Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@rahilwazir

rahilwazir/vmdk_vhdx.md

Last active March 3, 2024 22:01
Show Gist options
  • Star 82 You must be signed in to star a gist
  • Fork 14 You must be signed in to fork a gist
  • Save rahilwazir/69a750b70348459875cbf40935af02cb to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save rahilwazir/69a750b70348459875cbf40935af02cb to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
Convert VMWare to Hyper-V (vmdk to vhdx)
Raw
vmdk_vhdx.md

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
@yarick
Copy link

yarick commented Jul 24, 2019

Modern VMDK files have a small descriptor file and separate data files. They will look like:

  • MyDisk.vmdk <- the descriptor
  • MyDisk-s001.vmdk, MyDisk-s002.vmdk etc. <- data files

In this case I simply needed to comment out the line:

#ddb.toolsInstallType = "4"

There was no need to use dsfo/dsfi tools to extract this from the disk. Tested on VMware Workstation 11.

Thanks!

Here is what worked for me to convert from VmWare Fusion 11.1.0 on OSX

  • Comment Out
#ddb.toolsInstallType = "1"
  • Command Line
ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath '.\Virtual Disk.vmdk' -destination E:\VM\win10\win10.vdhx -VhdType DynamicHardDisk  -VhdFormat vhdx

@brady1408
Copy link

If anyone comes here in the future and can't convert a disk due to a very generic

ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk : Access to the path is denied.

This was caused by Sophos trying to prevent ransomware attacks, but Sophos did not trigger an alert it just silently killed the process.

Adding an exclusion for the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter did the trick for me.

@xavery
Copy link

xavery commented Sep 24, 2020 •
edited

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
Copy link

@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
Copy link
Author

@xavery - Thanks, I have updated the Gist.

@LarryAnglin
Copy link

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

@bhavikgajera
Copy link

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
Copy link
Author

@bhavikgajera the downloadable link is working fine.

@JonathanVQP
Copy link

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
Copy link

deathzombee commented Jul 24, 2021 •
edited

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
Copy link

Download de software Link não está disponível http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/E/91E9F42C-3F1F-4AD9-92B7-8DD65DA3B0C2/mvmc_setup.msi

Se você conhece outro link, por favor, atualize-o.

https://github.com/duli0810/PowerShellPublic/tree/main/ConverterOVAparaVHDorVHDX

@sukesh-ak
Copy link

sukesh-ak commented Aug 28, 2021 •
edited

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

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

@duli0810
Copy link

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
Copy link

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
Copy link

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
Copy link

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
Copy link

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
Copy link

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
Copy link

Read the instructions here
https://gist.github.com/sukesh-ak/9a633c48ceefe9560b8f2eb5d8fcff72

@MathBernier
Copy link

I was looking forward for a straight solution, that did the trick! Thank you!

@GUTIERRES-RS
Copy link

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

@duli0810
Copy link

I made two videos about it:

https://youtu.be/KfF8LoI9fM8

https://youtu.be/kL0dbD5T1tI

If you like it help in the growth, subscribe 👉 http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6CzOE6aWxy_5RYG4To88g?sub_confirmation=1

On Github I also have a step by step

https://github.com/duli0810/PowerShellPublic/tree/main/ConverterOVAparaVHDorVHDX

https://github.com/duli0810/PowerShellPublic/tree/main/Converter%20.VHDX%20%5C%20.VHD%20%20em%20.VDI%20(VirtualBox)%20%7C%20QEMU

@IchBinGROOT
Copy link

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
Copy link

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

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment