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How can I convert a VirtualBox Guest to vmWare?
My host computer is running Windows 10 Professional and is fully up-to-date.
I am using Oracle VirtualBox 6.1.
My guest machine is running Windows 10 Enterprise and is fully up-to-date.
The guest OS works find in VirtualBox. I would like to export the virtual machine (guest) so that I can use vmWare. I have tried exporting the VM with the "Open Virtualization Format 1.0" setting. When I try to open the exported VM in vmWare I receive an error. I then click "retry" and the imported VM getts stuck in a reboot cycle.
Are there specific settings that I can try to make this process work?
Thanks in advance.
I am using Oracle VirtualBox 6.1.
My guest machine is running Windows 10 Enterprise and is fully up-to-date.
The guest OS works find in VirtualBox. I would like to export the virtual machine (guest) so that I can use vmWare. I have tried exporting the VM with the "Open Virtualization Format 1.0" setting. When I try to open the exported VM in vmWare I receive an error. I then click "retry" and the imported VM getts stuck in a reboot cycle.
Are there specific settings that I can try to make this process work?
Thanks in advance.
VirtualizationVMware
Last Comment
Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
Install VMware Converter on or in the Windows 10 OS and convert to a VMware Workstation format
ASKER
Andrew,
Thanks for the ultra-fast response.
Should I install the VMware Converter on the Guest OS or the Host OS?
Thanks for the ultra-fast response.
Should I install the VMware Converter on the Guest OS or the Host OS?
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Update
I have successfully converted the VirtualBox VM machine to VMWare Workstation 16 Pro.
Problem:
When I tried to install the VMWare Tools for the VM I received an error related to the existing VirtualBox mouse driver. I uninstalled the VirtualBox Guest Additions and the machine rebooted. But now the mouse would not work and it was a pain to install the VMWare Tools. I eventually succeeded by using the keyboard only... (Tab, Windows button, the right control button, spacebar, etc.) to install VMWare tools. I then opened Device Manager and updated the drivers for the HID devices (automatic). This updated the drivers to the VMWare drivers.
Problem:
The conversion resulted in losing my Windows activation. The hardware was different and Windows thought it was a new machine. There is probably a way to retain the existing Windows license but I used a spare Windows Activation code to just activate a new license.
Notes:
Some tweaking was required. Here are a few things I remember...
Observations:
Workstation 16 is really slick. Windows 10 loads much, much faster than on VirtualBox. I also love the auto snapshot feature.
I have successfully converted the VirtualBox VM machine to VMWare Workstation 16 Pro.
- I installed the VMWare converter on the guest machine (running Windows 10).
- I ran the VMWare converter on the guest machine. This created a new image of the virtual machine.
- I opened the converted machine in Workstation Pro.
Problem:
When I tried to install the VMWare Tools for the VM I received an error related to the existing VirtualBox mouse driver. I uninstalled the VirtualBox Guest Additions and the machine rebooted. But now the mouse would not work and it was a pain to install the VMWare Tools. I eventually succeeded by using the keyboard only... (Tab, Windows button, the right control button, spacebar, etc.) to install VMWare tools. I then opened Device Manager and updated the drivers for the HID devices (automatic). This updated the drivers to the VMWare drivers.
Problem:
The conversion resulted in losing my Windows activation. The hardware was different and Windows thought it was a new machine. There is probably a way to retain the existing Windows license but I used a spare Windows Activation code to just activate a new license.
Notes:
Some tweaking was required. Here are a few things I remember...
- The VMWare converter I used was for 11.x Hardware Compatibility. I changed the VMWare setting for the VM to Workstation 16 hardware compatibility after the conversion.
- I had to change the Network adapter from "Bridged" to "NAT" in order to establish Internet access. I am sure this issue can be resolved but this was the quick fix for me.
- After the conversion was complete, I uninstalled the VMWare Conversion utility from the VM.
Observations:
Workstation 16 is really slick. Windows 10 loads much, much faster than on VirtualBox. I also love the auto snapshot feature.
no problems, thanks for your interesting question!
Did you know I've written over 130 articles for Experts Exchange here
https://www.experts-exchange.com/memberArticleHistory.jsp?mid=1864316#arth
and I've also now created a VMware Hancock's Half Hour Video series on vSphere 7.0.
This is Part 1.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/videos/78972/HOW-TO-Install-and-Configure-VMware-vSphere-Hypervisor-7-0-U2-ESXi-7-0-2.html
Did you know I've written over 130 articles for Experts Exchange here
https://www.experts-exchange.com/memberArticleHistory.jsp?mid=1864316#arth
and I've also now created a VMware Hancock's Half Hour Video series on vSphere 7.0.
This is Part 1.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/videos/78972/HOW-TO-Install-and-Configure-VMware-vSphere-Hypervisor-7-0-U2-ESXi-7-0-2.html
vCenter Converter Standalone converts physical machines and virtual machines to VMware virtual machines and configures VMware virtual machines.
https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/downloads/info/slug/infrastructure_operations_management/vmware_vcenter_converter_standalone/6_2_0