Vmware workstation 12 move vm to another disk free

Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It only takes a minute to sign up. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. VMware is asking for this option to split virtual machine files into 2Gb parts. This is not something I noticed for the first time, BUT I want to know whether there’s a noticeable performance drop or not.

There seems little point in splitting an image file unless you’re creating it on a FAT32 volume or network share that has file size restrictions. VMware has this to say:. Select Split virtual disk into multiple files if the virtual disk is stored on a file system that has a file size limitation.

Another reference has this to say :. I’ve even backed it up using 7-zip to a network share overnight. No problems at all. Performance-wise, seriously, for what you’re doing you simply won’t notice the difference between single and split images. I imagine a perceivable difference would start to appear with images into the s of GB in size. Still, if you want to go with what is technically the most performant, then that’s a single monolithic image file which is what you’re doing already.

You’re all good ;-. If you are using very large VMs like 1TB or greater then you should look at all the problems that come with copying files this large. In fact some people have had issues where they can’t be moved at all. Programs like robocopy or xcopy will hang or error out.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Start collaborating and sharing organizational knowledge. Create a free Team Why Teams? Learn more about Teams. Should I split VMware virtual disk into multiple files or not?

Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 10 months ago. Modified 4 years, 1 month ago. Viewed 47k times. A screenshot of related window: No I’m not going to move this VM anytime soon, although If I move I can perfectly wait for files being transferred. Improve this question. Giacomo Add a comment. Sorted by: Reset to default. Highest score default Date modified newest first Date created oldest first. VMware has this to say: Select Split virtual disk into multiple files if the virtual disk is stored on a file system that has a file size limitation.

Improve this answer. Thanks for the reply. I went for monolithic disk option. See my answer. Isn’t it the case that it is much easier to increase the size of the disk if it is stored as split files? Because then it only needs to create a few more files, instead of copying over the entire monolithic file. But, you could just add a disk vs growing a disk. I always separate OS and data. The data drive is usually a NAS so no issue with virtual disks. Disadvantages of monolithic disks: If you delete snapshots and need to consolidate unused.

In contrast, if you use split disks, then your host needs only as much free space as one of the individual. If you want to copy or back up a VM, you might be copying it to a file system that doesn’t support such large files.

If you’re in the middle of copying or backing up a VM but need to cancel the operation and to resume it later, using split disks is much less painful.

Advantages of monolithic disks: Less file system clutter and in that sense it’s easier to manage. The VM will require fewer open file handles. Some host operating systems have a somewhat low limit on the maximum number of open file handles, and this can matter if you take a lot of snapshots.

See also sanbarrow. Shawn Hall Shawn Hall 11 1 1 bronze badge. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. The Overflow Blog. Will low and no code tools ever truly disrupt tech development? Linked 1. Related 0. Hot Network Questions. Question feed. Accept all cookies Customize settings.

How to Shrink a VMware Virtual Machine and Free Up Disk Space

Make sure the virtual machine is turned off. Enter a name for the OVF file and select a directory to save the file. Click Save to start the OVF export process. The process may take several minutes. The status bar shows the progress of the export process.

You cannot export an encrypted virtual machine to OVF format. Choose a directory for saving a template file, or click » OVF – choose this formart, if you want to save the template in the kit of files. The package can be imported, for example, in the vSphere by publishing the URL in an. You can backup your VMware VMs for free with no feature restriction. About the Author: Luciano Patrao. He has been working with Virtualization for around 15 years mainly VMware.

Specialties are Virtualization, Storage, and Virtual Backups. He is also a blogger and owner of the blog ProVirtualzone. We use cookies for advertising, social media, and analytics purposes.

If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies and privacy policy. Virtual machines are still just collections of files. You can just copy your virtual machine directories to your new computer. The transport medium does not matter.

Tthe ability to easily move VMs across hosts is one of the reasons why people use VMs. The only potential problem is that if a VM is suspended or if it has snapshots that were taken while the VM was powered on or suspended , you might not be able to resume the VM but that would be the equivalent of suddenly unplugging a physical machine.

The post you referenced is still valid and you can move machines. I have done this numerous times and for the same reason as you. John May I ask what’s the difference between just copying file this way and using the function «cloning» from VM Pro? I just assume that it wouldn’t be easy since there’s a paid function that seems to do what I want to do.

