Unable to Obtain Hardware Information For The Selected Machine

[polczym]

It's been a long, hard struggle to get this far, but now that I have successfully installed the ESXi Hypervisor on my powerful Dell T710 Server, I am not able to convert the thousands of hours worth of Virtual Machines that I've built using VMware Workstation 7/8. 

I've read countless articles/forums, and nothing has worked.:smileyconfused:

I've tried:

1. Using the latest version of VMware Convertor Standalone.
2. Using version 5.0.1 build 875114.
3. Accessing the source files on the local stand-along workstation.
4. Accessing the source files on the remote server.
5. Loading all versions of the standalone on the server (while booted into Windows Server 2008 R2).
6. Accessing the remote machine using loopback adapter IP address 127.0.0.1 as the host.
7. Running under just about every privileged user account.

I have about 10 hours into this problem and I don't know what to try next.

I simply cannot load ANY VMware Workstation VMs into the conversion tool.:smileyshocked:

Any thoughts?

[POCEH]

The latest Converter is 5.5 and I've recommend you to use it. (it's better to install in client/server mode)

If you want to convert WS images to ESX then you need to choose 'Vmware Workstation or other VMware virtual machine' as source, poining SMB share, and choose 'Vmware Infrastructure' and put your ESX name/ip and credentials. (you'll need to connect Converter UI to your Converter Server through name/ip instead connecting to 'local server' too).

HTH

[polczym]

Thanks for the quick response POCEH !

I did start out with the most recent version.  One of the solutions I read said to install version 5.0.1, Build 875114.

I did not however install any of them in Client/Server mode.  I will try that next.

I did exactly as you recommended, selecting 'VMware Workstation....' as the source.

I wasn't able to get passed this step, as the error message was displayed.

I did try connecting directly to the client seat running the convertor, however I used the loopback address, and that failed (Someone offered that as a solution).

I will try using the actual IP address of the client running the convertor.

So I have 2 things to try.

I'll be right back...

[polczym]

Okay, so I went and uninstalled 5.0.1 and reinstalled the latest version (Server/Client).

Keep in mind that I am running the Converter tool on a desktop that is NOT part of the VMware ESXi network.

I have two bootable environments - each is isolated.  One is Windows-based, using one set of disks, and the other is ESXi-based, using a separate set of drives.

I need to convert the VMware Workstation 7.0/8.0 VMs on the Windows side, to ESXi VMs.

Here is where your instructions are not clear.

You say to "connect the Converter UI to your Converter Server" - I don't have a 'Converter Server' - I have the Converter running on the desktop, so I 'connected' to the local desktop.

This got me a little further, but it keeps asking for a network share for the location of the source VM image to convert.

Because I don't want to break the current working copy (I still want to be able to access it using VMware Workstation when I boot into Windows), I made a COPY of this VM and located the copy on the desktop.  That way if anything breaks, I break a copy and not the current Windows version.

I cannot connect the local VM file as a network share.

Are you saying I should convert the current working version on the server? Remember - When I boot into the embedded Hypervisor, I use a different set of drives.  That is why I copied the image over to the workstation.

Another question I have is how do I run the conversion from an environment outside of the Hypervisor?

Remember I need to convert the VMs so they will load into the VMware environment.  The Converter assumes I'm already in the ESXi environment, which is why it is asking me for an IP address.

This seems way more complex than it needs to be.

[POCEH]

If I understand correctly you use double boot - one ESX server and other Windows where the VMs are places...?

If this is correct how you expect ESX hypervisor to see other disk's content or vice-verse Windows to see ESX which is not running...

Is this the case?

[polczym]

For now, I want the ability to boot into either Windows Server 2008 R2, or into ESXi.

That is how I am starting out, until I get everything converted over to ESXi, after which time I will default to ESXi.

In order to do this, I've had to install the ESXi software onto the internal SD card to boot from, and use some new, clean drives to hold the Datastore files.

