Hi all,
I am trying to move some VMs from an ESXi 3.5 server to our new ESXi 5.1. However vCenter Converter (latest version) fails, with the usual "File already has an encoding "UTF-8" error. Tried to edit the old .vmx file, removed encoding entry. Still no luck. VMware documentation mentions that the issue should be fixed in the latest Converter, and that it occurs when trying to power on the converted VM. This is not the case for me, as convertion does not complete at all. The error appears inside Converter, when starting the conversion.
why do you move the VM with Converter ? - cant you just move the directory ?
anyway - post the vmx-file so that we can reproduce the problem
also post the small vmdk files - they also can have bad/strange encoding entries
since you are using converter 5.1, maybe try an older version like 4.3
you could try using the OVF tool in 3.5 to create an OVF file and import that into the ESXi5.
I have noticed that Converter adds two encoding lines in the newly created .vmx.
.encoding=UTF-8
.encoding=windows-1253
whereas, as I said, I have manually edited the original .vmx and removed all encoding occurences. So, it is my understanding that this may only considered a bug.
Can you try and remove only one of the encoding lines, the one that reads .encoding=windows-1253, so that all you are left with is .encoding=UTF-8
This cannot solve the issue. Since conversion never took place, even removing the line from the new vmx has no effect, since on next attempt Converter creates a new VM!!!!! Very poor consideration, in my opinion.
why do you move the VM with Converter ? - cant you just move the directory ?
anyway - post the vmx-file so that we can reproduce the problem
also post the small vmdk files - they also can have bad/strange encoding entries
I did as you suggested. Copied the entire VM. Thank you for your time.