About the other point, everything should work fine if I shutdown the VM properly each time, right? Cloning is making a copy of a system on the same machine and may involve licensing issues. That is my understanding of it. Moving the machines to a different computer is straightforward, say you moved the machine, and licensing is not an issue. Windows 10, Windows 8. For a complete list of supported host and guest operating systems, visit the VMware Compatibility Guide.

Workstation Player is a much simpler virtualization application that allows you to easily and quickly create and run virtual machines using a user interface that is designed to be as simple as possible.

Workstation Player is a free application and a non-advanced virtualization application. Non-licensed Workstation Player cannot run multiple VMs at once. The latest version for VMware Player is v VMware Workstation Pro has much more advanced Virtual Machine settings and is designed for technical professionals such as systems engineers and IT administrators, etc. Workstation Pro run restricted VMs that are encrypted and password-protected to ensure only authorized users can interact with corporate data.

Vmware workstation 12 move vm to another disk free. Migrating a VMware Virtual Machine

Specify a network path to store the converted virtual hard disks. For the purpose of this walkthrough, the VM is being converted and transferred to a Hyper-V server installed on the same machine that is running the converter. Thus, the following network path is applied:. It is recommended to avoid using the system disk usually C: for storing VMs in production environments.

Choose the type of virtual disk to be used after conversion. The virtual disk can be of two types: a fixed size disk the analog of a thick-provisioned disk or a dynamically expanding disk the analog of a thin-provisioned disk. In this walkthrough, a dynamically expanding disk is chosen for the purpose of saving storage space.

Choose the format of the virtual hard disk:. Click Next to continue. Specify the source details for connection to a vCenter server or ESXi server. Now, select the virtual machine for conversion from the ESXi server you have chosen.

After selecting the VM, click Next. Virtual machine connection. If VMware Tools are installed on a Linux virtual machine, you must provide the username and password of the root account on the source VM to enable the converter to uninstall VMware Tools.

In this example, a Windows machine without VMware Tools is used — hence, these fields are inactive. Define the final state of the source machine and the final state of the destination machine On or Off. Define the workspace.

The workspace is a temporary folder that is used to store temporary files during the conversion process. For better performance, this folder should be located on the machine where the converter is installed. Enter the path or click the Browse button and select the appropriate folder. Then click Next. Check the summary. Review the configuration details you have specified. If the warnings are not critical, you can proceed; these do not prevent conversion. Click Finish to start the virtual machine conversion process.

Wait for the VM conversion to complete. The process can be time-consuming, depending on the size of the virtual disks of the source VM as well as network speed. If conversion is successful, click Close to exit the virtual machine converter. You can now edit the VM settings.

Right-click the VM and select Settings from the context menu. The VM is stored in the directory you specified earlier. Remove the network adapter and add a legacy network adapter for older guest operating systems to enable networking. Then select the appropriate virtual switch or create a new one for VM connection to the network. Wait until the OS recognizes new virtual devices.

For manual installation of Integration Services, insert the vmguest. Add the converter module to the current PowerShell session. The module is located in the directory where Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter is installed.

In the current example, the default location is used for the converter. Type the following command in PowerShell:. Go to the directory of your VM and list the files of that directory.

You can see the VM files here. Make a note of the name of the VMDK file, as it is needed for further operations. In the current example, a Linux virtual machine with one virtual disk is used. For this part, refer to the blog post that explains how to create a new virtual machine in Hyper-V. The key point is to connect the virtual disk. At the appropriate stage of the New Virtual Machine Wizard, select Use an existing virtual hard disk and specify the location of your newly created VHD file.

You can also use this method for converting VMs with multiple virtual disks. Each virtual disk must be attached to the VM after conversion in this case. In this case, one VMware virtual disk consists of two files — diskname.

A vmdk file is a descriptor that contains information about the virtual disk configuration and points to a -flat. The virtual disk data itself is stored in the -flat. The size of a vmdk file is a few kilobytes, while the size of -flat.

Log into your vCenter with the vSphere client enter the IP address of your vCenter Server in the address bar of your web browser. Go to the Storage tab, select the datastore with the files of your VM, select the VM directory, and select the virtual disk that should be converted. Once you have selected the disk, click Download and save a zip archive with the vmdk and -flat.

