Convert from VirtualBox to VmWare Workstation

Convert from VirtualBox to VmWare Workstation



Export the ova from virtualbox

Open virtualbox, make sure guest you want to export is not running.
Highlight guest, file--> Export Appliance
Select OVF 1.0 and check 'Write Manifest'

rename the file to .zip or .rar and extartct it.




Convert the vmdk file(s):
Open a cmd prompt and navigate into your vmware folder to find the vmware-vdiskmanager.exe
In my case it was in 'c:\program files (x86)\vmware\vmware workstation' folder.
use the vdiskmanager.exe utility to convert the existing vmdk file(s) to a format that vmware likes better...


run this:
vmware-vdiskmanager -r "c:\OVF\Oracle DB Developer VM-disk001.vmdk" -t 2 c:\OVF\VM-disk0001.vmdk
vmware-vdiskmanager -r "c:\OVF\Oracle DB Developer VM-disk002.vmdk" -t 2 c:\OVF\VM-disk0002.vmdk
vmware-vdiskmanager -r "c:\OVF\Oracle DB Developer VM-disk003.vmdk" -t 2 c:\OVF\VM-disk0003.vmdk


Where sourcedisk is in the extracted ova from virtualbox and targetdisk is the location of where you want the export to happen.
I used the same filename for source and target, not sure if this matters or not.
I did get a warning each time I did this but it did not cause any problems for me.
VixDiskLib: Invalid configuration file parameter.  Failed to read configuration file.


After converting the disk:

Create a new virtual machine, advanced and use existing hard disk
point to the converted disk(I selected the larger vmdk file, not the 'flat' version that was 1k)
Make that disk SATA instead of SCSI(SCSI caused bluescreen when it tries to boot in my scenario).
Select 'Convert' rather than 'Keep existing format'


Now launch the VmWare Workstation and start up your image...