Importing OVF from Windows 7 WMWare WS 15 into VMWare WS 16 on Linux (Pop!OS)

[hfcVM]

Hi,

  I have been trying to move various VM's from my Windows 7 box to Linux (I am trying to avoid going to Windows 10).  I successfully exported to OVF from my Windows 7 machines (one desktop running VMWare WS 15 and one laptop running WMWare WS 14).

The imports seem to go well. So far of the 3 I've tried (1 Ubuntu image and 2 Windows Server), only the Ubuntu image will start.  When I go to start the machine I just imported, I get screens like the ones below.  Any hints as to what I need to do to get the imported image to work? 

Thanks in advance

[louyo]

Maybe UEFI versus BIOS?  I have always had  good luck just copying the directory of files over, don't recall using OVF. If it works, you can upgrade them from 15 to 16.

Lou

[Technogeezer]

 @louyo - is correct - you do not need to use ovftool to move a VM from Linux to Windows. You can, but it's just extra unnecessary work.

Just move the directory containing all the files of the VM. When you power up you may see a message about "did you move or copy" the VM. Answer "Move". And if there's a complaint about the virtual CD-DVD device and any shared folders that you may have had configured on Windows, simply re-configure them using the GUI. 

If you do it that way, you don't have to worry about UEFI vs BIOS settings since the setting that you had in the VM for on Windows host will carry over. 

But to your original problem, I am thinking the same as @louyo - It looks to me like the VM is configured for UEFI firmware when the VM was installed for BIOS. Look at the setting in the Workstation GUI for the VM and see if it's firmware setting is EFI. If so, change it to BIOS and see if the symptoms change. 

[hfcVM]

I found the firmware settings, but changing to BIOS doesn't seem to help - it's still complaining that it cannot find an O/S.  I'll see if I have more luck copying the machines.