VMware Cloud Community
rulmer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

How do I move a VM from Workstation v9.x to ESXi v5.1?

Hello all.

I am having problems moving a VM from Workstation v9.x to ESXi v5.1.

I have tried numerous ways to accomplish this and run into the same apparent issue every way I go.

If I 'move' the VM from within Workstation (either by Manage>Move or by drag and drop), I get an error that says, "Upload failed: The operation is not supported on the object."

I have tried to export the VM to an OVF template and deploy that into ESXi. This fails with the message, "Failed to deploy OVF package: The operation is not supported on the object."

Basically, this is the same message.

Could this be an issue with the virtual hardware version of the VM? I have tried it with a VM with v6.5 - v7 hardware as well as one with v8.

Are there Virtual Hardware devices that Workstation allows but ESXi does not? Where can I find a list of the supported / unsupported virtual hardware?

Is there any chance that something didn't upgade correctly when I updated from ESXi v4.x to v5.0 and / or from v5.0 to v5.1?

Is it possible that the datastore format is the wrong format? The datastores are currently have a primary VMFS partition. The file system is listed as VMFS 5.54. could that be a problem?

I would appreciate any and all assistance in getting me past this stumbling block.

If you need any more details, I'll be happy to provide them. I just don't konw what I don't know.

Regards,

Bob Ulmer

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
memaad
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Hi,

Use VMwar Standalone convertor for converting virtual machine from Workstation to ESXI host 5.1

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/converter_pubs.html

Regards

Mohammed

Mohammed | Mark it as helpful or correct if my suggestion is useful.

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
8 Replies
memaad
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Hi,

Use VMwar Standalone convertor for converting virtual machine from Workstation to ESXI host 5.1

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/converter_pubs.html

Regards

Mohammed

Mohammed | Mark it as helpful or correct if my suggestion is useful.
Reply
0 Kudos
memaad
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Hi,

Here is link with screen shot

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/vmware-converter.html

Regards

Mohammed

Mohammed | Mark it as helpful or correct if my suggestion is useful.
rulmer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Is VMWare Converter the ONLY option?

What about OVF export? Shouldn't I be able to export the Workstation file to an OVF format then import or deploy that OVF file in ESXi?

Every time I have tried that, it fails as well.

Are there any references for the OVF format?

Thank you again.

Regards,

Bob Ulmer

Reply
0 Kudos
aravinds3107
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Did you tried the upload option form workstation VM-> Mange -> Upload

OVF option also work fine

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful |Blog: http://aravindsivaraman.com/ | Twitter : ss_aravind
Reply
0 Kudos
rulmer
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Thank you for the fast reply!

Yes, I tried the Manage > Upload path and it always fails with a non-descript error that says, "Upload failed: The operation is not supported on the object." I have no idea what that means and there is no error code to search for.

I have tried to export to an OVF format, but again, the deploy fails with a similar message, "Failed to deploy OVF package: The operation is not supported on the object."

Where can I get more information on the OFV export and deployment?

I will be receiving some VMs in an OVF format in the near future and I want to be prepared to use them.

Thanks again.

Reply
0 Kudos
aravinds3107
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

Take a look here for some OVF documents

http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/ovf/

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful |Blog: http://aravindsivaraman.com/ | Twitter : ss_aravind
Reply
0 Kudos
continuum
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

the most reliable way is to convert the vmdk to ESXi-compatible type with vmware-vdiskmanager.
Then upload the vmx and the vmdk via Winscp.

Converter and OVF are unreliable in my experience


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

Reply
0 Kudos
vinabyte
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Should go to Edit virtual machine settings

=> Network Adapter => Select NAT: Used to share the host's IP address

=> Display: Select Specify monitor settings: Select Number of monitors = 1, Maximum resolution of any one monitor: 1920 * 1080

Reply
0 Kudos