vCenter Converter Standalone 6.6 | 22 FEB 2024 | Build 23265344

What's in the Release Notes

The release notes cover the following topics.

What is New

  • Added support for powered on virtual machines running under Red Hat KVM and Nutanix AHV.

  • Migrated the vCenter Converter helper ISO to Photon OS operating system.

  • Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 (64-bit) and later minor versions.

  • Added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 (64-bit) and later minor versions.

  • Added support for Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS (64-bit).

  • Added support for Ubuntu Linux 20.04 LTS (64-bit).

  • Added support for Ubuntu Linux 22.04 LTS (64-bit).

  • Updated the icons in the graphical user interface.

About vCenter Converter Standalone

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone provides an easy-to-use solution that automates the process of creating VMware virtual machines from physical machines (running Windows and Linux) and other virtual machine formats. Through an intuitive wizard-driven interface and a centralized management console, Converter Standalone can quickly and reliably convert multiple local and remote physical machines without any disruptions or downtime.

  • Convert physical machines running Windows or Linux operating systems to VMware virtual machines quickly and without any disruption or downtime.

  • Enable centralized management of remote conversions of multiple physical servers or virtual machines simultaneously.

  • Ensure conversion reliability through quiesced snapshots of the guest operating system on the source machine before data migration.

  • Enable non-disruptive conversions through hot cloning, with no source server downtime or reboot.

Installation and Upgrade

You can download, install, and run VMware vCenter Converter Standalone in English only.

Users with limited rights cannot install Converter Standalone on Windows. You must log in as an elevated administrator to install Converter Standalone.

Product Interoperability

For the most up-to-date interoperability of Converter Standalone with VMware Desktop products and VMware vCenter virtual machines, check the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix. In addition, Converter Standalone 6.6 supports as sources physical machines running an operating system noted in the Supported Guest Operating Systems section.

Note: The interoperability information for VMware Workstation Player is published under the VMware Workstation product with matching versions. For example, for interoperability with VMware Workstation Player 17.5, see VMware Workstation 17.5.

Supported Platforms

You can install VMware Converter Standalone 6.6 on the following platforms:

  • Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)

  • Windows 10 (32-bit and 64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)

  • Windows 11 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)

VMware Converter Standalone can convert offline virtual machines from the following Hyper-V servers:

  • Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)

  • Windows 10 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)

  • Windows 11 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)

VMware Converter Standalone can convert offline virtual machines from the following VMware products and versions:

  • VMware vSphere 7.0

  • VMware vSphere 7.0 (Update 1)

  • VMware vSphere 7.0 (Update 2)

  • VMware vSphere 7.0 (Update 3)

  • VMware vSphere 8.0

  • VMware vSphere 8.0 (Update 1)

  • VMware vSphere 8.0 (Update 2)

  • VMware Workstation 17 and 17.5

  • VMware Fusion 13 and 13.5

Supported Guest Operating Systems

Converter Standalone 6.6 supports the following guest operating systems:

  • Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)

  • Windows 10 (32-bit and 64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)

  • Windows 11 (64-bit)

  • Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)

  • CentOS 6.x (32-bit and 64-bit)

  • CentOS 7.x (64-bit)

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x (32-bit and 64-bit)

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x (64-bit)

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x (64-bit)

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.x (64-bit)

  • Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (32-bit and 64-bit)

  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (32-bit and 64-bit)

  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (64-bit)

  • Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (64-bit)

  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (64-bit)

CAUTION: During cloning of powered on Linux machines, Converter Standalone preserves the following source file systems on the destination: ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, vfat, and xfs. All other source file systems are converted into ext3 or ext4 file systems on the destination virtual machine.

For more information about the operating systems supported by Converter Standalone and other system requirements, see VMware vCenter Converter Standalone System Requirements.

Product Support Notice

Support for authenticating with RSA SHA1 algorithms is deprecated. Instead, you can use newer algorithms or switch to password-based authentication.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

This product participates in VMware’s Customer Experience Improvement Program (“CEIP”). Details regarding the data collected through CEIP and the purposes for which it is used by VMware are set forth at the Trust & Assurance Center at https://www.vmware.com/solutions/trustvmware/ceip.html. To join or leave the CEIP for this product, please start Converter Standalone and select Customer Experience Improvement Program from the Administration menu on the toolbar. Select the check box to join the CEIP or deselect the check box to leave the program.

Note: You can join the CEIP during the installation of vCenter Converter Standalone.

Caveats and Limitations

  • vCenter Converter Standalone 6.5 does not exist. Version 6.5 is skipped on purpose to avoid possible confusion with VMware vSphere 6.5.

  • vCenter Converter Standalone supports source and destination disk drives with 512B (512e and 512n) disk sector size only. 4K native (4Kn) disk drives are not supported.

Resolved Issues

  • Converter Standalone fails to start when installed on a computer without internet access

    After you install Converter Standalone on a computer without internet connection, Converter Standalone services fail to start. The following message is displayed: Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion. This issue occurs because the DNS server is not able to resolve host names online and the file integrity check exceeds the default timeout of 30 seconds due to failed access to public certificate authority stores. This issue is resolved in this release.

  • After a P2V conversion of an Ubuntu Linux machine, the converted machine might not start

    When you convert an Ubuntu Linux machine and the root volume is a logical volume, the start of the converted VM might fail with an error message: "Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)". This issue is resolved in this release.

  • After a P2V conversion of a Linux machine, the converted machine might not start

    When the converted VM starts, the boot screen displays error messages with repeating lines containing the following error: can't find command `:'. This issue is resolved in this release.

  • Reconfiguration of Linux VM fails at 97-98%, with message: “Error: Unable to reconfigure the destination virtual machine” and the status contains “message: FATAL: kernel too old”

    Some Linux distributions have unsupported combinations of Linux kernel and grub loader. This issue is resolved in this release.

  • Destination virtual machine might not boot if you change the disk controller type while converting a Linux virtual machine

    In Linux virtual machines, the root device can be defined using the block device name (such as /dev/sda1) in /boot/grub/grub.conf, /boot/grub/menu.lst, or /etc/fstab. If you change the disk controller type while converting the virtual machine, the destination virtual machine might not boot. This is because the root device now has a different name (for example, it might have been changed to /dev/hda1). This issue is resolved in this release.

Known Issues

The known issues are grouped as follows.

Installation

  • Converter Standalone installation fails when the selected installation folder name contains non-ASCII characters

    Converter Standalone installation fails if the installation folder name contains non-ASCII characters and the OS locale is different from the locale of the characters. If there are characters from two different locales mixed in the folder name, the installation fails because there is always a character with different locale than the OS locale.

    Workaround: Make sure that all the non-ASCII characters in the folder name are from the same locale as the OS locale.

  • If the name of the Converter Standalone installation directory contains non-ASCII characters, you might experience conversion and configuration problems

    If the name of the Converter Standalone installation directory contains non-ASCII characters, the following issues might occur:

    • Conversion and configuration of Windows virtual machines might fail with an error message Unable to reconfigure destination virtual machine. In the vmware-converter-worker.log, this error generates a message similar to Error 3 (error restoring key: Unknown error 3 (0x3) (3)) restoring registry key C:\ã—ã™ãŸã•ã‹ãn°...\data\SKUNKWORKS_FILLER into... .

    • If you try to convert a Linux physical machine, you might receive an error message in the Convert Machine wizard Unable to obtain hardware information.

    Workaround: None.

  • You must restart machines that run 64-bit Windows Vista or later before reinstalling Converter Standalone

    If you uninstall Converter Standalone from a 64-bit Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7 machine and do not restart it, a subsequent Converter Standalone installation might fail with the following error message: Error 29144. Could not install service Vstor2 MntApi 1.0 Driver (shared). Please reboot and try to install again.

    Workaround: Restart the Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7 machine and try installing Converter Standalone again.

  • Users with limited rights cannot install Converter Standalone on Windows

    If you are logged in to Windows as a non-administrator user, the following error message is displayed while the InstallShield is extracting files for Converter Standalone installation: Unable to save file: C:\WINDOWS\Installer\ The system cannot find the path specified. The error is displayed because limited user accounts do not have the required write permissions.

    Workaround: Select the %TEMP% directory to extract the installation files:

    1. Click OK in the error message. A Save As dialog box appears.

    2. Browse to the Temp folder of the current user (for example, C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\Local Settings\Temp) and click OK.

    NOTE: You still need to log in as an administrator to install Converter Standalone.

General

  • Disk-based cloning of a powered off machine image to a Virtual Volumes datastore destination might fail

    You might not be able to perform a disk-based cloning of a powered off machine image to a Virtual Volumes datastore destination. The conversion might fail at 1% with a message Operation experienced network error if the size of the source disk is not a number that is a multiple of a MB.

    Workaround: Use volume-based cloning, if the option is available.

  • Creation of virtual machine with thick destination disk type of certain size fails on VSAN datastore even if it seems to have enough space

    If you try to perform disk-based conversion with thick destination disk type of certain size on VSAN datastore, the creation of virtual machine might fail with the following error 'converter.fault.InsufficientManagedDiskSpace', even if it seems to have enough space.

    Workaround: Change the destination disk type to thin.

  • If you try to convert a source physical or virtual machine to a managed destination by using thick provisioned disks with large empty spaces on them, the conversion task might fail

    If you try to perform a disk-based cloning of a physical or virtual machine to a managed destination by using thick provisioned disks with large empty spaces on them, the conversion task might fail with an error message Unable to clone disk source_disk on the virtual machine virtual_machine_name. The following messages appear in the log file:

    [03200 warning 'Default'] [,0] [NFC ERROR] NfcNetTcpRead: bRead: -1[03200 warning 'Default'] [,0] [NFC ERROR] NfcNet_Recv: requested 264, recevied only 0 bytes[03200 warning 'Default'] [,0] [NFC ERROR] NfcFile_Stream: Failed to get message from source[03200 warning 'Default'] [,0] [NFC ERROR] NFC_NETWORK_ERROR

    The destination ESXi server must return an acknowledgement after each processed NFC write request. If the source sends a large block of zeroes that must be written it might take a long time for the ESXi to return the acknowledgement. Thus, the Converter assumes that the operation has timed out and closes the connection, no matter that the ESXi server is still writing to the target disk.

    Workaround: Change the destination disk type to thin.

