Migrate Windows and Linux images from VirtualBox to VMware

[Nazgulled]

Hi,

I'm going to give another go at VMware Workstation when I install Windows 7 this weekend to see if it runs better and doesn't BSOD on me as it used to but instead of installing and configuring all my virtual machines (it's just two really, one Windows, another Linux, still...) all over again, I want to migrate theses images instead and save myself a lot of work.

The virtual images I currently have are in VDI format and I believe I need to convert them to VMDK. VirtualBox's has some tools to convert images from one format to

another, should I use it or does VMware has similar tools and I should

use those instead? If not, I'll have to use VirtualBox's tools right? Or is there something else? Either way, I'm looking for tips and correct parameters for whatever tool is best to do this conversion.

Is there any other tips you guys might have for me so everything runs smooth? Like, uninstall Guest Additions (known as VMware Tools in VMware products) before the conversion? Anything else, whatever you guys feel it's important for me to know... It would be very nice if I could perform these conversions and have everything up and running without having the need to reinstall and reconfigure everything.

[prakashraj]

Hi,

You can use VMware converter to convert VM from virtual box to Vmware workstation

Take backup of VM images before convert to Vmware.

Refer thread http://communities.vmware.com/thread/197423

http://www.liucougar.net/blog/archives/118

Prakash

[Scissor]

I'm going to give another go at VMware Workstation when I install Windows 7 this weekend to see if it runs better and doesn't BSOD on me as it used to

Windows 7 has been rock solid for me even way back during the betas. I think you'll be happy. Keep in mind that VMware Workstation 6.5.2 does not officially support Windows 7 as a Host. I think there are known issues with NAT networking. However, I've been running it on my Win7 host just fine (but then again I don't use NAT networking.)

but instead of installing and configuring all my virtual machines (it's just two really, one Windows, another Linux, still...) all over again, I want to migrate theses images instead and save myself a lot of work.

The virtual images I currently have are in VDI format and I believe I need to convert them to VMDK. VirtualBox's has some tools to convert images from one format to

another, should I use it or does VMware has similar tools and I should

use those instead? If not, I'll have to use VirtualBox's tools right? Or is there something else? Either way, I'm looking for tips and correct parameters for whatever tool is best to do this conversion.

I haven't used VirtualBox myself, but Google does show some results that may be relevant for converting from VDI to VMDK: http://www.google.com/search?q=vditovmdk . Or you can use VMware Converter. The free standalone Converter is newer then the version included with Workstation. http://www.vmware.com/download/converter

Is there any other tips you guys might have for me so everything runs smooth? Like, uninstall Guest Additions (known as VMware Tools in VMware products) before the conversion? Anything else, whatever you guys feel it's important for me to know... It would be very nice if I could perform these conversions and have everything up and running without having the need to reinstall and reconfigure everything.

Yes, definately uninstall any VirtualBox-specific drivers first if you can (if you can't, then uninstall them after converting). For your Windows Guest, after getting it into VMware, consider removing any ghosted items from Device Manager by following the instructions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539

[Nazgulled]

Thank you, I'll take a look at those links when I get the change to try and migrate...

About the NAT problem, no worries, I don't use it either

One thing thouhg, that blog post noted that we had to change the root device from /dev/sda1 to /dev/hda1...Well, 1) How do I do that? 2) It is possible not to do that? Because that will make the VMware image use an IDE device and as I know, VMware works best with SCSI devices...

[Nazgulled]

Just so you guys know...

VMware Converter cannot be used to convert from VirtualBox to VMware, at least it didn't work with me. But I found it useful to convert the current physical OS I'm using into a virtual image.

I also didn't use the process described in the blog post above to convert VirtualBox images to RAW and then to VMware compatible images. Instead, I exported both my virtual machines (Windows XP and Arch Linux) as appliances from the VirtualBox menu, it created one .ovf file and a matching .vmdk file for each VM. However, these VMDK's are not ready to be used by VMware as stated (with a solution) here: http://www.barbaropoli.com/2009/07/how-to-convert-virtual-disk-from.html. After this, I was able to create the VMX files in VMware Workstation and select the VMDK files, both machines booted just fine. Know it's just a matter to get all device drivers and VMware Tools/Guest Additions fixed (remove old ones, install new ones) for both machine.

I haven't tested any of this on Windows 7 yet, I'm having a huge problem with my laptop and now I can't boot any Windows installation discs after a BIOS update but I can boot the installed OS... I don't know what to do... But that's not a problem for these forums and not for this topic that's for sure.

[HughBorg707]

I am currently writing to you using Windows 7 running as a VM on Workstation 6.5.2 which is running on XP-SP3. I also have Ubuntu 9 linux available to run as a VM. This is all on a Dell D800 laptop with 2GB RAM.

Windows 7 has run flawlessly and usually I just suspend the VM before shutting down my laptop for the day.

The only problems I have had are with the mouse in Linux. I have found that I have to run full screen and then in exclusive mode from there. After that it runs great. (much better on AC power BTW. Running 2 OSs kills the battery REAL quick!

My only gripe is not being able to us WiFi gadgets in WIndows 7 because it sees the network connection as a LAN line not WiFi.

-regards

[Nazgulled]

Not trying to be harsh but I fail to see what that got to do with anything on this topic... I want to run VMware Workstation in Windows 7, not Windows 7 as Virtual Machine, but that's also beside the point.

[Nazgulled]

Nevermind guys...

Just tested VMware Workstation 6.5.2 on Windows 7 RTM and the same problem I had here still hapened and because of that, I cannot migrate back to VMware Workstation

I'll give it another go when VMware Workstation 7 comes out, maybe it will work then...

Thank you all.