VMware vCenter Converter^TM

VMware vCenter Converter is available in two flavors - Converter Standalone and vCenter Converter plug-in respectively.

VMware vCenter Converter supports conversions from sources such as physical machines, VMware and Microsoft virtual machine formats and certain 3rd party disk image formats.

Linux P2V is supported in vCenter Converter Standalone only. 

VMware vCenter Converter can import virtual machines created in:

• VMware Workstation
• VMware Player
• VMware Fusion
• VMware ESX/ESXi
• VMware Server
• VMware vCenter Server
• Microsoft Virtual PC
• Microsoft Virtual Server 
• Microsoft Hyper-V. Microsoft Hyper-V VM imports are supported as a physical source.

Please refer to the release notes for vCenter Converter Standalone and vCenter Converter respectively for additional details.

VMware vCenter Converter can currently import system images (Windows operating system only) from:

• Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery (formerly LiveState Recovery)
• Symantec Backup Exec
• Norton Ghost
• Acronis True Image
• StorageCraft 
• Parallels Desktop

It can also import Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server formats.

Please refer to the release notes for vCenter Converter Standalone and vCenter Converter respectively for additional details.

VMware vCenter Converter can output virtual machines that are compatible with:

• VMware Workstation
• VMware Player
• VMware ESX/ESXi
• VMware Server
• VMware Fusion

Please refer to the release notes for vCenter Converter Standalone and vCenter Converter respectively for additional details on supported VMware products.

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone is a free product that anyone may download for getting started with virtualization. VMware vCenter Converter is a vCenter plug-in and is available as a part of VMware vCenter Server.

No. There is no upgrade path from VMware P2V Assistant to VMware vCenter Converter.

There is no longer the need for a Helper VM to perform P2V or V2V conversions. Management of all conversions is facilitated through the centralized management interface of VMware vCenter Converter.

There is no hardware compatibility list for VMware vCenter Converter. VMware vCenter Converter supports and recognizes most server hardware types. VMware vCenter Converter provides for two cloning mechanisms: Hot cloning (live migrations) and cold cloning (cloning using a BootCD).

With hot cloning, VMware vCenter Converter communicates directly with the guest operating system running on the source physical machine and as such has no direct hardware level dependencies.

With cold cloning, the VMware vCenter Converter BootCD provides a Windows PE boot environment that provides support for the latest hardware and is thus able to recognize most physical server systems. For instances where the VMware vCenter Converter BootCD does not recognize the source physical hardware, VMware provides a utility that helps administrators download the necessary storage and network adapter drivers from the vendor’s website and inject the downloaded drivers into the BootCD distribution. This can be used to create a new Converter BootCD image that will help recognize the system hardware.

Customers are spending way too much time and effort today doing physical to virtual conversions. With other technologies or methods, customers may spend several hours even doing a single conversion. Majority of the cost of doing a conversion is the manual labor and time spent by the IT professional. VMware vCenter Converter rapidly and reliably converts physical machines to virtual machines with the goal of freeing up time for the IT professional.

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone is available free of charge for any user. Technical Support is not included and will need to be purchased separately.

VMware vCenter Converter is available as a part of VMware vCenter Server at no additional cost. Support is available as a part of VMware vCenter support.

You do not require a license key to use the features of Converter Standalone. A license key is required to use the features of VMware vCenter Converter.

VMware P2V Assistant product is now end of life. VMware P2V Assistant licenses are no longer available for purchase.

Customers may purchase pay-per-incident support for Converter Standalone that will follow a Silver support SLA. Alternate resources for support and information are available through discussion forums, documentation, knowledgebase (KB) articles, white papers and release notes.

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone completes our range of solutions that accelerate the benefits people see from virtualization. The free availability of VMware vCenter Converter Standalone makes the process of converting to virtualization virtually pain-free, low cost and fast. It provides for a great user experience at the best value.