As your lab environment is upgraded, you may need to migrate VMware Workstation to a more specialized type-1 hypervisor VMware ESXi.
However, the VMDK format between VMware Workstation and ESXi are different, therefore the VMDK file of Workstation VMs cannot be directly used by VMware ESXi. It needs to be converted.
Unfortunately, On February 2, 2022, VMware announced that vCenter Converter was completely removed from the Product Downloads list. And the new replacement has not yet been released.
In that case, you have to take some workarounds to do that. Here are 3 availalbe methods.
Way 1. Export Workstation VM and import to ESXi
Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is a file format that supports exchange of virtual appliances across products and platforms.
However, there may be hardware compatibility issues between versions of VMware Workstation and ESXi. Therefore, before you start, you need to make sure that the VMware Workstation VM is hardware compatible with your ESXi Server.
1. Launch VMware Workstation, select the target VM and click VM > Manage > Change Hardware Compatibility… to open the wizard.
2. Select the Hardware compatibility version and click Next.
3. Select to Create a new clone of this virtual machine, or Alter this virtual machine. Click Next to continue.
4. If you choose to create a clone, you will need to provide a Name and Location for this new virtual machine. And then click Finish to change the hardware compatibility.
5. Select the target virtual machine, click File > Export to OVF…
6. Specify a destination location to store the exported files, and then click Save.
When it’s accomplished, you will find 3 files in destination location. The manifest file ends with .mf, the OVF file which provides a complete specification of the virtual machine, and the virtual disk file ends with .vmdk.
7. Access to VMware ESXi web client, navigate to Virtual Machines and click Create/Register VM to open the wizard.
8. On the Select creation type tab, select Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file option, and then click Next.
9. On Select OVF and VMDK files tab, provide a name (up to 80 characters) for the new VM, and then click the blank to specify the OVF/OVA file you exported. Click Next to continue.
10. On Select storage tab, specify a datastore to store the VM files, then click Next.
11. On Deployment options page, select the Network mappings, Disk provisioning, and Power on automatically or not. Click Next to continue.
12. On Ready to complete page, review the settings and click Finish to start. You can see the progress in Recent tasks.
Way 2. Upload VMware Workstation VMs to ESXi Server
You can connect ESXi server and manage the ESXi VMs on Workstation. Likewise, VMware also provides a convenient feature to upload Workstation VMs to ESXi Server. Before you start, you still need to change the hardware compatibility.
1. Launch VMware Workstation, and click File > Connect to Server…
2. Provide the Server name, User name, and Password and click Connect to connect to your ESXi server.
3. Click VM > Manage > Change Hardware Compatibility…
4. Select the virtual machine hardware compatibility you need in the pop-up window.
5. Click VM > Manage > Upload… to open the Upload Virtual Machine Wizard.
6. Select the ESXi server you connected in the pop-up window, and click Next.
7. Provide a Name for the new virtual machine and specify a Datastore that will be used to store it. Then click Finish to start upload.
Way 3. Backup Workstation VM and restore to ESXi
You can also try file-based backup to backup everything on the Workstation VM and restore them to a ESXi VM.
In this way, you can backup virtual machines as physical machines, and restore to any operating systems on any environments as you like. You can even migrate data between physical machines just like P2V VMware migrations. It is easy, and familiar to most people.
Here I recommend you an easy and economical tool AOMEI Centralized Backupper. It is a professional backup software that capable of backing up File, System, Disk, Partition, and SQL Server in simple steps.
Next, I will demonstrate the detailed steps.
How to move VMware Workstation VM to ESXi:
1. Launch AOMEI Centralized Backupper, and navigate to Computers > Uncontrolled Computers. Check the target virtual machines (with a static IP) from the Computers list, and click Request Control.
It will pop up a request window on these machines, once you are authorized you can backup whenever you like.
2. Navigate to Tasks > New Task > Disk Backup. You can change the task name by moving the cursor over the task name and click on it.
3. There are 3 steps to follow. Firstly, click + Add Computers to specify the controlled virtual machine you want to move to ESXi as the source, click OK to confirm.
4. Then specify the disks on the virtual machine as source.
In addition, click on the inverted arrow sign ﹀ you can select to backup All disks, Disks containing system partitions, Disks containing partitions with specified drive letters, or Disks containing partitions with matching labels.
5. Specify a Share or NAS device to store the backup, and then click Start Backup.
6. The created task will be listed separately in Tasks.
Click Advanced > Restore on the right top of the task, and select to Restore to another computer. Specify a new ESXi VM you want to restore to, and then click Next to continue.
7. You can Edit Disk, or Align partition to optimize for SSD in this step. Then you can click Start Restore to move everything on the Workstation VM to the new ESXi VM.
You may be getting started with virtualization through VMware Workstation. But as your environment upgraded, you may need to move to a more professional ESXi server, and will then need to move VMware Workstation VM to ESXi.
In this article, I showed 3 ways to move VMware Workstation VM to ESXi, you can choose the way you prefer. Besides, after you successfully migrate virtual machines to ESXi Server, it is also recommended that you use an free esxi backup software to protect your VMs regularly.