  • A running P2V conversion job fails if you create a new conversion job for the same Windows source machine and use a different port to deploy the Converter Standalone agent

    If, while running a P2V conversion job, you start creating another conversion job for the same powered on Windows source machine, and specify a port for the connection, Converter Standalone deploys the Converter Standalone agent using the port you specified. If the connection port is different from the one that is being used for the already running conversion job, both jobs fail. The following error message appears in the Job summary tab for the first conversion job: FAILED: A general system error occurred: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it. The following error message appears in the Job summary tab for the second conversion job: FAILED: Unable to create a VSS snapshot of the source volume(s). Error code: 2147754774 (0x80042316).

    Workaround: None.

  • You cannot copy running conversion or configuration jobs

    If you open the Copy As New wizard for a running configuration or conversion job when the source is a virtual machine or a backup image and you click Next, the wizard displays the error message Unable to obtain hardware information for the selected machine.

    Workaround: Wait for the job to complete before selecting Copy as New in its pop-up menu.

  • Linked Cloning of source images greater than 2 GB to a network share that does not support large files fails

    Creating linked clones from source images that are larger than 2 GB to a network share that does not support large files (for example, to a Linux SMB share) fails. Converter Standalone does not split the source files into smaller chunks. If the source is larger than the supported file size on the destination, the conversion tasks fails.

    Workaround: None.

  • Creating a conversion job to convert a standalone VMware source with a VMDK file greater than 2 GB from a network share that does not support large files, fails

    If you select a standalone virtual machine source with VMDK file greater than 2 GB residing on a remote network location that does not support large files (for example, Linux SMB share), the following error message appears in the Converter wizard on clicking Next or View source details: Unable to obtain hardware information for the selected machine.

    Workaround: Map the network shared folder to the machine where Converter Standalone runs, and select the source from there.

  • Converter Standalone cannot detect the power state of VMware Workstation or other VMware hosted source virtual machines if they are located on a read-only network share

    If the source machine is a Workstation or another VMware hosted source and is located on a network share with read-only permissions, Converter Standalone cannot detect if the source is powered on or suspended. This might lead to data inconsistency on the destination machine if changes are made to the powered on source virtual machine during conversion.

    Workaround: Perform one or more of the following tasks.

    • Verify that the source virtual machine is powered off prior to conversion.

    • Provide write privileges to the network share where the source virtual machine resides.

  • Converting source volumes with unrecognized file systems might prevent the destination virtual machines from starting

    While you are setting up a volume-based cloning task in one of the Converter Standalone wizards, the volume name might be missing in some rows of the Source Volumes tab. This means that Converter Standalone does not recognize the file system on those volumes. The destination virtual machine that is created as a result of such a conversion task might fail to start up. Nevertheless, Converter Standalone copies the source volume data to the destination using block-level copying.

    Workaround: Configure the destination virtual machine after the conversion.

  • Converting standalone VMware sources with a VMDK file greater than 2 GB to a hosted destination that resides on a network share that does not support large files, fails

    If you select a standalone virtual machine source with VMDK file greater than 2 GB and try to convert it to hosted destination residing on a remote network location that does not support large files (for example, Linux SMB or NFS share), the conversion job might fail with one of following error messages:

    • Unable to connect to the virtual disk

    • Remote server closed connection after 0 response bytes read

    • An error occurred during an operation on a virtual disk

    If conversion is successful, the following error message related to the VMDK file might appear when you power on the destination virtual machine: Internal Inconsistency errors

    Workaround:

    1. In the main application window of Converter Standalone, right-click the failed job and select Copy As New...

    2. Go to the Options page and select Data to Copy.

    3. In the Data to Copy pane, select the volumes to copy and click Advanced.

    4. On the Destination layout tab, select Split not pre-allocated or Split pre-allocated as the destination disk type.

    5. Click Next to view a summary of the conversion job.

    6. On the Ready to Complete page, click Finish to resubmit the job.

  • Converter Standalone is unable to detect the system volume if it resides on a SCSI disk and IDE disks are present in the source machine

    On source machines with SCSI and IDE disks, Converter is unable to detect the system volume if the system volume resides on a SCSI disk. Converter only checks the first IDE disk in such configurations.

    Workaround: None.

  • If the hardware configuration of the source machine is modified while the Conversion wizard is open, you need to restart the conversion wizard if you want to view correct source details

    Source machine details are retrieved per wizard session, as this is a time-consuming process. If some changes occur on the source machine (such as adding memory or hard drives) after this information is retrieved, the Conversion wizard does not show information about the changes.

    Workaround: Restart the conversion wizard.

  • Cloning a source that contains file system errors might result in a damaged virtual machine

  • Timeout on SSL handshake when converting over a WAN link

    Converter Standalone does not support conversion over a WAN. When trying to perform a conversion over a WAN link, you might experience an SSL timeout because the timeout for SSL handshakes is two minutes.

    Workaround:

    1. To avoid the two-minute handshake, perform a conversion to a hosted destination machine (for example, Workstation) in the same LAN.

    2. Copy the temporary virtual machine and send it over the WAN to the remote site.

      If the intended destination is a Workstation virtual machine, this completes the process.

    3. If the intended destination is ESXi, import the Workstation virtual machine to the ESXi server.

  • The Reconfigure Virtual Machine wizard does not display correctly the vDS port group name

    When you reconfigure a virtual machine that uses dvSwitch and you navigate to the Network interface settings pane, the Network name text box does not display the name of the dvSwitch after the port group name. Only port group is displayed instead.

