VMware Converter

Overview

VMware Converter clones an existing physical (or virtual) machine into a new virtual machine.

1. A new VM is created
2. The source machine's disks are snapshotted/shadow copied, so that they can be copied whilst the OS is still running
3. The source machine's disks are copied to the new VM's blank disks
4. The new VM is booted up, the OS needs to install new drivers for the new (virtual) hardware.

Pre-P2V Prep

1. Delete unused, unneeded files
   • Temp files and folder
   • Old profiles
   • Internet caches
   • Recycle Bin
2. De-install any unneeded applications or services
3. Perform a defrag (optional - may speed up P2V)
4. Reboot server

Performing a P2V

Standalone

1. Install the application on the machine to be virtualised
   • Select Typical
   • May require a restart
2. Start-up VMware Converter application
3. Click on the large Convert Machine icon with the large green arrow in the bottom half of the screen, to start the Wizard
4. 1 - Specify Source
   • Leave Select source type: as Powered-on machine
   • Select This local machine, and click Next
5. 2 - Specify Destination
   • Leave Select destination type: as VMware Infrastructure virtual machine
   • Update VMware Infrastructure server details with the server (ESX or VC) and appropriate login details, and click Next
   • Select an appropriate destination host (if you're logged into a VC)
   • Update Virtual machine name as required
   • Select an appropriate Datastore, and click Next
6. 3 - View/Edit Options
   • Data to copy
     • Un-tick any disks you don’t want (like tiny hardware utils partitions), click the drop down if you want to change the size of a disk during migration
   • Devices
     • Tweak CPU and memory settings as required
     • If your source machine uses IDE you must change the Disk Controller: to SCSI (LSI logic is standard for Windows machines)
   • Services
     • Update as required
   • Advanced Options
     • Review and change as required
     • There may be a warning that sysprep can't be found, normally this isn't a problem (assuming you want a clone of your current machine and don't want a new SID created)
   • Click 'Next
7. 4 - Ready to Complete
   • Review and click on Finish
8. Wait until the process has completed (the initial ETA is often inaccurate, after 5mins or so its fairly reliable), then shutdown the physical/source machine
9. Using the VI Client, connect to the Virtual Center Server, right click on the new virtual machine and choose edit setting
   • For all Serial Ports and any unwanted Network Adapters, select the item and click on Remove, finally click on OK
   • Right click on the virtual servers and choose Power On.
   • Wait for a little while as the server may reboot itself once or twice, then right click on the virtual server and choose Open Console. Logon to the server and setup the network card settings as appropriate.

Plug-in

Procedure assumes you're P2V'ing

1. Within vCentre, right-click over the destination ESX and click Import Machine...
2. 1: Source
   • Leave What do you want to import? as Physical Computer, and click Next
   • In Name or IP Address: enter the source physical machine's IP address (its more reliable than using a name) and in Authentication enter the details of a local admin account for the source machine. Click Next
   • Edit new disk sizes as appropriate, its recommended to check the Create a seperate disk for each volume. option. When finished click Next
3. 2: Destination
   • Enter the new virtual machine's name, and destination location, then click Next
   • Select an appropriate datastore (which enough space!), then click Next
   • Select appropriate network(s), then click Next
4. 3: Customization
   • Its recommended to select the Remove all System Restore checkpoints option (if available), VMware Tools can be installed later, then click Next
5. 4: Schedule Task
   • Run now! Its bound to fail as a scheduled task! Click Next
6. Ready to Complete
   • Leave Power on the new virtual machine after creation checkbox cleared, then click Finish

Troubleshooting

Unable to determine guest operating system

Try re-registering the source VM in its vCentre

Unable to obtain hardware information for the selected machine

Unfortunately this is generic error and can be triggered by a rich variety of reasons. You'll probably need to Export diagnostic details... and then trawl through the logs to get a better picture, though there's no guarantee that this will be in any way illuminating.

Some suggestions from various sources...

• Try migrating the VM to another ESX
• Try re-registering the VM in the vCentre inventory
• Network connectivity problems between the server and client (ie the vCentre that Converter is running from, and the client machine that Converter is connecting to)
• Try changing the VM's OS to Other (32bit or 64bit), migrate and then change the OS back to what it really is.
• In Vista (and maybe Win7) run Converter as an Administrator

Other Options

If VMware Converter is unable to P2V your machine (for example as of writing you can't P2V a Win2k8 R2 machine as the VSS interface has changed and VMware haven't released a new version yet), there are other (free) options

1. Use SysInternals Disk2vhd to hot-clone a machines disk(s) to Microsoft format VHD files
2. Use StarWind V2V Converter to convert VHD file(s) to VMDK format (use sparse/thin (VI4 only) and iSCSI options)
3. Upload the VMDK file(s) to an appropriate datastore (in a folder with the VM name)
4. Create a new VM, using the active/boot disk of the VMDK's just uploaded (if multiple disks, add others seperatley after VM has been created)
5. Edit the VMX file to cater for the new VMDK's ??
6. On first boot it may be nessessary to edit the registry to avoid a BSOD (change REG_DWORD Start to 0 in HKLM\p2v\ControlSet001\services\LSI_SAS (you need to boot usind a recovery CD to be able to access the registry.

For further info see http://sanbarrow.com/p2v2008r2.html