Avantguard Computer & Security Systems

Convert Image to VirtualBox

VMware to VirtualBox via OVFTool

Install OVFTool

Download from VMware’s website:

  • Linux: VMware-ovftool-*.bundle
chmod +x VMware-ovftool-*.bundle
./VMware-ovftool-*.bundle

Convert VMware VMX to OVF

ovftool /path/to/vmware/machine.vmx /path/to/output/machine.ovf

Convert VMware to OVA (single file)

ovftool /path/to/vmware/machine.vmx /path/to/output/machine.ova

Import into VirtualBox

vboxmanage import /path/to/output/machine.ova

Convert VMDK to VDI

vboxmanage clonehd source.vmdk destination.vdi --format VDI

Convert Raw Image to VDI

vboxmanage convertfromraw /dev/sda disk.vdi --format VDI

Physical Machine to VirtualBox (P2V)

# On physical machine, create raw image of disk
dd if=/dev/sda of=/media/external/sda.img bs=4M

# Convert raw image to VDI
vboxmanage convertfromraw sda.img sda.vdi --format VDI

# Create new VM and attach VDI
vboxmanage createvm --name "P2V Machine" --ostype Ubuntu_64 --register
vboxmanage storagectl "P2V Machine" --name "SATA" --add sata
vboxmanage storageattach "P2V Machine" --storagectl "SATA" --port 0 --type hdd --medium sda.vdi