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@rahilwazir
Last active November 17, 2024 17:46
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Convert VMWare to Hyper-V (vmdk to vhdx)

VMDK to VHDX

Follow steps:

If you counter following error:

ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk : The entry 1 is not a supported disk database entry for the descriptor.

In my case it was entry 4

Follow these steps:

  1. download and extract dsfok tools
  2. use dsfo.exe "c:\temp\disk2.vmdk" 512 1024 descriptor1.txt to extract the descriptor
  3. edit the descriptor file in Notepad++: comment the above mentioned line (as I added the extra single character (#) I also deleted one NULL character from the end to keep the file size of 1024 bytes (not sure if this is needed).
  4. use dsfi.exe "c:\temp\disk2.vmdk" 512 1024 descriptor1.txt to inject the descriptor back into the VMDK
  5. repeat these steps for the other disk (my VM has two .vmdk files)
  6. reissue the ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk command
@lighterowl
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lighterowl commented Sep 24, 2020

The converter is no longer officially supported by Microsoft and the link available everywhere (download/details.aspx?id=42497) doesn't work anymore.
Fortunately, there's a Chocolatey package that contains a direct link to the installer. I mirrored it here.

@re-buurst
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@xavery - thanks, you saved me today by hosting that package. I could not find it anywhere on the internet. All the links are 404

@rahilwazir
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@xavery - Thanks, I have updated the Gist.

@LarryAnglin
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Between steps 1 and 2 should be a step 'Run the downloaded installer'.

@bhavikgajera
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Software download Link is not available http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/E/91E9F42C-3F1F-4AD9-92B7-8DD65DA3B0C2/mvmc_setup.msi

If you know other link then please update it.

@rahilwazir
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@bhavikgajera the downloadable link is working fine.

@JonathanVQP
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As of July 6, 2021, even with the MS Virtual Machine Converter, I could not convert my vmdx files to vhdx. I am using VMware Workstation 16 Pro (16.1.2 build-17966106).

@deathzombee
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deathzombee commented Jul 24, 2021

Software download Link is not available http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/E/91E9F42C-3F1F-4AD9-92B7-8DD65DA3B0C2/mvmc_setup.msi

If you know other link then please update it.

@bhavikgajera

in powershell run curl http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/E/91E9F42C-3F1F-4AD9-92B7-8DD65DA3B0C2/mvmc_setup.msi -o mvmc_setup.msi

@duli0810
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@sukesh-ak
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sukesh-ak commented Aug 28, 2021

@duli0810
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Use qemu and its easy single command-line for conversion.
https://cloudbase.it/qemu-img-windows/

Steps
https://gist.github.com/sukesh-ak/9a633c48ceefe9560b8f2eb5d8fcff72

Show, interesting.... did not know this method.
In reality it is similar to MVMC, with a single command after extracting the .ova

ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath "" -VhdType DynamicHardDisk -VhdFormat vhdx -destination ""

With "qemu" does not generate the error "is not a supported disk database entry for the descriptor." ?

@sukesh-ak
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Use qemu and its easy single command-line for conversion.
https://cloudbase.it/qemu-img-windows/
Steps
https://gist.github.com/sukesh-ak/9a633c48ceefe9560b8f2eb5d8fcff72

Show, interesting.... did not know this method.
In reality it is similar to MVMC, with a single command after extracting the .ova

ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath "" -VhdType DynamicHardDisk -VhdFormat vhdx -destination ""

With "qemu" does not generate the error "is not a supported disk database entry for the descriptor." ?

No it worked smoothly.. no errors pretty straight forward command.

@sukesh-ak
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This also works but due to some reason not working on Win11 after recent updates.
You can try on Win10, maybe it works there still.

"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" clonehd --format vhd "disk001.vmdk" disk-OS-v2.vhd

@duli0810
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This also works but due to some reason not working on Win11 after recent updates.
You can try on Win10, maybe it works there still.

"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" clonehd --format vhd "disk001.vmdk" disk-OS-v2.vhd

Cool... I'll test it.... thanks sukesh-ak !

@sakar97
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sakar97 commented Sep 16, 2021

Hi, Does qemu delete all the VMware environment dependencies tools also while converting .vmdk to .vhd? or it cloned exactly the same file in a different format?

@sukesh-ak
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Hi, Does qemu delete all the VMware environment dependencies tools also while converting .vmdk to .vhd? or it cloned exactly the same file in a different format?

Just converted the disk file format to new format. That's all.

@sukesh-ak
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@MathBernier
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I was looking forward for a straight solution, that did the trick! Thank you!

@GUTIERRES-RS
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For me it worked like this:

STEP 1 - Download and Install: http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/E/91E9F42C-3F1F-4AD9-92B7-8DD65DA3B0C2/mvmc_setup.msi

STEP 2 - Run power shell as administrator.

STEP 3 - PS> Import-Module 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter\MvmcCmdlet.psd1'

STEP 4 - PS> ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath "D:\Virtual Machines\Windows 10 x64\Windows 10 x64.vmdk" -VhdType DynamicHardDisk -VhdFormat vhdx -destination "D:\Virtual Machines\Windows 10 x64\Windows 10 x64.vhdx"

Don't forget to check the syntax of commands and punctuation etc... And enjoy

@IchBinGROOT
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This all looks very promising, did anyone ever write a script that automates this process? I‘d like to install Whonix in Hyper-V but didn’t get it to work so far

@SkybuckFlying
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Does not work:

3.1 Command 1:

Import-Module 'G:\Tools\Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter\MvmcCmdlet.psd1'

3.2 Command 2:

ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath "D:\Virtual Machines\Windows 11 (VM 4, Official, RAD Studio 11 Alexandria, Windows 11 Updated, Reactivated)\Windows 11 x64.vmdk" -VhdType DynamicHardDisk -VhdFormat vhdx -destination "G:\Virtual Machines\Windows 11 (VM 4, Official, RAD Studio 11 Alexandria, Windows 11 Updated, Reactivated, Converted to VHDX)\Windows 11 x64.vhdx"

Error:

ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk : No suitable drive was found at path (D:\Virtual Machines\Windows 11 (VM 4, Official,
RAD Studio 11 Alexandria, Windows 11 Updated, Reactivated)\Windows 11 x64.vmdk).
Parameter name: path
At line:1 char:1

  • ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath "D:\Virtual Machine ...
  •   + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (Microsoft.Accel...nversionService:DriveConversionService) [ConvertTo-MvmcVi
     rtualHardDisk], DriveNotFoundInPathArgumentException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DiskConversion,Microsoft.Accelerators.Mvmc.Cmdlet.Commands.ConvertToMvmcVirtualHardDiskC
     ommand
    
    

ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk : One or more errors occurred.
At line:1 char:1

  • ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath "D:\Virtual Machine ...
  •   + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (Microsoft.Accel...nversionService:DriveConversionService) [ConvertTo-MvmcVi
     rtualHardDisk], AggregateException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DiskConversion,Microsoft.Accelerators.Mvmc.Cmdlet.Commands.ConvertToMvmcVirtualHardDiskC
     ommand
    
    

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