I have my 'Windows' drives pulled out of the server when I boot into ESXi, so that I don't accidently delete/corrupt them.

These 'Windows' drives hold the original working versions of the VMware Workstation virtual machines.

So I don't 'break' the images, I've copied them onto a workstation drive (not part of the ESXi network), and am trying to convert the images outside of ESXi.

I am now thinking that I need to perform my conversion while I'm booted in ESXi. 

Do I have to launch the VMware vSphere Client from my Windows client desktop, and then have the conversion running on the client while I'm running ESXi on the server?

Then the Converter, which is running on the client (outside of the ESXi network) will be able to access the source VM and the destination ESXi server.

This is confusing to an ESXi 'newb' like me.

Perhaps some diagrams would help folks like me understand how this should work.

It isn't clear how the environment needs to be built out.

Maybe it's just me.

[POCEH]

There is no problem to run Converter outside or inside ESX (as part of VM) the only one condition for the Converter is to has access to ESX server. Of course if you point ESX server it must be running, and of cource you need an SMB access to your WS files meanwhile. I don't see any confusion in this scheme, isn't it?

[polczym]

1. I booted from ESXi.
2. I started VMware vSphere Client on a Windows 7 PC that has access to the ESXi server IP address.
3. I started the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone application on the Windows 7 PC.
4. I connected to another Windows 7 PC that contains the source VM that is to be converted.
5. I received the error (Again) when I attempted to hit the Next button.

Still no success.

What do you recommend ?

[POCEH]

Look at converter-worker.log to check the problem or upload log bundle.

As general start Converter UI 'as administrator' to avoid problem with permissions...

HTH

[ivivanov]

Can you try to switch Converter Worker service logging to 'verbose' (instructions how to do it can be found at VMware KB: Increasing the logging levels to verbose for vCenter Converter application components ), **restart the Converter Worker service**, try to open a Workstation VM and then provide the latest converter-worker log file for investigation. It could be found under %ALLUSERSPROFILE%/Application Data/VMware/VMware vCenter Converter Standalone/logs.

[polczym]

Here are the log files that get produced.

What a mess. :smileyconfused:

It looks like I have to download 7-Zip in order to unpack the gz files.

Why does VMware make this so complicated ?:smileyangry:

Here is the list of log files that appear in the compressed folder.

Which log file(s) do I open?

...

[POCEH]

Inside worker-source-diagnostics file look at latest converter-worker.log

HTH

[ivivanov]

There should be a plain text vmware-converter-worker-#.log file (# is for a number), which is not included in an archive. This should be the latest (active) worker log file. I cannot see such file in the screenshot you have provided.

[polczym · Accepted solution]

I have solved the problem (or at least discovered what would work).

1. You cannot simply copy the VM to another computer and convert it.  That is what I was trying to do.  The only VMware software that was loaded on the 'holding' computer was the VMware Standalone Converter.  Not enough apparently.

2. I had to install VMware Workstation 8 on the 'holding' computer.  Opening the vm in VMware Workstation 8 was a challenge in itself ! I had to hack the configuration file to get past a file permissions error.  That was frustrating.:smileyangry:

3. After I was finally able to Open the copied vm into Workstation 8, I closed it out, and then the Conversion went without a hitch (sort of).
  I'm guessing that the conversion needs to grab hardware information from the machine holding the vm AFTER it has been Opened in Workstation 8 !:smileyconfused:

The conversion took longer than I expected.  One vm took several hours.

I then learned that the management client only last for 60 days, and then I was limited to hardware version 8 or 9.

called 'free' offering.  It took WAY TOO MUCH effort to get this operational.  VMware needs to either improve the product or improve the documentation.  I lost a valuable week getting this going, and my peers, who didn't have the same setup as me think I'm a dunce for taking this long and encountering the issues I did.

Not impressed.

[polczym]

This Community editing software is broken.

It is removing sentence fragments and even after 'fixing'/editing the post, it still removes other text.

Wow.