VMware Horizon Community
picsles
Contributor
Contributor

Probably an extremely newb question.

Hi there,

I have a windows 10 system image backup of my old computer AI took before it crashed.  It is in VHD format. I wanted to restore this recovery image so that the pc is the way it was before I did a fresh install.(I have many reasons for this.)

I went down the internet rabbit hole and essentially was guided to create a VM in which I was going to restore said image (Roughly 250gb.)

I downloaded vmware workstation and from what I can tell I ran into 2 issues. (1) It needs me to install windows 10 on it. (2) it wont accept a vhd file as an image. Seemed to strictly want an iso.

I went into the vmware site and got a trial for horizon. There was a document on the vmware site that essentially said I can load a vhd file using horizon.

This vhd file is on an external drive.

So... perhaps to simplify.

HOW DO I LOAD A VHD OF A WINDOWS 10 FULL SYSTEM BACKUP THAT IS 250GB IN SIZE INTO A VM?

Thank you in advance and I really apologize if this isnt the right place for this question.

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3 Replies
bluefirestorm
Champion
Champion

You could convert the VHD into the VMDK format that VMware Workstation recognises.

One such free tool to do the conversion is StarWind V2V converter https://www.starwindsoftware.com/converter

After you done the conversion to VMDK format, you can create a VM in VMware Workstation and choose the VMDK from the conversion as an existing disk.

There are some other ways but this method is probably the most straightforward.

picsles
Contributor
Contributor

Thank You. I already tried to download this software but I don't have a corporate email. I tried emailing them a few days ago but haven't received a response.

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NetxRunner
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You should contact their support department support@starwind.com. They usually answer pretty quick. Alternatively, just post your request on the community forum https://www.starwindsoftware.com/forums

Worked for me multiple times.

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