How To Convert A Physical Computer Into A Virtual Machine Using VMware vCenter Converter (VMware P2V Migration).
VMware vCenter Converter is an application developed by VMWARE that makes it possible to simply convert a physical computer into a virtual machine without experiencing downtime. vCenter Converter has a management dashboard that makes it easy to monitor multiple and simultaneous conversions in a reliable manner. It also supports a wide range of operating systems including windows , linux and also conversion of third-party virtual machines running on HYPER-V and KVM. Read through this tutorial to see how you can convert a physical computer into a virtual machine as well as converting HYPER-V and KVM virtual machines into vmware virtual machines.
REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete this tutorial successfully the following items are required. Please ensure to have these items available before taking implementation action on this tutorial:
1) A desktop or laptop with Windows 10 or MacOS.
2) VMware vCenter Converter Installation File.
3) A target computer that you wish to convert.
4) VMware ESXi or Workstation Player / Pro.
OVERVIEW
1) Download and install VMware vCenter Converter on the computer that needs to be converted.
2) Open the VMware vCenter Converter application and convert the physical computer into a VMware ESXi or Workstation virtual machine.
3) Learn how to use VMware vCenter Converter to convert a remote physical computer
4) Learn how to convert a HYPER-V virtual machine into a VMware ESXi virtual machine
5) Learn how to convert a KVM virtual machine into a VMware ESXi virtual machine.
Step 1: Download And Install VMware vCenter Converter
1) Click HERE to visit the VMware vCenter Converter download page and click on “GO TO DOWNLOADS” Click on the “vCenter Converter Standalone” download link. You’ll have to sign in to your VMWARE account to start the download. If you do not have an account you can create a free VMWARE account.
2) Open the folder where the VMware vCenter Converter setup file has been downloaded to and open it. On the “VMWARE VCENTER STANDALONE” insattation wizard, click on “NEXT” to proceed.
On the “END USER PATENT AGREEMENT” click on “NEXT” then select the “I AGREE TO THE TERMS IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT” on the “END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT” section.
3) On the “DESTINATION FOLDER” section you can select a folder where vCenter Standalone will be installed to. We recommend that you leave the default folder an only choose a diiferent folder if you really have to.
4) On the “SETUP TYPE” section select the “LOCAL INSTALLATION” option. However if you would like to have a central server for managing conversions choose the “CLIENT – SERVER INSTALLATION (ADVANCED)” option.
5) On the “USER EXPERIENCE SETTINGS” you can choose to join the VMWARE customer experience improvement program CEIP, that makes it possible for VMWARE to collect uage information that helps to improve VMware vCenter Converter.
6) On the “READY TO INSTALL” section click on the “INSTALL” button to start the installation process. You just have to wait for theprocess to complete.
Step 2: Convert A Physical Machine Into A Virtual Machine To Run On VMware Workstation.
7) To start the conversion process double click on the VMware vCenter Converter shortcut on the desktop and click on “CONVERT MACHINE”
8) On the “CONVERSION” window, set the “SELECT SOURCE TYPE” to “POWERED ON” and set the drop down menu to “THIS LOCAL MACHINE”. Click on the “NEXT” button to proceed.
9) On the “DESTINATION SYSTEM” section you can choose to convert the physical computer into a VMWARE INFRASTRUCTURE virtual machine. This option makes it possible to essentially convert the physical PC and set it up as an ESXi VM.
The second choice is to convert the physical PC into a VMWARE WORKSTATION virtual machine. In this case we
10) On the OPTIONS window you can configure parameters for the conversion task. You can customize the size to physical disk to be converted, devices and destination virtual machine configuration on this window. Click on NEXT to proceed
11) Click on DATA TO COPY, select all the physical / logical disks and click on NEXT
12) On the SUMMARY window, you will see SOURCE SYSTEM INFORMATION and DESTINATION SYSTEM INFORMATION describing your source computer and the virtual machine that will be created once the conversion process is complete. If you would like to make any changes click on BACK but if there are n changes click on FINISH
13) You will now see a progress bar of the conversion process and the amount time it will take to complete the conversion will be shown on the TASK PROGRESS tab. Wait for the conversion process to complete and in the next step you will learn how to start the virtual machine and complete the post setup process.
