A system, and computer program product for preprovisioning using a mutated template. A subset of templates is selected from a set of templates that can be provisioned to a data processing system, a template in the set of templates including data to create a virtual machine on the data processing system. The mutated template is constructed using the subset of templates. A manifest is constructed such that a template in the subset of templates can be reconstructed from the mutated template using the manifest. Instead of the subset of templates, the mutated template is preprovisioned to the data processing system.