Convert VMs with StarWind V2V converter

StarWind V2V converter is a free tool provided by StarWind to convert virtual hard drive. You can convert Hyper-V virtual hard drive (VHDX) to VMware ESXi virtual hard drive (VMDK) and vice versa. Other virtual hard drive formats are supported such as qcow2. Because StarWind V2V convert only the virtual hard drive, you can’t automate the migration between hypervisor. So, this tool is not appropriated if you have hundred or thousand VM. Usually, with this number of virtual machines, a smarter product is required (so a paid product). But if you have a small amount of VM these smarter products are overkill and StarWind V2V can help you. In this topic, we’ll see how to convert a Hyper-V VM to VMware VM.

Convert a Hyper-V VM with StarWind V2V

You can download StarWind V2V Converter from this link. Once you have downloaded and installed the product, you can launch it. To convert a Hyper-V VM, select Microsoft Hyper-V Server.

Then specify the name of the Hyper-V Host and credentials. Unfortunately, you can’t specify a cluster name.

Then select the virtual hard drive you want to convert and click on Next.

Next, select VMware direct conversion to ESXi. The description sysa that only ESXi 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0 are supported. But I have successfully converted a VHDX to an ESXi 6.7.

In the next window, specify the IP address and credentials of the target ESXi server.

Next select the datastore where you want to store the converted virtual hard drive.

When the VM is converting, you can get a progress bar.

When the migration is finished, you can connect to your ESXi and create a new VM with the same features. Remove the default hard disk Then add an existing hard disk and select the disk you’ve just converted.

Now you can start the VM. As you can see the VM is working (The VM I have converted was also on License terms). Once you are logged into operating system, you can install the VMware Tools.

Convert VMware VM to Hyper-V VM.

This time we want to convert a VMware VM to a Hyper-V VM. So I choose VMware ESXi Server.

Then specify the IP address and credentials of the source VMware ESXi server.

N.B: The migration from a VMware ESXi 6.7 doesn’t work with StarWind V2V Converter. I had to use a VMware ESXi 6.5 to make the screenshot.

Next select the VMDK you want to convert and click on Next. As you can see in the following screenshot, you can’t convert two VMDK in the same time. It’s a shame.

In the next window, choose Microsoft VHDX image.

Specify the hostname and credentials of the Hyper-V host. You can’t specify a cluster.

To finish choose the destination folder and click on next to start the convert process.

Conclusion

StarWind V2V is not the smartest converter product on the market. Some features are missing. But if you have a small amount of VM and you don’t want to pay a converter product, StarWind V2V can help you. You can migrate VM per VM from a lot of hypervisor. Thanks to this tool you can plan to migrate from Hyper-V to VMware or vice versa. However if you have hundred of VMs, don’t use this tool, it is not made for that.