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phenrichs
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Virtual Machine Marked (invalid) in inventory list

I received a vm that was allegedly created by us and sent to another office and now they have copied the entire vm directory to a USB drive and sent it back to us for maintenance. I copied the files to my vmfs and when I browse to it through virtual center and right click and 'add to inventory' it shows up in the list as (invalid). I have never seen this before and I am wondering if it is a version issue. I am certain that we upgraded from 3.0.2 to 3.5 since this vm was created. I thought I need to upgrade the vm but can's seem to find an option for that.

Am I even close?

I was told that it was created by us on our current system but I am almost certain that it had to be created on 3.0.2 prior to the 3.5 upgrade.

Please help.

Thanks

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RParker
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Assuming you have ESX with the console you can run vmkfstools on that vmdk. vmkfstools -i vm.vmdk. That will import the VM, if it works, it will start the import and show a % progress.

Hopefully that will help.

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7 Replies
RParker
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Assuming you have ESX with the console you can run vmkfstools on that vmdk. vmkfstools -i vm.vmdk. That will import the VM, if it works, it will start the import and show a % progress.

Hopefully that will help.

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Chamon
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When you right click the VM is there a Upgrade Virtual hardware option?

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Troy_Clavell
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Here's a good thread worth digging through. There are some good suggestions and one may work for you.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/177263

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phenrichs
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I think this is what I was looking for but let me make sure I have this correct,

vmkfstools -i "full path to .vmdk file or just the vm.vmdk file name?"

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kjb007
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A vm created in 3.0.2 would not show up as invalid in 3.5 The virtual hardware is the same. The tools will need to be upgraded, but that's within the OS itself. If it shows up as invalid, then it may be a VMware Server or Workstation vm, or your vm may have been imported into server. Look at the vmware.logm, and it should give you some clues, if there is a vmware.log. Otherwise, look at the hardware version within the vmx file, and that should point you to which virtualization platform the vm was running on.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB
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Karunakar
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If this machine was initially created in ESX server, then you can try

vmkfstool -i <full path to the vmkd>

If this was created in a workstation or a vmware server with compatibility mode enabled, then they would also work with the above procedure.

If not, you need to use VMware converter to convert the vm files to ESx server.

-Karunakar

alfiek
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I was having the same problem a few weeks ago - if you remove the host from VC and re-add it that will remove the invalid. However it will show up as unknown if you log directly onto the host. To remove that you need to log onto the host and goto

/etc/vmware/hostd/ edit the vmInventory.xml file and remove the missing vm name

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