VMWare vCenter 6.5 autostart setup

Autostart on vCenter 6.5 seems to be markedly different from the setup on VMWare 5.5 using the VMWare client application and after spending many days pulling my hair out over this I decided to write up how this is configured which will hopefully help some other poor soul out there in the same nightmare.

First you want to select the current host. This will bring up in the right hand panel and overview of the host operating environment. Select VM Host

Next in the left panel, select "Manage". The right panel will change and a system tab should be highlighted. If not select the "System" tab and then the second line down "Autostart". This is where Autostart is enabled globally. Click on this item and check that "Enabled" is set to "yes". If not then select "Edit Settings". Check that autostart is enabled

To enable Autostart globally ensure that "Enabled" is set to "Yes" then hit that "Save" button. Edit the autostart configuration

Next we need to set which VMs will automatically start. On the left hand panel, select the "Virtual Machines" line item and you should see in the right panel a list of your virtual machines. Select the Guest VM list

Right click on a virtual machine you would like to autostart and mouse down to the "autostart" line item. Right click desired VM

Select "Increase priority" to set this VM to autostart. Set the boot priority

To check the Autostart order and delay, highlight the list of virtual machines, then right click on the column header and choose "Select columns" and check the "Autostart order" and "Start Delay" settings.