Importing VMware Images

When exporting a VM from VMware, the image will likely get exported in one of two formats depending on how you exported it, OVF or OVA. Below are the steps for importing each into Proxmox. This was tested on version 5.3-8.

OVF

1. Transfer the .ovf and .vmdk to the host via SCP
2. Run qm importovf <vmid> <ovf file> <storage>, Ex: qm importovf 100 exported.ovf local-lvm

Note: if the .vmdk name differs from what’s stated in the manifest, you’ll need to rename it to match.

OVA

1. Transfer the .ovato the host via SCP
2. Extract the files from the ovatar -xvf exported.ova
3. Import the VM configuration qm importovf <vmid> <ovf file> <storage>, Ex: qm importovf 101 exported.ovf local-lvm

VHD

If the VM was using a .vhd disk, there’s a couple extra steps.

1. Convert the disk to .qcow2 format. qemu-img convert exported.vhd -O qcow2 exported.qcow2
2. Import the disk into the VM configuration qm importdisk <vmid> <disk> <storage>, Ex: qm importdisk 100 exported.qcow2 local-lvm
3. In the Proxmox web interface, click on newly created virtual machine, then hardware. Double click on the imported disk labeled Unused and assign it to the VM in the diaglog.

Tags: