VMDK import on ESXi

[Morkeus]

My apologies if this has been asked before.

I have just completed a full image of one of my desktop PC

using WinImage that creates a plain VMDK file. I can read, open and do whatever

I want with that image.

The thing is when I want to import this image on a ESXi (I

had also tried on VMserver/Workstantion) I can’t since the .vmx file is missing

(it was never generated by Winimage and I don’t know how to generate it).

Any ideas of how can I import this vmdk file? Vmware converter

does not support the conversion of this file to, for example, ovf since the .vmx is not there.

Thanks

Cheers.

[RDPetruska · Accepted solution]

Thread moved to VI:ESXi forum.

Just create a new virtual machine, and when the wizard gets to the step for hard drive(s), just say "use existing" instead of "create new", and point to the vmdk file you have.

[Morkeus]

Thanks!. it worked.

Cheers

[pbhugra]

I'm also running into same problem, but unfortunately not able to use the solution suggested. When I try to point to the disk, it takes me to Datastore, where I can go to the data store and the respective folder as well. But it does not show me any file available there. All though the file with extention .vmdk is there but it does not show me the file to choose hence I'm not able to select the relevant file and use the earlier created image. plz suggest.

[alexhbs]

BUMP!

Hi, I'm having the exact same problem as pbhugra, did anyone come up with a solution?

Thanks!

-- Alex

[sdamron]

Has this been answered off the board or is no one interested in giving an answer? I am having the same issue...that makes 3 of us, isn't that a quarum?

[IndyESXi]

Guys;

If you have a working VM, in say Workstation, download and install the VMware Converter onto your workstation/server. Then start the Converter on the workstation and work through the steps to migrate to the ESXi server. This is not a quick solution, but it is reliable and you don't have to babysit the process. This process also allows you to change the size of the drives you are migrating, as well as the name of the virtual system. NOTE: this does not change the name within the VM.

It installs the new VM right into the ESXi management, and upon completion, is ready to run. Just remember to have it (the name of the server) turned off in all other locations on your network, so as not to cause any other problems.

[sdamron]

Grabbed the beta converter, loaded it up and try to grab the .vmdk to convert it. Error Message - "The operation is not supported on the object". I can boot the disk image right up in VirtualBox, but no amount of conversion attempts, or uploading to the ESXi server will make it available to be used as a virtual disk for a new VM.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

If you're just copying a VMDK file to ESXi then it's not in a format that ESXi can use. ESX(i) VMDK files consist of a filename.vmdk and filename-flat.vmdk pair. filename.vmdk is the decriptor file (it's plain text and you'll be able to view the contents with any text editor) and flat.vmdk contains the actual virtual HD data. To convert from vmdk to vmdk/flat.vmdk you would need to use vmkfstools.

[nick_couchman]

...or the freely available VMware Converter, if you're copying from a full Virtual Machine.

[sdamron]

Thanks for the help there bud. Is this a command like tool that is painful to use, or is it a straight forward tool, command line or not?

[IndyESXi]

Dave,

I understand what you wrote here, but won't the VMware Converter also work? If not, I have been doing quite a few migrations that are not supposed to be happening...

[sdamron]

Nope. If I had the actual machine I believe this would be much less painful! I have a single .VMDK file. Like I said before, I actually tried the converter and it did not work. The .VMDK file DOES work in VirtualBox. I will try the suggestion above for using vmkfstools

[Dave_Mishchenko]

If you have a vmx/vmdk combo, then Converter is the way to go. Especially if the source vmdk is using an IDE controller. But if you just have a VMDK then you need to use vmkfstools and then if necessary correct the VM later with Converter if the source VMDK was IDE.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

It's fairly painless to use. Do you have SSH / console access? If so you can run vmkfstools -i /source_path/source.vmdk /destination_path/destination.vmdk. vmkfstools.pl is also part of the RCLI if you don't have console / SSH access. Do you know if the source vmdk was using an IDE drive or SCSI?

[IndyESXi]

Maybe it is the process that i went through. I did my P2V onto my Vista workstation. Fired up my VM Workstation 6.5,brought up the VM and then saved it. Shut the VM down. Then I used the converter to migrate it from the Vista workstation to the ESXi server. Went right in, and fired right up. The physical server was all IDE, and the new ESXi host was an HP DL 380 G4. VMKFSTOOLS is probably quicker and smoother, but I know this works, and the tools are new to me. Something else to learn now...:)

[nick_couchman]

VMware Converter is definitely a good tool to use, especially if your physical storage controller differs from the virtual storage controller, or if you're moving from a hosted product with IDE virtual disks to one of the ESX products with SCSI virtual disks. However, as already stated, if you don't have the VMX file to go with the VMDK file, Converter doesn't work very well.

[sdamron]

I do have SSH access and console access. What is RCLI? Also, I am a kinda n00b, so how do you convert the IDE to SCSI? I have had pains with that as well, but assumed there was no way to get around it.

Thanks for all you guys chiming in, I really appreciate it.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

The RCLI is the remote command line interface and is a Windows / Linux install or Linux appliance. vmkfstools will take care of converting the vmdk to an ESXi format, but once you have the VM setup you'll want to start Converter and then Configure the VM. This will take care of injecting the necessary drivers into the OS so that it can boot from a SCSI disk. Otherwise, it would expect an IDE drive and fail to boot.