Not sure if I understood your point 2) but here are 2 scripts that should do what I think you want to do.

Export the VMs and the folderstructure.

New-VIProperty -Name 'BlueFolderPath' -ObjectType 'VirtualMachine' -Value {
    param($vm)

    function Get-ParentName{
        param($object)

        if($object.Folder){
            $blue = Get-ParentName $object.Folder
            $name = $object.Folder.Name
        }
        elseif($object.Parent -and $object.Parent.GetType().Name -like "Folder*"){
            $blue = Get-ParentName $object.Parent
            $name = $object.Parent.Name
        }
        elseif($object.ParentFolder){
            $blue = Get-ParentName $object.ParentFolder
            $name = $object.ParentFolder.Name
        }
        if("vm","Datacenters" -notcontains $name){
            $blue + "/" + $name
        }
        else{
            $blue
        }
    }

    (Get-ParentName $vm).Remove(0,1)
} -Force | Out-Null 
$dcName = "MyDC"

Get-VM -Location (Get-Datacenter -Name $dcName) | 
Select Name,BlueFolderPath |
Export-Csv "C:\vm-folder.csv" -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture 

The script uses a New-VIProperty to fetch the blue folderpath for a VM.

Import the folder structure and move existing VMs.

$newDatacenter = "MyNewDC" 
$newFolder = "Folder1" 

$startFolder = New-Folder -Name $newFolder -Location (Get-Folder -Name vm -Location (Get-Datacenter -Name $newDatacenter))

Import-Csv "C:\vm-folder.csv" -UseCulture | %{
    $location = $startFolder
    $_.BlueFolderPath.TrimStart('/').Split('/') | %{
        $tgtFolder = Get-Folder -Name $_ -Location $location -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        if(!$tgtFolder){
            $location = New-Folder -Name $_ -Location $location
        }
        else{
            $location = $tgtFolder
        }
    }
    
    $vm = Get-VM -Name $_.Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if($vm){
        Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $location -Confirm:$false 
    }
}

The complete folder structure that was exported will now be imported in datacenter MyNewDC under the folder Folder1.

And what my good friend Luc forgot to say is that there is a pre-built advanced function for this in the PowerCLI Book he and others wrote.... PowerCLIBook.Com

That is correct, these scripts are VM-based.

To export/import also your empty folders, I suggest you use the Export-Folders and Import-Folders functions that come with the book module.

Did that original line produce error messages ?

And how did the path look when it gave errors ?

Hi for all!

This post is Old! Any news to migrate folder and structure in to vcenters?

I need export folders and vms in  vcenter 5.1 to vcenter 5.5

Any software or script do make this??

Hi LucD,

This script works a treat, I'm just wondering if it's possible to import my folder structure to the root of the DC rather than a temp folder (moving them manually won't exactly be difficult, but just wondering if it's possible).

How can I also script import of Yellow folders? Not that I have many of them, would be easy enough to remake them manually.

If you change the line that sets up the start folder like this, it should import in the root folder.

Hi Luc,

That almost worked, it imported to the root folder but to the root folder of the VC... Not under the datacenter that has been configured. Any advice?

Not sure I get the question, when you import to the folder Datacenters, that should create the folders in the root of the vCenter.

Perhaps you can add some screenshots to indicate what you mean ?

As you saw from the other thread you replied to me on, Mark's script was a little more comprehensive for the task I'm doing

However, for the sake of anyone else finding this thread... This is how I want it to look after the folders are migrated:

However this is how it looked after I ran your modified script with  $startFolder = Get-Folder -Name Datacenters

Note: The script imported all sub-folders correctly, I created the above screenshot manually as I deleted the folders after the script failed to create the above folder structure.