Do you have Microsoft Virtual PC or Virtual Server machines already built? If so, now you can import them to VMware Workstation or Server with just a few clicks of the mouse?
There are a few reasons you may want to import a Microsoft Virtual PC / Server virtual machine to VMware. They are:
Here is a list of things you should know about importing your Microsoft Virtual machines:
It is easy to import Microsoft Virtual PC / Server machines to VMware. Here are the steps you should take: First, inside your VMware Management Interface, go to File -> Import. You will see the Virtual Machine Importer Wizard. Click Next. You can choose from the typical or custom import options. With the custom import option, you can choose to perform some advanced options. For example, you can set the type of VMware host that will use this imported image. You can also choose not to copy the disk image but, instead, link to it. By choosing to link to the disk image, you won’t be able to use that image again in Virtual PC / Server. Choose the default of Typical, and click Next. On the next screen, specify the source image file. For Virtual PC / Server, this will be the .VMC file that is the configuration for that virtual machine. You aren’t specifying the actual virtual disk that you are going to convert. In my case, I browsed to the VMC files at C:
Documents and Settings All Users\Documents Shared Virtual Machines vs6-sharepoint vs6-sharepoint.vmc. Your virtual machines configuration files (.VMC) may be in that directory or they may be located elsewhere. Once you have located your .VMC files, click Next. The importer will now inspect your virtual machine to make sure it can find the virtual disk that it points to and that the machine is not in a saved/paused state. If it is successful, you will get a confirmation screen, like this: If everything is correct on this screen, click Next to begin the import. The Virtual Machine Importer will first copy the virtual hard drive that the .VMC file pointed to. This may take a long time, depending on the size of the virtual disk. When completed, you should see a screen that looks like this: Click Finish You will be brought back to the VMware Management Interface. You should see that the virtual machine you just imported appears as a new VMware virtual machine, like this: If you click Power-On the Microsoft Virtual PC / Server machine should now start in your VMware Workstation or Server system, like this:In summary, begin able to import Microsoft Virtual PC / Server virtual machines into VMware Workstation or Server is huge timesaver. This can help you convert to VMware much faster, if you have previously used Virtual PC / Server. It can also assist you in building new VMware machines faster, if you can obtain Virtual PC / Server machines from someone else. This is a very unique feature of VMware and, no, you cannot import VMware machines to Virtual PC or Virtual Server.
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