Move vm from Workstation to ESXi

[witzph1]

I'm fairly new to VMware.

I'm running Window Server 2003 within a licensed copy of Workstation 6.0.5, and I want to move it to another box running ESXi. Is it possible? I've looked within VMware Infrastructure Client for a way to import an already created vm from another machine and can't find anything. I've also tried the VMware Converter wizard, but on the screen which asks for the destination it only lists "Other Virtual machine" in the drop-down box, and at the bottom of the screen it says "You must have a license to convert a remote machine to an ESX server or VirtualCenter virtual machine."

So is it possible to do it with the tools I have? Or do I have to buy something else?

Phil

[fastie81 · Accepted solution]

Hi Phil

This is very easy really.

With VM Converter you just select other on the source and then select the vm imange.

On the destenation you select VM Infrastructure VM and then it will ask you for the ip of you ESXi server with username and password.

This works great done about 4 already does take a longtime to convert.

Hope this helps.

Let me know then I will send you screen shots of the steps..

Chris

[wila]

Chris is right, it is very easy with the converter.

A couple of additional remarks might be in place.

1. The converter version that comes with Workstation 6.0.5 might be a little dated (been a while since I ran a 6.0.x version instead of a 6.5 one) so you might want to download the latest standalone VMware converter and see if that helps.

2. Another remark is that the virtual hardware of the machine that you are trying to migrate can be newer or contain ESX incompatible components so you might want to downgrade the virtual hardware of your VM before the migration. There's a menu option in Workstation to do this.

3. If your VM uses IDE disks as virtual disk then you will have to change those into SCSI disks as ESX doesn't support virtual IDE disks. IIRC then the converter can change this for you if your VM is a windows virtual machine.

---

Wil

[witzph1]

Choosing "other" as the source was the trick.

I guess what is confusing to a newby is the terminology used. Nowhere in the dialogs of Converter did it refer to "ESXi Server," but always "VirtualCenter Server" or "Infrastructure Virtual Machine." For instance, on the screen that I put in the IP of my ESXi server, it said "Specify the name or IP address of the VirtualCenter Server, or the host, where you want your converted virtual machine to be stored." For someone like me, I'm looking for the words ESXi or I think I'm choosing the wrong thing. I'm reluctant to make a mistake on a production server.

But I'm learning, and you helped me greatly. My production server has been up and running for over 24 hours and doing fine now.

Phil

[witzph1]

wila

Your comments are helpful appreciated.

Phil

[fastie81]

Hi Phil

I am glad to hear you got it sorted. I fully understand how it feel. I was there not to long ago.

It is hard sometimes to understand but with a bit of play you can learn so much. May be an Idea to get yourself a test box were you can play and brake as you please no need to worry about production server. I got ESXi installed in a VM and it is slow but it works, just so I can test a few things before I make changes to the live box.

Just keep on trying, you know where to get help. 🐵

Chris

[spahari]

Hello all,

I encountered problem while converting Virtual machine through the converter. My source VM is in VMware Workstation 7 and i want it to run on ESXi 4.1 .

I converted other Virtual machines successfully but cannot convert this one.

I have attached the screen shot along with it.

Help appriciated.

Thanks!

[continuum]

using Converter is not necesasary at all - use Converter if you get paud per hour

all you need is to upload the vmx-file and find out if the vmdk can be used by ESXi and if not - convert the vmdk with vdiskmanager or vmkfstools
if you tell us which type of vmdk you use we can give you the next step

[spahari]

Hello,

Thanks for your response.

My VM consists of following configuration:

Hard disk (SCSI) 40 GB

Hard disk 2 (SCSI) 50 GB (Preallocated)

Hard disk 3 (SCSI) 700 GB (Preallocated)

Memory: 2048 MB

Processor: 1

OS: Windows server 2003

At first i tried to convert through VMware converter standalone but got the following error (attached here)

Secondly i detach third Hard disk (700 GB) and converted the VM, it is converted successfully and later i tried to upload detached HDD but while uploading it says I/O error and could not complete transfering vdk (700 GB) file.

Please help me to migrate this VM from VMware workstation to ESXi .

Thanks!

[continuum]

read http://sanbarrow.com/vmdk-howtos.html#flattovmfs

there I explain how to use WS preallocated one piece vmdks with ESX
you only need to upload the vmx plus the 2 vmdk files - for each preallocated disk - then a small edit of the descriptor as explained should get you going

[spahari]

Hi,

I read your post but I couldn't edit .vmdk file.

I even mapped it to linux box and try to edit from there but as it is binary file , it is not readable and have no idea where to write ..

Help please!!

Thanks!

[continuum]

editing vmdks is no fun - make sure you understand what you are doing

DO NOT USE HEXEDITORS _ AS LONG AS I TRY TO HELP

please readhttp://sanbarrow.com/vmdk-howtos.html#editvmdk
carefully - and you should not have to edit large files in this case !

[spahari]

Thanks for your help.

Finally I found that my ESXi server doesn't support large file that is 790 GB. So I converted the virtual machine with other vmdk and manually added new disk and copied data from the original one.

Thanks!

[bulletprooffool]

Full process (2 options) explained here:

http://www.get-virtual.info/2011/01/28/importing-a-vm-from-vm-workstation-to-esx-esxi/