How do I convert a VMWare VMDK HDD file to a HyperV VHD file?

Question

What's the best way to convert a VMWare VMDK HDD file to a HyperV VHD file?

I've been tasked with converting our environment to HyperV for evaluation purposes. We are MSDN subscribers, so the MS software for the job is probably available to me if you know it.

I have been having hit or miss success with "vmdk2vhd" - about half the time it tells me "Invalid vmdk" and as far as I know they should be fine.

Solution 1

I'm hoping there's a better answer than this, but I've read repeated accounts of better success in converting large vmdks by breaking them down into 2gb drives (with VMWare Converter) prior to conversion.

Solution 2

There are now several tools available to achieve this task. Some of theme have some more functions like converting a running PC to a image and converting to other formats.

One neat little tool is StarWind V2V Converter:

Another one is Vmdk2Vhd from vmToolkit but I have no experience with this one.

If you want to go for the big solution with more functions under the hood you can try VMware vCenter Converter.

Solution 3

use WinImage 8.1, it can help you to convert vpc images between VHD and VMDK, easy to use and powerful.

Solution 4

I've tried converting VMDK to VHD and ended up with a black screen and inability to start Windows after conversion.

Check the following comment thread for issues you may have with VMware drivers and the black screen after convertsion: http://vmtoolkit.com/blogs/announcements/archive/2006/11/20/vmdk-to-vhd-converter-available.aspx

There's an article here with similar or the same information as the comment thread above, but it requires registration: http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid94_gci1225164,00.html?asrc=SS_CLA_303373&psrc=CLT_94

Finally, this forum thread has similar information as the above two sites: http://vmtoolkit.com/forums/thread/78.aspx

Solution 5

Just converting the vmdk to a vhd won't transfer the server to Hyper-V as all the drivers will be wrong. I had to do just the same as you, with about half a dozen VMWare virtual servers. I did it by using the Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager to import the servers just as if they were physical servers. I think the SCVMM is a free download from Microsoft, or at least an evaluation version is available.

Some notes: uninstall VMWare Tools from the virtual servers before you do the import to Hyper-V or they'll give errors when you start the imported Hyper-V servers. My imported servers give occasional w32time errors, but apart from that they work perfectly.

JR

View more solutions

Comments

[Garrett]

I don't think I have the time to do a physical import from all the servers... I really just need to be able to convert the VMDKs to VHD and fire them up - can always uninstall VMWare Tools after the fact.

[Garrett]

While painful, once I used vmware-diskmanager from Workstation to convert the disk into 2GB chunks vmdk2vhd recognized it as a valid VMDK file. Thanks!

[Garrett]

We did install this as an alternative solution as well... So far it's just a glorified hard drive converter and drops all the settings for NICs, HDDs, etc and we have to add all the harware back. Pretty unsatisfied, myself.