Configuring a VMWare guest to always start with a specific time

To configure a VMWare guest to always start from a specific time, first create the guest as usual.

Then shutdown the guest and remove it from the inventory for VMWare server, or shutdown VMWare workstation.

Next browse to the location of the guest on the file system and edit the ".vmx" config file to contain the following:

rtc.startTime = "1305119032"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"
time.synchronize.continue = "FALSE"
time.synchronize.restore = "FALSE"
time.synchronize.resume.disk = "FALSE"
time.synchronize.shrink = "FALSE"
time.synchronize.tools.startup = "FALSE"

The "rtc.startTime" is in UTC (seconds since epoch).

This clock setting is best used with a non-persistent disk, to avoid applications getting confused with dates in the future, when the guest is rebooted.

Last updated: 26/05/2011