VMs of same name can co-exist in vCenter

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When creating a new VM of the same name with another VM in vCenter, you may encounter an error message stating "A virtual machine, template, or vApp with the same name exists in the selected location. Enter a new name."

Sometimes you may not encounter this message and create this VM successfully.

 

Environment

vCenter 7.0

vCenter 8.0

Cause

VMs are allowed to have same name across folders, but no duplicates in the same folder/parent container. This function is designed to manage VMs of different usage/type using directory structure.

Resolution

This is normal. Optimize your directory structure if this is unwanted.