    Workaround: None.

  • The reported network transfer rate might not be correct

    The reported network transfer rate might be higher than the actual one because of the inherent compression used by the network protocol. This does not affect the network throttling.

    Workaround: None.

  • Multiboot configurations are not supported for conversion

    Converter does not recognize proper boot and system volumes in multiboot source machines due to the multiple choices and the reconfiguration of the virtual machine might fail.

    Workaround: Remove the multiboot configuration and leave only one to be converted.

Windows Sources

  • When starting a Windows P2V conversion with synchronization, an error message might be displayed

    On the Options page of the vCenter Conversion wizard, if Data to copy in selected in the options list, some volumes might be displayed by default as Min size. When starting a volume-based conversion of a Windows source machine, vCenter Converter treats these volumes as resized and triggers file-level cloning. As a result the conversion operation might fail with the following error message: Synchronization cannot be enabled if one or more volumes require file-level cloning.

    Workaround: Perform the following tasks.

    1. In the vCenter Conversion wizard, on the Options page, click Data to copy.

    2. Ensure that all volumes have Destination size set to Maintain size.

  • A conversion operation might fail with an error message

    When Microsoft Windows operating system fails to create a VSS snapshot of a mirrored volume, that is formatted with FAT or FAT32 file system, the conversion operation in vCenter Converter might fail with the following error message: FAILED: Unable to create a VSS snapshot of the source volume(s).

    Workaround: Before the conversion operation, perform one or more of the following tasks.

    • Exclude the mirrored FAT or FAT32 volume.

    • Break the mirrored volume on the source machine.

  • After a successful conversion of a Windows machine that uses LDM, mounted volumes without drive letters on the source machine might be presented with drive letters on the destination machine

    This is expected behavior. During the conversion process, vCenter Converter assigns drive letters to all volumes on the destination machine.

    Workaround: Remove the drive letters, then mount the volumes to the desired folders.

  • Conversion operation of a Windows machine with EFI firmware and a mirrored system volume might fail

    The conversion operation might fail at 96% - 98% for powered on or volume-based powered off Windows machines with UEFI firmware, where the system volume resides on a mirrored dynamic disk. The following error message appears in the status line of the task progress tab: "FAILED: Unable to find the system volume, reconfiguration is not possible." 

    Workaround: Before the conversion, remove the mirroring on the source machine.

  • During a conversion operation, the services that run on source machine, might fail to stop

    During the final synchronization of a Windows P2V conversion operation, the services on the source machine might fail to stop and no error or warning message is displayed.

    Workaround: Before the final synchronization, stop the services manually.

  • When converting a remote Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2 machine, the conversion operation might fail

    During the conversion operation of a remote Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2 machine, vCenter Converter might fail to deploy the Converter agent with the following error message: Unable to complete Converter agent installation on ... Error code: 1603. The manual installation of the agent on the source machine might fail with the following error message: openssl.exe - System Error The program can't start because api-ms-win-crt-stdio-l1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

    Workaround: Perform one or more of the following tasks.

  • During a cloning operation of a remote Windows machine, the deployed vCenter Converter agent service might not start.

    After deployment of the vCenter Converter agent, the agent might fail to start with the following error message: Unable to complete Converter agent installation on ... Error code 1603.

    Workaround: Wait for a few seconds and retry the operation.

  • A volume-based conversion operation of a Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, or Windows 11 machine with EFI firmware to hosted destination, such as VMware Workstation, VMware Player, or VMware Fusion, might fail

    This is a conversion limitation, and the error is due to vCenter Converter not being able to clone the ESP (EFI system partition). Typically, the conversion operation fails at 1% with the following error in the status line of the task progress tab: FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion: 'Cannot format volume.'

    Workaround: None.

  • A converted virtual machine might enter the BIOS screen instead of starting

    The converted machine might not start, if the source is a powered off VM with a non-bootable disk on IDE controller, the bootable disk is on IDE controller, and the conversion is set to preserve disk controllers.

    Workaround: In the properties of the converted virtual machine, change the controller type of bootable disk to SATA or SCSI.

  • When converting an offline Windows 11 machine or Windows machine with encryption on the disk or the hypervisor policy, the conversion operation might fail

    The conversion operation might fail with the following error message: FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion: 'Unable to open destination disk'.

    Workaround: In the vSphere inventory, locate the virtual machine and change the encryption options.

    1. From the vSphere Client home page, select Hosts and Clusters.

    2. In the vSphere inventory, right-click the virtual machine that you want to modify and select Manage Snapshots.

    3. In the Snapshot Manager, select Delete all.

    4. In the vSphere inventory, right-click the virtual machine that you want to modify and select Edit Settings.

    5. On the Virtual Hardware tab, expand Hard disk, and change VM storage policy to Datastore Default or any policy without encryption.

    6. On the Virtual Hardware tab, locate the Trusted Platform Module entry, move your pointer over the device and click the Remove icon.

    7. On the Virtual Hardware tab, click Delete to confirm you want to remove the device.

    8. On the VM Options tab, expand Encryption.

    9. From the Encrypt VM drop-down menu, select None.

    10. Deselect the check box for Virtualization Based Security.

    11. Click OK.

  • After a successful conversion of a powered-on Windows source machine, one or more volumes might be missing from the destination machine

    After a successful conversion of a powered-on Windows source machine, one or more volumes might be missing from the destination machine. This issue occurs if there are raw volumes on the source Windows machine because the Converter Standalone might not be able to detect them and might skip them during the query and the conversion.

