---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "VMware Builder"
---

# VMware Builder

The VMware builder is able to create VMware virtual machines for use
with any VMware product.

Packer actually comes with multiple builders able to create VMware
machines, depending on the strategy you want to use to build the image.
Packer supports the following VMware builders:

* [vmware-iso](/docs/builders/vmware-iso.html) - Starts from
  an ISO file, creates a brand new VMware VM, installs an OS,
  provisions software within the OS, then exports that machine to create
  an image. This is best for people who want to start from scratch.

* [vmware-vmx](/docs/builders/vmware-vmx.html) - This builder
  imports an existing VMware machine (from a VMX file), runs provisioners
  on top of that VM, and exports that machine to create an image.
  This is best if you have an existing VMware VM you want to use as the
  source. As an additional benefit, you can feed the artifact of this
  builder back into Packer to iterate on a machine.
