Converter fails with error: unable to read the source VM's registry

[YELLOWDOG2]

Hello,

I have a VM machine runing on VMWARE WORKSTATION V5.0

I'd like to transfer this VM form VMWARE WORKSTATION to a VMWARE Infrastructure server.

I tried to do this with converter installed on the VM but the result is that once created the machine starts normally in the infrastructure client but I can't open any session from that VM.

Then I tried from an other physical machine equipped with converter to backup or disk image the stand alone virtual machine, but the result is the following message: unable to read the source VM's registry

What am I doing wrong and what is the solution to copy this VM to my infrastructure server ????

Just copy files from VMWARE WORKSTATION ????

[IamTHEvilONE · Accepted solution]

You may be able to copy the the VMDK files from the Workstation source to ESX, and then run VMKFSTOOLS to complete the import process. (see below)

The other suggestion is to install Converter on the system where workstation is installed, and you should be able to convert using the VMX file as the source.

Just make sure that the virtual machine is powered off before doing either procedure.

>http://kb.vmware.com/kb/900

Importing GSX Server and Workstation Virtual Disks to ESX Server

Follow these steps to convert virtual disks created with GSX Server and Workstation to virtual disks that can be used with ESX Server.

Note: You can migrate only a virtual machine created with virtual SCSI disks to an ESX Server system. ESX Server will not recognize the virtual IDE disks. If you have P2V Assistant, you can use this tool to convert the virtual machine from IDE to SCSI. Also see Converting a GSX Server Virtual IDE Disk to a Virtual SCSI Disk (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1881).

1. Make sure the .vmdk file or files are accessible from the service console.

2. At the command line, enter:

vmkfstools -i is the name of the VMFS partition.

For example:

vmkfstools -i /mnt/bigserver/putfileshere/mydisk.vmdk vmhba0:0:0:1:mydisk.dsk

Note on preallocated disks: If the virtual disk that you are importing is a preallocated disk, you'll have two .vmdk files that look something like this:

-rw-rr 1 root root 10737418240 Dec 20 23:14 win2k3-gsx-flat.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root root 351 Dec 20 21:13 win2k3-gsx.vmdk

Run vmkfstools on the smaller file -- the one that does not include "flat" in its file name. In the example above, the correct file to choose is win2k3-gsx.vmdk.

You can find additional information on using the vmkfstools utility in the ESX Server documentation.

[YELLOWDOG2]

Thanks, I choose to install the converter on the VMWARE WORKSTATION and it worked perfectly...:)