I recently had to move several of VmWare images from VmWare Workstation 5.0 to VmWare GSX server. Just loading the .vmx file on the GSX Server will fail, because a new Hardware Version was introduced with Version 5.0. The GSX Server will just refuse to read the Harddisk File.
An obvious workarround woud be to use a disk imaging tool like Ghost to move the 5.x image into a 4.x legacy image. While this will work, it can be a real piece of work. Using a capable Hex Editor it can be done much quicker:
- Make a backup copy of your 5.x workstation Virtual Machine (trust me, do it)
- If your 5.x Virtual Machine is a linked clone, you first have to create a full clone of it. It's not possible to run a linked clone an a GSX Server
- Remove all Snapshots if there are any
- If you have the time: defrag and shrink your virtual harddisk
- Open the .vmdk disk file with a HexEditor. This might not be so easy as it sounds, since the file is likely bigger than 2 GB. Many HexEditors will not be able to edit files > 2 GB. I used WinHex, if you are in the Linux world a common vi will do the trick as well
- Look out for the following string: ddb.virtualHWVersion="4" Change it to: ddb.virtualHWVersion="3"
- Move the .vmdk file to your GSX Server (you'll only need the .vmdk file)
- On the GSX Server, create a fresh Virtual Machine, choose the Hardware as required, but use the tweaked .vmdk file as Harddisk
- Start the image on the GSX Server. The System should start up
- Remove the existing VMWare Tools, and install the current version
I've done this for serveral Virtual Machines, both with Windows and Linux, and I haven't encountered any problems. One issue might be slightly different Harware between VmWare Workstaion and GSX Server. E.g. on one machine I had to switch the Network adapter type, otherwise my Windows 2003 server refused to detect the network adapter.