Hyper-V to VMWare ESXi 4 Conversion

There are *TONS* of blog entries out there with pretty specific steps about going FROM VMWare TO Hyper-V because Hyper-V is generating a lot of Hype (and that's about it). Turns out that many people want to move back into VMWare after they become aware of the some of the shortcomings of Hyper-V. Proceeding is my internal-use guide to take a Hyper-V machine and convert it into a VMWare machine.

1. Log in to the machine while it's running under Hyper-V and remove VMWare additions. This *must* be completed while the VM is on a Hyper-V host because VM additions throws an error during removal if it isn't. There must be some API between the HV guest and host that gets cranky otherwise.


2. Shut down the VM


3. Open the .vhd in winimage and select disk > convert. Specify the .vhd as the source file and the .vmdk as the destination file. I use dynamically expanding .vmdk files as the destination because they're temporary anyway and a zeroed file will be quicker to duplicate.


4. Copy the resultant .vmdk up to your ESXi host.


5. Create a new VM on the ESXi host. Make sure that you select the correct operating system type or you could end up with 32 PCI-E bridges. Add the converted .vmdk to the new VM (leaving the SCSI disk that was created with the new VM intact).


6. Power on the VM and boot windows.


7. Install VMWare tools. Reboot.


8. Open administrative tools > computer management > logical disk manager. Ensure that the unitialized SCSI disk can be seen. If it's not there, go back to step 7 and install VMWare tools for real this time.


9. Power down the VM.


10. Load the ghost CD into the VM drive and boot from it.


11. Ghost from the converted .vmdk into the SCSI .vmdk, then power down.


12. Remove the converted .vmdk by editing the settings of the VM.


13. That's it! Boot your VM and enjoy!