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@pgaltieri wrote:

I upgraded to WP 17.5 which ended up causing major headaches when starting VMs.  During this process I upgraded 2 Windows 11 VMs this required re-encryption.  When going back to 17.0.2 these Windows 11 VMs no longer boot, I get a message that says the .vmx file was created by a VMware product incompatible with this version of Vmware Workstation and cannot be used.

What do I need to do to be able to use this VM with version 17.0.2 of WP?

Paolo

 

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You were not required to upgrade the encryption. Workstation 17.5 gives you the option to decline the upgrade. It would have worked fine with the old encryption.

What I believe  @RDPetruska means is that you'll have to remove the encryption in 17.5 Then the VM can be transported back to 17.0 (as long as the virtual hardware version is version 20 or lower).   I don't believe there's a way in Workstation 17.5 to change the encryption type back to the older one that's compatible with Workstation 17.0.  Once back on 17.0, you can re-encrypt - it'll have the older encryption. Then when moving it back to 17.5, decline the re-encryption. (and any virtual hardware upgrade) if you ever want to move the VM back to a prior version of Workstation. 

Note that you will need to remove any TPM device before you can remove encryption. It can be added back after re-encryption and it really won't make much of a difference to WIndows 11 (except if you are running Bltlocker in the VM). You'll need to re-authorize login if you're using a Windows Hello PIN instead of a password. 

You also might want to check out the following KB articlehttps://kb.vmware.com/s/article/93071 which is also referenced in the Workstation 17.5 release notes. .