Migrate to a new computer - VMWare Workstation 16.2.1

[CleoHess]

Hi,

I have to change my main computer for a new one, and I don’t know how to migrate all my VMs that I have on a second drive to the new computer,

If I install VMWare Workstation on the new computer and then install this second drive where I have all the VMs, is there a way to tell VMWare Workstation where are this VMs and I will have the exact same VMs with all the snapshots and all the configurations etc… or is not that easy? or I have to change some IPs or hardware issues etc..?

Or On the old computer export the VMs as *.ovf or *.ova and then in the new computer import them, does this export the snapshots?

How you migrate the VMs to a new computer?

Thanks a lot for your time

[RDPetruska]

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 wrote:

If I install VMWare Workstation on the new computer and then install this second drive where I have all the VMs, is there a way to tell VMWare Workstation where are this VMs and I will have the exact same VMs with all the snapshots and all the configurations etc… or is not that easy?

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Basically, yes, it is that easy.  That's one of the main benefits of virtual machines - they are (generally) portable and hardware-independent.  Having said that, best practice is to make sure each of the VMs are shut down, not just suspended, before moving them.

[CleoHess]

Hi RDPetruska, thanks a lot for your time,

So I install VMWare Workstation on the new computer, install de fiscal drive where I have the VMs, to the new computer an then?  can you please guide me from here or point me where I can find the info,

thanks

[continuum]

> So I install VMWare Workstation on the new computer, install de fiscal drive where I have the VMs, to the new computer an then? 

Then the hard part of the work is already done and you only need to doubleclick the vmx-files.
Finding vmx-files shouldn't be that hard - they even have a unique icon and most of the time their filenames end with *.vmx

[CleoHess]

Hi continuum

Ok ,

1. Install VMWare Workstation to the new machine.
2. Install the fiscal drive where I have the VMs
3. Locate in this drive the *.vmx file from each Machine and double click,

The  *.vmx files are the Configuration file right?

 

Ok continuum, I will let you know how it went, thanks a lot for your time,

[wila]

Use "File"-> "Open" and point it to the .vmx files.

On startup.. you're asked "did you copy or move" almost always answer "move"...

If you answer "Copy" your VM will get a new hardware ID's (MAC address etc..) and for Windows you'll have to re-activate when choosing copy instead of move.

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Wil

[CleoHess]

Thanks a lot, I will do as you say thanks

[acoetzer]

Thank you for the heads up, never knew about that.

[CleoHess]

Hi

One last thing for me to understand please,

What’s the difference between copying all the files from my VMs location and then on the new computer open the .vmx files, or  the other method first export and the import on the new machine,

Can someone please tell me the difference  

Thanks a lot for your time,

[wila]

Hi,

Export/Import is designed to move your VM to another virtualisation platform.

It's just more work.. I recommend to use copy.

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Wil

[Neil Robinson]

I'm migrating my main VMWare Workstation computer and its VMs to another physical computer also.  I have a number of VMs in my inventory, along with virtual networks, application preferences, etc. that I've set up in my current Workstation that I'd also like to migrate (in addition to the VMs).  These would be the configuration files of VMWare workstation itself, NOT the vmx files for each VM.  Where can I find these files on my 'old' computer?

[Douglas Bowen]

They will all be stored alongside the .vmx file, usually under a folder named in the same way as your VM. Copy the whole directory/disk to new computer and all should be fine.

[Neil Robinson]

Hello

Tried that.  'Copied entire folder structure of powered down VMs as is to the new computer.  Yet launching Workstation on the new computer shows nothing in the inventory, and no virtual networks set up.  The files in the VM subdirectory only tell the VM itself to what networks it will connect, they have nothing to do with the host on which Workstation is installed.  i.e. if I remove a VM from its directory, the Workstation host recognizes it is missing, but maintains the VM in the inventory with 'unable to start'.  Also, this doesn't answer the question about where the configuration file for virtual networks is stored.  

[Neil Robinson]

Hello

It turns out for the virtual network settings, open Virtual Network Editor from the Edit menu.  Click on 'Change Settings' at the bottom (admin level user required), then the 'Import' and 'Export' buttons will be available.  Export the settings to a file, and import that file in the Virtual Network Editor on the new computer.  It will add and connect all of the previous virtual networks configured on the old computer.  Note in my case I'm migrating to v17 on my 'new' workstation host.  Note also that you need to complete this step before scanning for VMs on your new workstation computer in the next step.

For the VMs, the closest I can get is to use the 'scan for virtual machines' option on My Computer on the new workstation host.  It doesn't catch the ones that don't exist on the new host because  I've have to swap out/in based on local drive space, but that's ok.  Because I imported my virtual networks before scanning for VMs, it reconnects the network adapters of the VMs to the virtual networks on the new Workstation host as well.  

I hope this helps someone else with the same question.

[VMware Community Member]

To anyone wondering if there ain't a better way for migrating the VM's part, you can go to the old computer and copy the '%appdata%\VMware' into the new computer. 

If the user profile of this new computer have a different name, you can always edit the file 'inventory.vmls' inside this folder and change all the entries referring to the old profile. The same can be done with the disk locations (if the name or drive letter changed and you are unable to change it).

Once there, you simply open the VMware Workstation, and turn on the machines:

• you might be prompted to 'Take Ownership', if that's the case, say yes.
• you might be prompted to 'I Copied it' or 'I Moved it', say always 'I Moved it'
  
  

Doing this process, will let you to transit all the folder structure you had in the old VMware Workstation (kinda handy and painfully to to redo).

Note: It's important to mention, that the previous step described of exporting and importing the VNet's are prior to the steps above, that way, everything will work as expected with minimum effort.

[acoetzer]

Take note that your MAC addresses will probably change as well.