Converting a linux physical machine to virtual to run in VMWare player -- how do you get the ESXI servier?

[bradtem]

My hope is to virtualize an old linux machine so I can later run it inside VMware player on a more modern one.   So I run the converter on a windows box, but the only option is to output the VM to an esxi server.   Since I only play to run occasional virtualized machines on a desktop, like I used to do with Virtualbox, the workstation in question does not run an esxi server.    So how do I complete this conversion?    Do I have to make the workstation boot in esxi?   Or another computer perhaps?

[scott28tt]

Converter supports Linux conversions to a “managed” destination such as ESXi, not to a “hosted” destination such as Workstation or Fusion.

Conversion Limitations for Powered On Machines

You could build a VM in Workstation Player to run ESXi, then use that as the conversion target. Once your Linux system is converted into your virtual ESXi system, you could then extract it to OVF format and import it into Player.

[bradtem]

Yes, I know it only converts to ESXI.    So, as I was asking in the subject line, what are the steps to build and ESXI server in a VM to pull this off?

[scott28tt]

Ok, well I googled that for you: Learn How to Build a VMware Home Lab in a Complete Walkthrough

Obviously you’ll only need a single ESXi host...

Oh, and I was answering the numerous questions in the body of your initial post with my previous reply.

[bradtem]

Very drole.  Googled it for me.   Yes, I can find such pages on my own.  What I had hoped for advice on was what didn't show up in an obvious search, namely a way to do it without this level of complexity.    At first it seemed as though the converter offered a nice opportunity to make it easy to virtualize old machines and store them away on new machines, and perhaps it is that for Windows, but it's not quite there, or so it seems, for linux.     For decades, as I noticed each new machine I got being so much faster and larger in space than the old, I felt it should be a standard part of any upgrade to first encapsulate the old machine, if requested, as a virtual one, and then do the upgrade, with no fear of losing the ability to do things.   We're still not there.

[scott28tt]

That is the process to follow for the "hosted" products such as Workstation and Fusion.