    Workaround: If the source machine has raw volumes, format them with a file system that is supported by the source’s operating system before moving forward with the conversion.

  • After a successful conversion of a Windows machine that uses LDM, the drive letters of dynamic volumes from the source machine might not be preserved on the destination virtual machine

    After the conversion of a Windows machine that uses LDM, the drive letters of dynamic volumes from the source machine might not match the drive letters of the corresponding volumes on the destination machine.

    Workaround: You can assign drive letters to volumes manually. If the letter you wish to assign to a volume is already in use by another device, you can make it available either by assigning a different drive letter to this device or by removing the drive letter.

  • Cannot virtualize a physical machine from within VMware Fusion 10.x

    Interoperability with VMware Fusion 10.x does not work.

    Workaround:

    1. Create a shared folder on the destination machine and give the local Administrators group full control.

    2. Connect Converter to a host such as localhost and use a user from the local Administrators group.

    3. Verify that the firewall, the UAC, and the remote-UAC are deactivated for the source and the destination machines.

    4. Start the conversion job by selecting the source machine under Powered on: This local machine or Remote Windows machine.

    5. Select as target VMware Workstation or other VMware virtual machine and then select the appropriate destination format VMware Fusion 8.x.

    Note: For more details, see Select a Powered On Windows Machine to Convert, and Select a Hosted Destination in the vCenter Converter Standalone documentation set.

  • Attempting to convert a remote Windows machine with Windows Vista or later with a remote administrative user results in "Permission denied" or "Unable to perform operation" errors, or the remote machine refuses to accept the administrator account

    When you attempt to convert a remote Windows machine with Windows Vista or later by deploying and using the Converter Agent, the installation of the agent results in "Permission denied" or "Unable to perform operation" errors, or if the Agent is installed on the remote machine, the machine refuses to accept the administrator account. This is the result of the Remote Connection UAC which does not allow administrators to perform administrative tasks when connected remotely.

    Workaround: Deactivate the Remote Connection UAC.

    1. Modify the policy.

      • For Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, open the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System registry key and create or modify a DWORD32 value LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy = 1.

      • For Windows 7 and later, deactivate the policy named "User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode" in gpedit.msc:Computer Configuration/Windows Settings/Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options/.

    2. Restart the source machine.

    3. Convert the machine, then restore the settings on the source and the destination machines.

  • When customizing​ a Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 machine, sysprep started by the customization process might fail

    When customizing a Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 machine, sysprep started by the customization process might fail with the following error "Windows installation encountered an unexpected error. Error code: 0xC0000005", making the target VM unusable.

    Workaround: Do not apply customization on the target VM. Do the operations manually in the VM after the conversion.

  • Updated - Customization might not be applied on Windows source machines

    After the conversion of a Windows source machine, the selected customization options are not applied on the resulting VM and the c:\windows\system32\sysprep\panther\setuperr.log file might be empty or contain the following lines similar to:

    2015-12-04 01:51:21, Error SYSPRP Failed to remove staged package Microsoft.Windows.Photos_15.1120.13270.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe: 0x80070002.[gle=0x00000002] 2015-12-04 01:51:21, Error SYSPRP Failed to remove apps for the current user: 0x80070002.2015-12-04 01:51:21, Error SYSPRP Exit code of RemoveAllApps thread was 0x2.2015-12-04 01:51:21, Error SYSPRP Failed to remove all apps: 0x80070002.2015-12-04 01:51:21, Error [0x0f0082] SYSPRP ActionPlatform::LaunchModule: Failure occurred while executing 'SysprepGeneralize' from C:\Windows\System32\AppxSysprep.dll; dwRet = 0x22015-12-04 01:51:21, Error SYSPRP ActionPlatform::ExecuteAction: Error in executing action; dwRet = 0x22015-12-04 01:51:21, Error SYSPRP ActionPlatform::ExecuteActionList: Error in execute actions; dwRet = 0x22015-12-04 01:51:21, Error SYSPRP SysprepSession::Execute: Error in executing actions from C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\ActionFiles\Generalize.xml; dwRet = 0x22015-12-04 01:51:21, Error SYSPRP RunPlatformActions:Failed while executing SysprepSession actions; dwRet = 0x22015-12-04 01:51:21, Error [0x0f0070] SYSPRP RunExternalDlls:An error occurred while running registry sysprep DLLs, halting sysprep execution. dwRet = 0x22015-12-04 01:51:21, Error [0x0f00a8] SYSPRP WinMain:Hit failure while processing sysprep generalize internal providers; hr = 0x80070002

    Note: The error code 0x80070002 and the application Microsoft.Windows.Photo are used as an example and might be different in the c:\windows\system32\sysprep\panther\setuperr.log file on the resulting VM.

    This is a result of multiple users logging in to the machine and installing or updating the Metro Apps.

    Workaround: Perform one or more of the following tasks.

  • Conversion job with no volume selected for shrinking fails with the following error message: 'An error occurred during the conversion: 'Block level cloning does not support shrinking volumes'

    Converting a Windows source that has an LDM volume that is larger than 2 TB and the first disk of the volume is an MBR disk fails with the following error message: 'An error occurred during the conversion: 'Block level cloning does not support shrinking volumes'. Converter attempts to create an MBR disk larger than 2 TB on the destination but the limit of MBR disks is 2 TB.

