VMWare VCenter Converter Standalone Client - Problem

[donal7]

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section. I am looking to convert a Hyper-V server to VMWare.

Server1 - Physical server with Hyper-V server installed running MS Exchange
Destination - Server2 - Virtual Server running ESXi 5.0

Install VMWare VCenter Converter Standalone Client on Server1
On Hyper-V Server - stop MS Exchange services (Hyper-V server remains powered on)
Open VMWare VCenter Converter Standalone (run as admin)
Convert machine

Select source type: Hyper-V Server
Server: IP of Server1
Username: Domain admin credentials
Password:

Agent is deployed to Server1

The next screen is where I am running into problems - Virtual machines available for conversion on the Hyper-V source: (the Hyper-V Server is not listed here). When I click the Refresh button I receive the following error: "A WMI error occurred on the Hyper-V server" and am unable to proceed?

Can anyone suggest anything?

I read somewhere about possible bad sectors on the HDD and have ran checkdsk & rebooted but still having same issue.

[vmroyale]

Note: Discussion successfully moved from Update Manager to Converter

Hyper-V VMs need to be powered off to be converted. Do you have any powered off VMs on that Hyper-V host and those aren't showing up in the list?

[donal7]

Thanks for the reply.

If I power off the Hyper-V server and give the source IP as the IP address of the Hyper-V server will it show the Hyper-V server even though it is powered off?

[vmroyale]

No, the Hyper-V host will need to stay powered on, but any guests running on that Hyper-V host need to be powered off before you can run Converter against them. I'm thinking that the list of VMs might be empty, because none of the VMs on that Hyper-V host are powered off.

[donal7]

Thanks to all for the replies so far

I attempted the conversion again today. The problem I hit this time is it tells me the agent is already installed on the server and I am unable to continue. I bounced the server but again getting the same error relating to the agent already being installed.

Server in question is running Win2008R2 and I checked under installed programs and there is no mention of any vcenter agent?

Any ideas how I might proceed?

Thanks in advance.

[patanassov]

If you have installed converter server on the HyperV machine, programs and features will show "VMware vCenter Converter Standalone" which includes the agent. You may need to deinstall the whole package if the agent needs reinstall.
A few general notes:
  What you really need at the HyperV machine for conversions is the agent. Converter server and client can be installed somewhere else (they can be there, too, of course)
  The VM list in the client show both powered on and powered off VMs. Just the 'next' button is disabled for powered on.
It is not clear what is happening in this case. Can you please upload the agent's log? It can be found in %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone\logs.

Regards

Plamen

[peevs]

Hi,

If you have a problem converting your Exchange Server VM as hyperV source VM you can always try to convert it as Physical source. You have to power on the Exchange server VM on your hyperV, then in the converter UI select Powered-on machine and provide IP/host address of the Exchange server's OS and valid administrator credentials. Converter will deploy agent to the OS of the Exchange and will remove it automatically after the conversion completes.

Converter can be installed on any machine which has network access to the OS of the Exchange Server.

It this way you may not stop the exchange server and you might want to use "Synchronize changes" and "Stop services" options - converter can stop you exchange service automatically just before the sync phase and you'll get on the target all the source changes accumulated, while the clonning is going.

HTH,

Zaro