms the operation.

   The snapshot appears in the Snapshots pane once the operation is complete.