Migrating a Windows 7 Workstation virtual machine to vSphere

Symptoms

  • When exporting a Windows 7 virtual machine with Workstation, you see the error:

    Unsupported guest operating system.
     
  • Importing a Windows 7 virtual machine into Workstation fails.
  • The VMware Converter Agent log file (vmware-converter-<x>.log) shows the error:

    [<date stamp> <time stamp> 'App' 3940 error] [p_w_picpathProcessingTaskImpl,552] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task{0}: Image processing task has failed with MethodFault::Exception: sysp_w_picpath.fault.UnsupportedOs
     
  • The VMware Converter log (vmware-client-<x>.log) file shows the error:

    [<date stamp> <time stamp> 'P2V' 140 error] [task,295] Task failed: P2VError UNSUPPORTED_GUEST_OS()

Resolution

VMware vCenter Converter and Workstation do not support converting a Windows 7 computer (physical or virtual). However, it is possible to convert a virtual machine's virtual disk(s) for use with ESX 4.0.
 
Note:  This has been resolved in ESX 4.1 and vCenter Converter 4.2 and later.
 
To prepare the computer/OS for cloning:
  1. Delete all snapshots, if possible. Any remaining snapshots need to be converted with the main virtual disk. For information about snapshots in Workstation, see the Workstation User Manual and Working with snapshots (1009402).
  2. Remove any and all connected network adapters from the virtual machine. To remove the network adapters:
    1. Go to VM > Settings.
    2. Select any lines that begin with Network Adapter.
    3. Click Remove.

  3. While in the Settings pane, make a note of how much Memory and how many Processors have been allocated to the virtual machine.
  4. Convert the Workstation virtual machine's virtual disk into an ESX-format virtual disk, being sure to specify type 4 for a pre-allocated ESX-type virtual disk. The command looks like:

    vmware-vdiskmanager -r <WorkstationDisk.vmdk> -t 4 <newEsxDisk.vmdk>

    Note: For more information on the vmware-vdiskmanager command, see the Virtual Disk Manager User's Guide.
  5. In ESX, make a new virtual machine from the converted virtual disk. For more information, see Selecting a Virtual Disk Type (in Creating Virtual Machines) the vSphere Basic System Administration Guide.
  6. Configure the virtual machine's properties to be the same as the Workstation's virtual machine's settings (that is, the same number of drives, the same CPU and RAM allocations, and so on). For information on configuring an ESX virtual machine, see Virtual Machine Configuration in the vSphere Basic System Administration Guide.
  7. Connect any necessary network adapters. For more information, see the Change the Virtual Ethernet Adapter (NIC) Configuration (in Virtual Machine Properties) in the vSphere Basic System Administration Guide.
  8. Deploy the new virtual machine with customization. This changes the MAC address and SIDs so that the new and old virtual machines can run simultaneously without conflict. For more information on deploying with customization, see Customize Windows During Cloning or Deployment in the vSphere Basic System Administration Guide.

    Note: You may need to re-activate Windows. For more information, see the Resetting Windows Activation section of the Microsoft article     How Sysprep Works.