VMware VCENTER CONVERTER EN-000158-02 - Manual (Page 23)

Conversion Limitations for Third-Party Virtual Machines or System Images
Converter Standalone can convert third-party virtual machines, system images, and ShadowProtect and
BackupExec System Recovery images. These conversions have some limitations.
Third-party virtual machines and system images have the following limitations:
n Virtual machines from Macintosh versions of Virtual PC are not supported.
n The operating system on the source Virtual PC or Virtual Server virtual machine must be a Windows guest
operating system supported by the intended VMware platform (for example, Workstation 5 or 6.0.x). For
a list of supported operating systems, see the Guest Operating System Installation Guide.
Converter Standalone supports Virtual PC and Virtual Server virtual machines with most Windows
operating systems earlier than Windows NT 4.0 and with non-Windows operating systems (for example,
Linux and DOS) only for cloning. Converter Standalone does not support configuring for these systems.
ShadowProtect and Backup Exec System Recovery have the following limitations:
n Dynamic disks are not supported.
n All images for the backup of a machine must be in a single folder with no other images placed there.
n For volume-based cloning, all volumes in the disk up to the active and system volumes must be backed
up. For example, if a disk has four partitions, 1 through 4, with partition 2 as the active volume and partition
3 as the system volume, the backup must include partitions 1 through 3.
n For incremental images, up to 16 incremental backups are supported.
n Images of systems with logical drives are not supported if the logical drive is also a system or active volume
(ShadowProtect only).
Conversion Limitations for Virtual Appliances
Some limitations exist when you convert virtual appliances.
The following scenarios are not supported:
n Converting local and remote physical machines to virtual appliances
n Selecting a subset of the volumes or resizing the volumes. You must select all volumes for an import and
maintain the size of all of the volumes on the target machine.
n Converting from OVF to OVF. That is, when both source and destination are virtual appliances.
n Converting third-party backup images or virtual machine images to a virtual appliance.
n Converting Windows 2000 virtual machines with scsiport.sys driver version 5.0.2195.7017 to a virtual
appliance.
n Converting Windows NT 4 SMP virtual machines to a virtual appliance.
Although Converter Standalone does not support the preceding scenarios, in each case you can use Converter
Standalone to first convert the source machine to a VMware virtual machine and then convert that machine to
a virtual appliance.
Supported Destination Types
Converter Standalone can create virtual machines compatible with VMware hosted and managed products.
Converter Standalone can also create virtual appliances for Internet distribution.
Table 2-6 shows the destinations that Converter Standalone supports.
Chapter 2 System Requirements
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