i want to make a testing laptop, every time i reboot i want it to reinstall ubuntu (reset, erase all data and start with only default programs) like in this video by Linus tech tips (keep in mind i know they are using windows)
but i also want to do this on Vmware ESXI.
so basically i want the os to go back to a snapshot every time i reboot so i can have a fresh start each time (like testing new ideas etc)
Gonna be using on ESXI 6.7 U3 and a Thinkpad X313e
OS: Ubuntu 16.04 18.04 and 19.10 are the OSes ill be using
11 Answer
You don't have to erase anything. Instead you can select any snapshot from the list of saved snapshots in VMware and boot Ubuntu from the selected snapshot. You can also use multiple snapshots for testing purposes. The newer snapshots do not change any data that was saved in previous snapshots.
Instructions for saving a snapshot from VMware website:
Click Virtual Machines in the VMware Host Client inventory.
Right-click a virtual machine from the list, select Snapshots, and select Take snapshot from the pop-up menu.
Enter a name for the snapshot.
(Optional) Type a description for the snapshot.
(Optional) Select the Snapshot the virtual machine's memory checkbox to capture the memory of the virtual machine.
(Optional) Deselect Snapshot the virtual machine's memory and select Quiesce guest file system (needs VMware Tools installed) checkbox to pause running processes on the guest operating system so that file system contents are in a known consistent state when you take the snapshot.
Quiesce the virtual machine files only when the virtual machine is powered on and you do not want to capture the virtual machine's memory.
Click OK.