    The error does not occur on LDM volumes with a GPT first disk, because the destination disk type supports sizes larger than 2 TB.

    Workaround: Convert the LDM volume at file level. Trigger the file-level cloning by shrinking volume size.

  • Unsupported guest operating systems are labeled Other and fail to assign correct values for disk and network controllers

    If you convert a virtual machine that is running on a Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10 guest operating system to ESXi version earlier than 6.0, the conversion results in a VM that cannot boot or does not have networking. The VM settings list the guest operating system as Other instead of Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10.

    Workaround: Perform one or more of the following tasks.

    • Select a destination ESXi which supports Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10.

    • Manually select disk controller and network controller before conversion.

  • If you convert a source machine with Windows 2008 and above operating system, some disk(s) may be offline or read-only

    If you convert a source machine with Windows 2008 and above operating system, some disk(s) in the destination VM may be offline or read-only.

    Workaround:

    • If the disk is offline, in the Disk Management console diskmgmt.msc, right-click the disk and select Online.

    • If the disk is read-only, run diskpart.exe with administrator's rights, and then run the following commands:

      1. DISKPART> list disk

        Lists all disks and their status: online/offline.

      2. DISKPART> select disk #

        Where "#" is the number of disk in offline state.

      3. DISKPART> attribute disk clear readonly

      4. DISKPART> online disk

      5. Repeat steps 2-4 for every offline disk.

      6. DISKPART> exit

  • Configuration of Windows virtual machines with multiple active partitions might not complete

    For Windows virtual machines with multiple active partitions, Converter Standalone might not recognize the boot partition and might not be able to complete the reconfiguration of the destination virtual machine. In such cases, after the conversion job is 96-98% complete, the conversion job status changes to Failed and an error message appears. For example: FAILED: Unable to find the system volume, reconfiguration is not possible. In the Worker/Agent log this issue is identified by the following statement: [#### warning 'Default'] ERROR: [Mntapi_GetFirstBootDisk] more that *one* active volume found. Current active disk #0, another active disk #1.

    Workaround: Perform one or more of the following tasks.

    • Mark all non-boot active partitions on the destination machine as inactive and run configuration on the destination machine.

    1. Boot into Windows Recovery Console on the destination machine.

    2. Run diskpart.exe.

      The diskpart command prompt appears.

    3. (Optional) To list the available disks, enter list disk.

    4. Enter select disk <disk_number>.

    5. (Optional) To list the partitions on the selected disk, enter list partition.

    6. Enter select partition <partition_number>.

    7. Enter inactive.

    8. Repeat steps 4-7 to mark another partition as inactive.

    9. Power off the destination machine.

    10. Run Converter Standalone and configure the destination machine.

    • Mark all non-boot active partitions on the destination machine as inactive and run configuration on the destination machine.

    1. On the source machine, run diskpart.exe.

      The diskpart command prompt appears.

    2. (Optional) To list the available disks, enter list disk.

    3. Enter select disk <disk_number>.

    4. (Optional) To list the partitions on the selected disk, enter list partition.

    5. Enter select partition <partition_number>.

    6. Enter inactive.

    7. Repeat steps 2-6 to mark another partition as inactive.

    8. Run Converter Standalone and start the conversion again.

  • Conversion of a local powered on source machine fails at 1%

    If you select This local machine as a conversion source and a Converter Standalone agent from a previous Converter Standalone version is installed on the source machine, the conversion task fails at 1%. The following error message appears in the Status line of the Task progress tab: FAILED: Unable to create a VSS snapshot of the source volume(s). Error code: 127 (0x0000007F). This is because the Converter Standalone installer cannot upgrade previous versions of Converter Standalone agents.

    Workaround: Manually uninstall Converter Standalone agent from the source machine and create a new conversion task.

  • Converter Standalone worker process stops responding if you try to copy a configuration job during guest operating system customization

    If you right-click a running configuration job and select Copy As New while the destination machine is being customized, Converter Standalone worker process stops responding.

    Workaround: Wait for the configuration job to complete before you copy it.

  • Subsequent P2V conversions of remote source machines that run 64-bit Windows Vista or later might fail after a successful conversion

    If you convert successfully a remote source machine that runs 64-bit Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7 operating system and then try converting it again, the conversion fails with the error message Converter Standalone Agent installation failed on x.x.x.x Error code: 1603, where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the source machine. This error message might occur if automatic uninstall of remote Converter Standalone agent has been enabled during the first successful conversion.

    Workaround: Restart the remote source machine and try running the conversion task again.

  • Converter Standalone does not preserve disabled network adapters during conversion of physical machine sources that run on Windows

    During P2V conversion of Windows source machines, Converter Standalone does not detect disabled network adapters on the source and does not preserve them on the destination virtual machine.

    Workaround: On the Options page of the Converter Standalone wizard, click Networks to add network adapters to the destination virtual machine.

  • Converter Standalone does not support cloning of powered on sources with Windows Server 2008 or later with FAT/FAT32 volume file system

    VSS under Windows Server 2008 or later does not support FAT/FAT32. Trying to convert a FAT/FAT32 volume causes the conversion task to fail.

