Vmware vCenter Converter Standalone clones wrong disk

[Belgarath20]

Hi All,

can somebody help me in solving the below issue...

I created a clone from a machine on ESXi with copying the files and changing the name... This works and I have a fully indepedently running clone...

I now try to move to a new ESXi server with vCenter Converter Standalone...

The Converter detectes the Clone, but if i start the Migration Job, it copies the original disk file, not the cloned one...

Any idea how to prevent this?

Best regards,

Stephan

[scott28tt]

Moderator: Thread moved to Converter Standalone

[dbalcaraz]

Hi,

Really weird...

So, you created a clone and obviously you have a full independent VM with the same specs as the original.

Why do you have to use vCCS to "move" it to another ESXi?

Anyway, verify that you're using the correct VM when using vCCS, never see that error and I made many P2V and V2V.

Another thing to check is the .vmx file of the clone and see which are the vmdk files that are using (maybe something wrong is there, who knows...)

Hope this helps.

[Belgarath20]

Hi,

yes, this is really weird...

I tried to unregister the "Template Machine"... Then the Standalone Converter is choosing "randomly" another VMs harddisk for cloning...

I don't know, what the Converter is doing there...

Cloning the harddisk with CLI tools and copying to Destination ESXi via Scp is working as expected... I guess scp'ing the original VMDK files might also work...

The reason for "moving" or cloning them to other ESXi is to have a "backup" before upgrading to the newest ESXi version... I don't have any time to setup all machines from scratch again, if upgrade fails...

Best regards...

[patanassov]

Hi

Copying files via scp is not the same thing as converting. There are subtle yet important differences. It is also not the same thing as cloning a VM or doing a VM backup. I also would have a hard time guessing what has gone wrong. My suggestion is to use the tools as intended. In unsupported scenarios you are basically on your own.

Regards,

Plamen

[Belgarath20]

Hi Plamen,

Hi All,

I like to migrate the machines from an old ESXi host to a new one...

But this failes, as the vCenter Standalone Converter chooses the wrong disks for the Virtual Machine to convert...

Any hint on how to fix this?

Is there any successor of the vCenter Converter as it is officially Unsupported by Vmware (https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/support/product-lifecycle-matrix.p... ​)?

Best regards

[Update: Typo corrected]

[scott28tt]

Sounds like the is some issue between the references in the VMX file and VMDK files for your VM.

Compare these files between your original VM and for the "clone" VM - I wonder if the files for the "clone" still reference the original VMDKs.