downgrade virtual hardware in vm

[ricky73]

I need to change virtual hardware 10 to 8 for specific virtual machine in ESXi 5.5 environment, so I read in knowledge base it's necessary to recreate new vm and to link the existing disk (vmdk file)

Can I manually change configuration of some files to reach this scope?

[DanielOprea]

Hi,

To perform the downgrade, you should do it with the Converter. It is the only option if previously before making the upgrade has not done a snapshot.

Regards

Daniel

[Nithy07cs055]

Do not directly change the configuration file , that can make the VM unstable if you are not sure about the change .

if you need to downgrade , I would suggest to follow any on of these

1. Create a VM with required HW version in your current environment , and create a Disk and attach the existing disk (which you needed to downgrade ),  this will boot the VM without any issue

2. Use VMware Standalone converter , and choose the Version of hardware ( Very feasible and less risky method )

Let me know if you need any other information

[ricky73]

it's necessary to retrieve specific Vconverter version to convert Windows 2000 machines?

[DanielOprea]

No, you can download the last version for VMware Converter, and you can start to convert W2K.

Regards

Daniel

[Nithy07cs055]

Latest version will work fine , since it is version 8 , but depends on OS you are trying

if it is 2000 ... use converter 4.0.1 and lesser , for others you can use latest one

[DanielOprea]

You're right. The latest version that supports the S.O. W2K is 4.0.1.
My apologies.
Download the version 4.0.1 from here.

[ricky73]

Converter 4.0.1 gets 'vmodl.fault.systemerror converter' this error because it's incompatible to ESXi 5.x

Suggestions?

[DanielOprea]

Hi,

You must create a new VM with the hardware version 8 and add the other disks vm. As you gallycool enter in step 3.

Regards,

Daniel

[ricky73]

Converter 5.0.1 worked fine!

[gallycool]

Hello Ricky,

1. Snapshot – You can revert back in case you took a snapshot before you upgraded the virtual machine hardware. Well this obviously not work if the VM has already been created in for example vmx-10 and you only want vmx-8….

2. Convert the VM – with VMware converter you have a possibility to specify which virtual hardware you want for the destination VM. Easy and without a risk as it’s a cloning operation which does not alter the source disks.

3. Create New VM – You can create new VM with let’s say C# client and specify for example virtual hardware version 8. Then attach the existing virtual disk to that VM. Yes it’s supported way, according to this VMware KB article.

Then there are some unsupported ways to change the virtual hardware by editing the vmx file, but I won’t list those, as it’s unsupported. For me, the VMware converter works well and it’s a safe method. The only thing you need to watch out is the network configuration which is not retained, so you have to re-configure the NIC once the VM is up and running.

The other thing is that if you chose the second way (creating new VM), just make sure that you pick the same components that were in the “old” VM. For example chose the same disk controller, same virtual NIC type etc….

The other way around. Usually it’s very easy to upgrade virtual hardware.

Thanks

Sam

[Shezy]

Take a snapshot before doing this:

Get VMID using this command: vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms (gets you the vmid)

Then use this command to change Hardware version: vim-cmd vmsvc/upgrade vmid vmx-08

[Nithy07cs055]

great ,, good that it worked for you..