Pay attention to the size of the virtual disk file. You can read more about thick and thin provisioning in a separate blog post. You can confirm that both of these files are present on the datastore if you log into your ESXi host using the SSH client and list the files in the directory of your VM on the datastore.

After extracting the files, you can see that the -flat. Later, you can convert this virtual disk to the dynamically expanding virtual disk for Hyper-V. SFTP is preferred, if possible.

You can download WinSCP from the official web site. In the left panel, navigate to the directory where your VMDK files are stored before conversion.

Select the two virtual disk files needed vmdk and -flat. Simply drag and drop the files. The main difference is that you now have two files vmdk and -flat. Open PowerShell and make sure that the appropriate converter module is imported. Define the path to the vmdk file not to a -flat. Highest score default Date modified newest first Date created oldest first. VMware has this to say: Select Split virtual disk into multiple files if the virtual disk is stored on a file system that has a file size limitation.

Improve this answer. Thanks for the reply. I went for monolithic disk option. See my answer. Isn’t it the case that it is much easier to increase the size of the disk if it is stored as split files? Because then it only needs to create a few more files, instead of copying over the entire monolithic file. But, you could just add a disk vs growing a disk. I always separate OS and data. The data drive is usually a NAS so no issue with virtual disks.

Disadvantages of monolithic disks: If you delete snapshots and need to consolidate unused. In contrast, if you use split disks, then your host needs only as much free space as one of the individual. If you want to copy or back up a VM, you might be copying it to a file system that doesn’t support such large files. If you’re in the middle of copying or backing up a VM but need to cancel the operation and to resume it later, using split disks is much less painful. Advantages of monolithic disks: Less file system clutter and in that sense it’s easier to manage.

The VM will require fewer open file handles. Some host operating systems have a somewhat low limit on the maximum number of open file handles, and this can matter if you take a lot of snapshots. See also sanbarrow. Shawn Hall Shawn Hall 11 1 1 bronze badge. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. The Overflow Blog.

Will low and no code tools ever truly disrupt tech development? Linked 1. Related 0. Hot Network Questions. Question feed. Accept all cookies Customize settings.

Vmware workstation 12 move vm to another disk free

Perhaps you have a multi-hypervisor environment, or you need to perform testing, or you want a more rational licensing model for some software etc. As these two platforms have some key differences, understanding the VM conversion process is important.

No matter what platform you use, your virtual machines must be backed up to prevent data loss and downtime. There are certain steps to be taken before converting a VMware VM to Hyper-V format in order to prevent errors and make the migration process go faster:. MVMC takes a snapshot of the VM that is being converted before you uninstall VMware Tools, and then shuts down the source machine to preserve state during conversion.

The virtual machine is restored to its previous state after the source disks that are attached to the virtual machine are successfully copied to the machine where the conversion process is run. At that point, the source machine in VMware can be turned on, if required. Instead, it disables VMware services, drivers, and programs only for Windows Server guest operating systems.

For file conversions with Linux guest operating systems, VMware Tools are not disabled or uninstalled. It is highly recommended that you manually uninstall VMware Tools when you convert an offline virtual machine. The VM has one virtual disk, with no snapshots. VMware Tools suite is not installed. The current version of MVMC is version 3.

There are two files available for download — an executable installer. The installation process is straightforward: run the installer, accept the license agreement, select the installation directory, and click Install in the setup wizard.

Once the installation process is complete, run the converter. Click Next to proceed. Machine Type. Select the type of the source machine to be converted. In this case, select Virtual machine conversion. Click Next. Select a migration destination. There are two options available at this stage: migration to Microsoft Azure cloud and migration to Hyper-V. Select a destination Hyper-V host. In this example, the Hyper-V server is running on a local host the converter and the Hyper-V server are installed on the same machine.

Make sure that your firewalls are configured accordingly if your converter and Hyper-V host are running on different machines. Remote access through Windows Management Instrumentation must be enabled. Select the name or IP address of your destination host, select the credentials of a user who has sufficient access privilege to connect to a Hyper-V host the local administrator of the destination Hyper-V host and the domain administrator have such access privilege.

