Embodiments provision and customize virtual machines (VMs), such as desktop VMs, without rebooting the desktop VMs. In response to a request to provision the VMs, a computing device creates a clone VM from a parent VM template identified in the request. One or more customization that prompt rebooting of the clone VM are applied to the clone VM. The computing device instantiates a plurality of child VMs from the customized clone VM. A child VM configuration is applied to at least one of the instantiated child VMs without provoking a reboot of those child VMs.