    Workaround: Deselect all FAT/FAT32 volumes on the Options page of the Conversion wizard.

  • Previous Converter versions cannot convert source machines that have Converter Standalone 6.x agent installed on them

    Converter Standalone 6.x agent is deployed on the source machine during conversion. If Converter Standalone 6.x agent is not uninstalled after the conversion, older Converter versions cannot deploy their agents on top of the newer Converter Standalone agent version. Therefore, you cannot use previous Converter versions to convert sources that have already been converted with Converter Standalone 6.x.

    Workaround: Uninstall Converter Standalone 6.0 agent before trying to convert the source with an older Converter version.

  • Owner name and organization are not displayed properly after customizing the guest operating system

    After customizing the guest operating system, Unicode characters used for owner name and organization on the Computer Information page do not appear the way they were set in the Conversion or the Configuration wizard.

    For all Windows operating systems except Windows Vista, customization parameters such as user name and organization must use characters only from the local encoding of the default user profile of the guest. For example, you can use Japanese characters for the user name only on a guest whose default user profile's local encoding is set to Japanese. These restrictions do not apply to Windows Vista guests because Windows Vista uses a UTF-8 encoded XML file to store the Microsoft sysprep parameters. Earlier versions of Windows use the sysprep.inf file, and the Microsoft Windows mini-setup process reads that file in the local encoding only.

    Workaround: Avoid Unicode characters when assigning owner name and organization name for the destination virtual machine.

  • Converter can convert FAT/FAT32 volumes during hot cloning only if the source machine has at least one NTFS volume

    For source machines running under Windows versions earlier than Windows Server 2008, VSS can take snapshots of FAT/FAT32 volumes only if the source machine has at least one NTFS volume. For all operating systems that support volume-based cloning, you need at least one NTFS volume for VSS to work.

    Workaround: None.

  • Converter Standalone agent does not start automatically after reboot

    If the source machine starts up too slowly, Converter Standalone agent might not start automatically after the source machine is restarted.

    Workaround: Start the Converter Standalone agent manually.

    1. Right-click My Computer and select Manage.

    2. In the Computer Management window, select Services and Applications > Services on the left.

    3. In the list on the right, double-click VMware Converter Standalone Agent.

    4. Click Start to start the process.

    5. Click Apply followed by OK.

  • Sysprep deletes drive letter mappings during customization

    If you choose customization options and the destination virtual machine fails at a Please Wait screen after the second sysprep reboot, you need to rerun the conversion task without customization. This issue occurs because of a problem with Microsoft sysprep, which deletes the drive letter mappings, preventing access to certain files.

    Workaround: None.

  • User Account Control (UAC) prevents installing Converter Standalone agent if you are not using the default Administrator account to connect to a powered on source machine

    If you are setting up a task to convert a powered on source machine that runs Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, or Windows 8 and you use a non-default Administrator account to log in to the source machine, the following error message might appear when you try to install Converter Standalone agent on the source machine: Insufficient permissions to connect to xxxxxxx. Here xxxxxxx is the IP address of the source machine. This is because Converter Standalone server cannot install Converter Standalone agent when UAC is activated and you are logged in to the source as non-default Administrator user.

    Workaround: Deactivate the UAC on the source machine before you start the Conversion wizard. You can search the Microsoft Web site for procedures on deactivating the UAC depending on the source operating system. For Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8, in addition to deactivating UAC, you must perform the following steps:

    1. In the Windows Start menu, type gpedit.msc. The Local Group Policy Editor opens.

    2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.

    3. Disable the Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode setting.

    4. Restart.

  • Adding a virtual machine to a domain might fail if you specify a fully qualified user name

    When configuring a virtual machine, you might not be able to add the virtual machine to a domain if you use a fully qualified user name (DOMAIN_NAME\USER_NAME).

    Workaround: Specify the user name without including the domain name.

Linux Sources

  • New - After a conversion operation of a source machine with a volume that is formatted with ext4, the volume might be formatted with ext3 in the destination machine.

    When the source machine is running a RHEL 6.x or Ubuntu 14.04 operating system and has volumes formatted with ext4 file system, during the conversion process the volumes are formatted with ext3 file system instead. The change of the file system occurs due to the migration of the vCenter Converter helper ISO to Photon OS operating system. The Converter helper service formats the volume with ext3 file system to allow RHEL 6.x and Ubuntu 14.04 operating systems to read the volume after the conversion.

    To preserve the ext4 volume in the destination machine, convert the source machine by using vCenter Converter 6.4.

  • After a conversion operation of a source machine with EFI secure boot enabled, the destination machine might not be able to start

    If secure boot is enabled, a converted machine might fail to start due to the version of the installed operating system and you might receive the following error message on the UEFI boot screen: Attempting to startup from: <OS>..Security Violation., where <OS> is the operating system of the machine.

    Workaround: Perform one or more of the following tasks.

    • After the conversion operation, in the VM settings of the virtual machine, disable the secure boot feature.

    • Before the conversion operation, in the vCenter Converter wizard, select a virtual machine hardware version 19 or earlier.

      Note: This workaround is not applicable to all operating systems.

