How to import VM to ESXi ?

[frist44]

I used the physical to VM converter and now have a VM sitting on my desktop. I would like to port this VM to a new install of ESXi ? Can I do that? I see the import wizard was looking .ovf and I don't have that.

Thanks!

[weinstein5]

There is a separate product called VMware Converter that will allow you convert a vm running on a desktop product to an ESX environment - it will also allow you to P2V directly to an ESX environment -

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer helpful or correct -

[frist44]

As mentioned above, I did use the VMWare converter to convert the VM, however, the machine I installed ESXi on was the machine where the VM used to reside, so I couldn't go straight to the ESXi server.

If you know how to get a VMDK over, let me know.

[abufa]

I think that when you use the vmware converter to convert a physical you can choose the type of the virtual machine destiny.

[SelvaMK · Accepted solution]

hi frist44,

if you are able to locate you vmdk, then you can open the VI of the ESXi, then click storage>datastore>browse datastore> in the menu, click Import files from computer, then point it to the vmdk file in your desktop.

Thanks,

Selva

[frist44]

hey Selva, that did it. Thanks!

[frist44]

OK, so I got it uploaded. But it doesn't seem to be easy to create a VM from the files. I can make a new one, which obviously won't use the existing files, or I can import an .ovf.

Any ideas?

[Greyone]

You can also use VMware converter to convert from desktop format to esx format - it performs the upload as part of the process.

[cpn]

Do a new vm and choose custom and when gets to Select a Disk, choose Use an existing virtual disk. Just go find the one that you uploaded.

[canderson]

When I first tried the same thing in ESX, i found that by right clicking the VMX file you imported from the datastore browser, and choosing Add to Inventory, it imports fine. This has worked in ESX, not sure about ESXi.

Charles.

[bgoering]

Another option might be the ovftool from vmware. This tool will create the ovf file for the virtual appliance import in VI Client.

If you have a workstation, player, or free server version on your desktop that you are running your vm from then it is likely not a properly formatted vmdk file for use under ESXi when imported throught the add files to datastore option. There are ways around that also but involve gaining console access to your ESXi server (not there by default); and then using vmkfstools to convert your imported vmdk file to the proper format.

Another thing to make sure of is that your disk(s) are SCSI and not IDE for your imported VM.

Regards, Bill

[krock112]

I'm using ESX 3.5 and am attempting to move all my VMware Server VM's to the ESX server. I have tried to upload the vmdk files into the datastore and that went succesfull, but I cannot add them to the inventory, that option is greyed out. Any thoughts?

[bgoering]

First you must make sure you are running SCSI disks in your VMware Server VMs. If you are not then look at for an example on how to do this. Note that it is a fairly complex procedure but it works. If you don't already have the "-flat" format disk you will have to convert your existing disk to that format.

Now download OVFTool from and use that to create the ovf package from your source virtual machine. If you are using VMware Server 2.0 you may be able to connect to it with the viclient and export the VM as a virtual appliance - I havn't actually tried that with VMware Server - I have always used OVFTool.

Lastly use the viclient import virtual appliance (File -> Virtual Appliance -> Import) to import the VM into your ESX server.

Good Luck, Bill

[canderson]

Did you upload the .VMX file also? If so, in the datastore browser, right click the .VMX file and you should have the option to Add to inventory. If you right click the VMDK file, it will be greyed out.

Cheers

Charles

[frist44]

I ended up using the Converter to change it into ESXi format.

Thanks for the heads up.

[batequeixo]

Despite this being an old thread, I think the following steps will be useful:

1. in Datastore1, add a folder for the VM you are willing to create
2. copy the .vmx and alll .vmdk files into that folder.
3. right-click the .vmx file and select 'add to inventory'
4. give the VM proper name, perhaps the same named used on step 1 above, for consistency.
5. the new VM will appear at the left-pane tree menu
6. select the VM and start it up.
7. You will be asked at the 'summary' tab where did this machine come from.
8. Say you copied it (default).
9. click ok.
10. done.

[Colworth]

Got some additional info / issues...

1. It seems it's not possible to import a VM into the inventory if it is a template. - You can copy the entire VM folder to another ESX host, right-click on the .vmtx file & select "Add to Inventory" and it will go through the motions, only to fail at the actual attempt to import it, saying that the operation is not supported... I have to convert the source VM from a template back to a VM first, then copy it over to the new ESX host, and then I could successfully add it to the inventory.