How to configure VMs to automatically start when the host is on

Question

I'm using VMware esxi 5.1.

I have several virtual machines and need to power on them automatically when the host machine is powered on. I tried to go to the configuration tab from vSphere client and checked "allow virtual machines to start and stop automatically with the system", I also set the default startup delay and the order of the virtual machines to turn on, but this did not work. If I restart the host, nothing happens and I need to manually start the VMs. Strange thing is that in the Automatic Startup order all of my VMs have "Startup" "disabled".

I couldn't do anything with this, may be I need to somehow enable it?

How can vSphere be configured such that machines start automatically upon host start-up?

Answer 1

You are halfway there. On your screenshot all of your PCs are shown as "Manual Startup". You need to click the Properties... link at the upper right of this Configuration tab. From there you can configure your machines by moving them up in Startup List to the Automatic Startup section. This also lets you set the boot order for your machines. If you don't care about order you can move them in to the Any Order section.