Removing and deleting a VM are two simple but different procedures that lead to different results. Removing a VM from the inventory doesn't delete the VM (the files still remain in the same location on storage), but removes its view from the inventory and it won't be listed any more. Removing a VM from the inventory can be useful if you want to remove a no longer used VM but you want to keep the data.

In order to remove a VM, the VM must be powered off. The procedure is quite simple:

1. Right-click the VM to remove and select the Remove from Inventory option
2. Click Yes to confirm the removal

When you delete a VM, instead, all VM files are removed from the datastore with no way to recover them if the deletion is done by mistake. How do we recover a VM that has been deleted accidentally? Backup.

The deletion procedure is similar to what we have done previously:

1. Right-click the powered-off (option will be grayed out if the VM is still running) VM to delete and select the Delete from Disk option
2. Click Yes to confirm the deletion