  • Conversion operation of a Linux machine where the boot volume resides on a BtrFS file system might fail

    The conversion might fail with an error message in the status line of the task progress tab similar to:

    'FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion: 'boost::filesystem::rename:
No such file or directory, "/mnt/p2v-src-root/root/boot/initramfs-3.10.0-1160.el7.x86_64.img"'

    If /boot is a directory in the root volume and the root volume is on a BtrFS file system, the same issue might occur.

    Workaround: None.

  • Converting a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 or a CentOS 7.6 machine fails at 98% with Error: Unable to reconfigure the destination virtual machine

    Converting a powered-on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 or CentOS 7.6 machine with a kernel that was updated to 3.10.0-957.5.1 fails at 98% with the following error: Unable to reconfigure the destination virtual machine. In the Task Progress tab, you see the following: An error occurred during the conversion: 'SysCommandWrapper: Error encountered in SysCommand: SysCommand failed to wait /usr/lib/vmware-converter/chrootAndExec.sh to terminate.

    Workaround:

    1. Before the conversion, open a command line on the source machine and run the following command: yum downgrade lvm2-libs-2.02.180-10.el7_6.2.x86_64 lvm2-2.02.180-10.el7_6.2.x86_64 device-mapper-event-libs-1.02.149-10.el7_6.2.x86_64 device-mapper-1.02.149-10.el7_6.2.x86_64 device-mapper-libs-1.02.149-10.el7_6.2.x86_64 device-mapper-event-1.02.149-10.el7_6.2.x86_64

    2. After the conversion, run yum update on the target machine.

  • Converting a powered-on Linux machine fails with the following error: “Unable to partition the destination disks”

    Converting a powered-on Linux machine fails with the following error: Unable to partition the destination disks. A message similar to: An error occurred during the conversion: Failed to find matching disk device for VMODL Param Disk #0, 1447909153, controller: scsi, bus ID: 0, and unit ID: 0 appears in the Status line of the Task progress tab. This issue occurs if the disk controller type of the destination machine is set to SCSI BusLogic.

    Workaround: Select another disk controller type for the destination virtual machine.

  • Converter cannot query Linux source when a volume is mounted more than once

    When the source machine has more than one mount point, you receive the following error message: Unable to query the live Linux source machine. The worker log contains entry similar to: 2017-11-10T14:04:16.686+08:00 error vmware-converter-worker[03260] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] No disks for volume with id '/dev/xvda2' and label ''. Converter expects each source file system to have a unique mount point. Having more than one mount point per file system breaks the analysis of volumes and partitions.

    Workaround: Unmount any of the double mounted file systems in the source machine so that there is only one mount point per file system. Do not unmount the root (/) or boot (/boot) mount points. If any of them are mounted more than once, unmount the other mount point or points.

  • Converted powered on Linux machines cannot start up

    If you convert a powered on Linux machine that has a non-standard LVM filter saved in the /etc/lvm.conf file, the converted virtual machine might fail to start up. The following error message appears in the virtual machine console: Unable to access resume device (dev//)

    Workaround: Before the conversion, edit the filter in the lvm.conf file on the source Linux machine to allow all devices. For Red Hat Linux, the default value of the filter is [ "a/.*/" ].

  • Linux P2V conversion fails in the beginning with the following error message: 'A general system error occured: &lt;source_server_dns_name&gt;: Connection closed by remote host'

    If the source machine sshd is configured to allow less than 3 unauthenticated connections, it may sever the converter connection.

    Workaround: Check MaxStartups in /etc/ssh/sshd_config and ensure it is either commented out or its first number is 3 or higher.

  • X Server might fail to start in destination virtual machines converted from sources that run Linux

    When the destination virtual machine starts, X server might fail to start with an error Fatal X server Error. This is due to incompatibility issues between the display driver used in the Linux source and the display adapter of the destination VMware virtual machine.

    Workaround: Perform one or more of the following tasks.

    • Install VMware Tools on the destination virtual machine.

    • Configure the X server on the destination virtual machine to change the refresh rate and the display resolution.

  • Linked cloning of standalone VMware sources to Linux SMB shared destination fails

    Linked cloning tasks of VMware standalone sources to SMB shared destinations that run on Linux fail with the following error: converter.fault.FileIOFault.

    Workaround: None.

  • The number of LVM logical volumes per volume group is limited to 12 for powered on Linux sources

    During the conversion of powered on Linux machines, Converter Standalone converts LVM volume groups into new disks on the destination virtual machine. The number of LVM logical volumes on a source LVM volume group cannot exceed 12.

    Workaround: Move volumes out of the new disk to other destination disks.

    1. On the Options page of the Conversion wizard, click Data to copy.

    2. From the Data copy type drop-down menu, select Select Volumes to copy and click Advanced.

    3. On the Destination layout tab, select a volume to move and click Move Up or Move Down until it is moved to the destination disk.

      You can move volumes between disks only if they are not Active /boot or System / volumes.

    4. (Optional) To create a new destination disk, click Add Disk.

  • Source volumes on top of volume managers other than LVM are not recognized during conversion of powered on Linux machines

    Converter Standalone recognizes only managed source volumes that run on the LVM volume manager. Other volume managers, including but not limited to Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM), are not recognized.

    Workaround: None.

  • Converter Standalone does not recognize source volumes that reside on Linux Software RAID configurations

    During cloning of powered on Linux machines, Converter Standalone does not recognize source volumes that are part of a Software RAID configuration (also referred to as multiple disk, or MD, configurations).

    Workaround: None.

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