OVF import problem with Workstation 9.0.1

[adotswan]

Using Workstation 9.0.1 I exported a Windows 7 64-bit VM as OVF. One of my colleagues successfully imported the .ovf file on his PC and ran the VM. However when a second colleague attempts the same on hist PC he gets the message:

The import failed because ovf-file did not pass OVF specification conformance or virtual hardware compliance checks

We all have exactly the same spec PCs (HP EliteBook 8470p with 12GB RAM and Intel Core i5-3320M quad processor) and are using Workstation 9.0.1 on Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit. Is there any way to find out exactly what "specification conformance" or "virtual hardware compliance checks" are causing the import failure?

[RDPetruska]

I can't answer that question, but I have to ask - if you are all using VMware Workstation, and the same version... why are you not simply copying the VM folder to the other computers and opening it on them, instead of exporting and importing to a different format?

[adotswan]

That's a good question. Our team is geographically separated and export creates a smaller .vmdk file making network distribution slightly easier. Having said that, I have just taken a clone of the same VM and used 7-Zip to create a split archive with maximum compression and the resulting size was almost the same as that from the export. That may be the approach we need to take in this case, although I would like to understand what is causing the import to fail on one PC.

[continuum]

7zip is so much better suited for this job than OVF/OVA

OVF is designed to fail  - the good disk compression could also be acchieved by a vmware-vdiskmanager conversion to VMDK-type streamoptimized.