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In my case, I will never put these VM's into a production environment. &nbsp;This is strictly a testing lab for training.
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In my case, I will never put these VM's into a production environment.  This is strictly a testing lab for training.

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I'm not sure what else I can add... you know my opinion.
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I'm not sure what else I can add... you know my opinion.

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Fair enough, I was just hoping to save some time is all, thanks for commenting.
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Fair enough, I was just hoping to save some time is all, thanks for commenting.

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I am using VMware Workstation 7 for Lab Training and Testing and I plan on using some base client installs for creating clones (fully patched, etc.). &nbsp;I'll be using XP/Vista/7 for clients in different 2003/2008 Domains. &nbsp;I have never had to use &quot;Sysprep&quot; in the past and it seems like a waste of time for my specific purpose. &nbsp;I can rename the workstations before I join them to my domains so my questions is simple:<br />
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If VMware Workstation already creates a new MAC Address and the machines are cloned from a fresh &quot;Workgroup&quot; install then should I even bother with &quot;Sysprep&quot; on the machines before I clone them for testing?<br />

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I am using VMware Workstation 7 for Lab Training and Testing and I plan on using some base client installs for creating clones (fully patched, etc.).  I'll be using XP/Vista/7 for clients in different 2003/2008 Domains.  I have never had to use "Sysprep" in the past and it seems like a waste of time for my specific purpose.  I can rename the workstations before I join them to my domains so my questions is simple:

If VMware Workstation already creates a new MAC Address and the machines are cloned from a fresh "Workgroup" install then should I even bother with "Sysprep" on the machines before I clone them for testing?


VMware Workstation - Why Sysprep?

The Windows operating systems have distinct methodologies for designing and implementing networks, and have specific systems to accomplish various networking processes, such as Exchange for email, Sharepoint for shared files and programs, and IIS for delivery of web pages. Microsoft also produces server technologies for networked database use, security and virtualization.

Windows Networking

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.