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hbtadmin
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Orphaned virtual machine templates

I recently upgraded my farm from 3.02 to 3.5. The upgrade method I followed was to upgrade one ESX host, migrate the VMs off of an 3.02 on to the new 3.5, host and then take that machine down to upgrade, and so on. Everything seemed to go just fine until I went looking for my templates -- they're gone. Apparently, I overlooked them and I should have restored their status to a VM and migrated them with the rest of the VMs. Since I did nothing to the VMFS datastores, the vmdk files for my templates are still out there and I'm sure there has to be a way to reimport them on to one of my newly rebuild 3.5 boxes. Just as a side note, I ended up creating a new cluster for my new 3.5 boxes (easiest way to get HA working after the VI 2.5 upgrade.)

Any body have any ideas on how I might go about that? I've tried FTPing the virtual machine files to a Windows box running Vmware Converter, but it does not recognize the files -- it appears to only recognize machine files from Workstation.

-Brent

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ctfoster
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Copy them back up to your esx server or to shared storage. Use the VI client 'browse datastore" to open the directory. Highlight the template .vtmx file. Right mouse click and select "register".

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ctfoster
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Copy them back up to your esx server or to shared storage. Use the VI client 'browse datastore" to open the directory. Highlight the template .vtmx file. Right mouse click and select "register".

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hbtadmin
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Yep... that was it. But is was 'Add to Inventory' rather than 'register.' I had previously right-clicked on the vmdk file in hopes of doing something like that but I should have thought to look at the vtmx file. I should have known to look there because that is where the machine config is stored.

Thanks!

Brent

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ctfoster
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Thanks for the points - you're right, I couldn't remember the exact menu wording !

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azn2kew
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You can register your .vmx & .vtmx files from browsing the datastore and right click and choose "Add to Favorite". But if you want to register it via Service Console than you have to use vmware-cmd -s register /vmfs/volume/pathlocation/VMName.vmx

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!! Regards, Stefan Nguyen VMware vExpert 2009 iGeek Systems Inc. VMware vExpert, VCP 3 & 4, VSP, VTSP, CCA, CCEA, CCNA, MCSA, EMCSE, EMCISA
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