Import VHD files to vSphere 5 / ESXi 5 / VCenter 5

[Tom Daniel]

Hi -

I have received 2 files (VHD) and I need to import them into vmware.  What is the best way to do this - and do I need any other files to perform an import?

Regards,

[Troy_Clavell]

the best way to do this, if the VMs in question are not being managed by Hyper-V is, to convert the vhd to vmdk then import the vmdk files.

We use Starwind and it works very well

http://www.starwindsoftware.com/converter

[Tom Daniel]

can I use vmware converter?  do I need the 'VHC' configuration files as well?

The machine is off and has not been powered on by hyperv in our environment - I simply want to import the vhd into vmware and bypass hyperv.

Thanks,

[Troy_Clavell]

converter won't work unless the guest is being managed by Hyper-V and the guest is powered on.  Starwind V2V, in my opinion, is the best way to go.  Hyper-V is not involved in anyway, all your doing is converting the vhd file to vmdk. Then import the vmdk file into your vSphere environment.

[Tom Daniel]

so I created the vmdk using that program you mentioned, and when I copy it to a vsphere 4 server I do not see an 'Import' option.  When I right click the vmdk file, the 'add to inventory' option is greyed out.

I do see 'Inflate' so it does see it as a thin provisioned disk, but import is not there nor is add to inventory an option.

I'm sure I'm missing something  - did I do something incorrect?

[aravinds3107]

Create a new VM using VM creation wizard without Hard Disk. When the VM is created add Hard Disk and select use exisitng VMDK and point to disk which is converted

[Tom Daniel]

thanks -

I did so, and the server is constantly blue screening now on boot.

not impressed with the whole interopability aspect of conversion of VHD files to VMWare files.  Hell for that matter I can't even get the .vhd file to mount in a hyperv environment.

[TomHowarth]

What is the BlueScreen error is it a 7B if so you need to change the SCSI driver on the Virtual machine.

[Troy_Clavell]

you probably had and IDE virtual disk.  Try changing it to SCSI

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1016162

[Tom Daniel]

it is a 7B -

how do I change the driver in a virtual machine that doesn't boot?

Also when I used 'Star Converter' I created an ESX Server file.   This created two files - one, <vmname>-Flat.vmdk and another one which is <vmname>.vmdk.

the ...-Flat.vmdk is the actual size of 40gb.  The other one is 1kb.  I tried copying both files to a folder on the ESX4u3 Datastore folder and only one ever gets placed there.  The other one (1k file) dissapears every time I copy it.

I have opened a case with VMWare on this also - i was hoping it would be less painful than this is becoming...

Thanks,