Then click Next to proceed. Set the disk options. Specify a network path to store the converted virtual hard disks. For the purpose of this walkthrough, the VM is being converted and transferred to a Hyper-V server installed on the same machine that is running the converter.

Thus, the following network path is applied:. It is recommended to avoid using the system disk usually C: for storing VMs in production environments. Choose the type of virtual disk to be used after conversion.

The virtual disk can be of two types: a fixed size disk the analog of a thick-provisioned disk or a dynamically expanding disk the analog of a thin-provisioned disk. In this walkthrough, a dynamically expanding disk is chosen for the purpose of saving storage space. Choose the format of the virtual hard disk:. Click Next to continue. Specify the source details for connection to a vCenter server or ESXi server.

Now, select the virtual machine for conversion from the ESXi server you have chosen. After selecting the VM, click Next. Virtual machine connection. If VMware Tools are installed on a Linux virtual machine, you must provide the username and password of the root account on the source VM to enable the converter to uninstall VMware Tools. In this example, a Windows machine without VMware Tools is used — hence, these fields are inactive.

Define the final state of the source machine and the final state of the destination machine On or Off. Define the workspace. The workspace is a temporary folder that is used to store temporary files during the conversion process. For better performance, this folder should be located on the machine where the converter is installed.

Enter the path or click the Browse button and select the appropriate folder. Then click Next. Check the summary. Review the configuration details you have specified. If the warnings are not critical, you can proceed; these do not prevent conversion. Click Finish to start the virtual machine conversion process. Wait for the VM conversion to complete. The process can be time-consuming, depending on the size of the virtual disks of the source VM as well as network speed.

If conversion is successful, click Close to exit the virtual machine converter. You can now edit the VM settings. Right-click the VM and select Settings from the context menu. The VM is stored in the directory you specified earlier.

Remove the network adapter and add a legacy network adapter for older guest operating systems to enable networking. Then select the appropriate virtual switch or create a new one for VM connection to the network.

Wait until the OS recognizes new virtual devices. For manual installation of Integration Services, insert the vmguest. Add the converter module to the current PowerShell session. The module is located in the directory where Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter is installed.

In the current example, the default location is used for the converter. Type the following command in PowerShell:. Go to the directory of your VM and list the files of that directory.

You can see the VM files here. Make a note of the name of the VMDK file, as it is needed for further operations. In the current example, a Linux virtual machine with one virtual disk is used. For this part, refer to the blog post that explains how to create a new virtual machine in Hyper-V.

The key point is to connect the virtual disk. At the appropriate stage of the New Virtual Machine Wizard, select Use an existing virtual hard disk and specify the location of your newly created VHD file. You can also use this method for converting VMs with multiple virtual disks. Each virtual disk must be attached to the VM after conversion in this case.

In this case, one VMware virtual disk consists of two files — diskname. A vmdk file is a descriptor that contains information about the virtual disk configuration and points to a -flat. The virtual disk data itself is stored in the -flat.

The size of a vmdk file is a few kilobytes, while the size of -flat. Log into your vCenter with the vSphere client enter the IP address of your vCenter Server in the address bar of your web browser.

Go to the Storage tab, select the datastore with the files of your VM, select the VM directory, and select the virtual disk that should be converted.

Once you have selected the disk, click Download and save a zip archive with the vmdk and -flat. Pay attention to the size of the virtual disk file. You can read more about thick and thin provisioning in a separate blog post. You can confirm that both of these files are present on the datastore if you log into your ESXi host using the SSH client and list the files in the directory of your VM on the datastore.

After extracting the files, you can see that the -flat. Later, you can convert this virtual disk to the dynamically expanding virtual disk for Hyper-V. SFTP is preferred, if possible. You can download WinSCP from the official web site. In the left panel, navigate to the directory where your VMDK files are stored before conversion. Select the two virtual disk files needed vmdk and -flat. Simply drag and drop the files. The main difference is that you now have two files vmdk and -flat.

Open PowerShell and make sure that the appropriate converter module is imported. Define the path to the vmdk file not to a -flat. When the conversion process is successfully completed, create a new Hyper-V VM and use the existing virtual disk option to attach the VHD virtual disk that is ready after conversion as explained above in this article.