Templates are created from regular Guests, executing on them a "convert" operation.
A template is special kind of Guest. After converting a Guest into a Template, the administrator will be able to generate new clone Guests based on the template. With flexVDI, clone creation is instant. This operation is the base of Volatile Desktops. A clone is a machine that begins with the disk of the base template, without duplicating the content of such disk, with the consequent disk space savings.
The task that can be executed on a template are:
- Clone
- Copy
- Convert (into a Guest).
Using Templates provide the following benefits when you manage virtual machines:
- Templates save time and prevent errors when configuring settings while creating virtual machines
- They can be used as long term security copies of the virtual machines
- They ensure that deployed virtual machines are correctly created and installed and that they are identical, achieving consistency among user virtual machines.
- They ensure that virtual machines are correctly created and installed. For example they can be used by big companies to the achieve consistency among virtual machines
- A template can not be modified. In order to do it, it must be converted back into a Guest
In order to create a Template, open the menu from the Guest, and select "Convert".
The unassigned Guest icon will go from 
to 
The This means that the Guest has just been converted into a Template.