converting vmware workstation 6 into ESXi 3.5 using VMWare converter

[mdsuser]

Hi

I used vmware converter 3.0.3 build 89816 to convert one physical machine into Workstation 6.x and saved it onto an external USB

After the conversion, I got 2 files - 1 .vmdk and 1 .vmx

Now, I am trying to convert this VMX file onto my ESXi 3.5 server build 123629 using VMware Converter 3.0.3 build 89816.

It failed at 2% with "Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent"

Just wondering if any of you guys has experienced this before? Is there a limitation in the Vmware converter being not able to convert VMware Workstation 6.x to ESXi 3.5 ?

Thanks in advance!!

PS: I have a workaround for this issue.

1) Convert the VMX image to a Virtual Appliance(OVF) using the same VMWare converter

2) Edit the OVF file of the Virtual Appliance - replace vmx-06 to vmx-04.

4) Import the Virtual Appliance. Works without any issue

[RParker]

It failed at 2% with "Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent"

What do the logs show? After it fails it will tell you the location of those logs. I bet it's an authentication problem, or space issue. But normally there isn't a problem converting to/from Workstation.

[mdsuser]

Thank you RParker for your prompt reply

What exactly do I need to look in the logs? I could have pasted the logs in here, but the logs are huge.

In reponse to your suggestion of space issue, when I selected the datastore destination in VMware converter, there was plenty of space. And I would have gotten an error if there wasn't enough space on the datastore.

Now interestingly, I converted the same physical machine again to Workstation 5.x (instead of 6.x) and I was able to convert it to ESXi 3.5.

[mdsuser]

This issue has now been resolved.

There is NO limitations on the VMware Converter 3.0.3 build 89816 . You can use it to convert Workstation 5.x and 6.x to ESXi 3.5.

As suggested by RParker, it seemed that it was a space issue.

But this is really strange cos:

1) The physical machine I converted has 75GB HDD
2) After converting to Workstation 6 (VMX), I got a a .vmdk file of 16GB
3) I was trying to convert this to a datastore of 111GB in my ESXi 3.5 - there shouldn't be any space issue?
4) I extended the datastore from 111gb to 223gb, and ran the converstion again with success.

This doesn't make any sense...

[DannoXYZ]

The two log-files in VMWARE-TEMP\ are very helpful in determining the causes of a failed conversion. I usually start with the vmware-client.log first and go backwards from the end. Look for lines with "failed" in them. Then I look at the vmware-converter.log and start from the end and go backwards.