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How to Migrate VMware VMs to a New Hypervisor

A safe VMware VM migration starts with the destination hypervisor. Inventory guest, firmware, disk and network details, verify the tool’s limits, test a representative VM, and cut over with a recoverable source and rollback plan.

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To migrate a VMware virtual machine safely, first choose the destination hypervisor, then use a conversion path that supports the VM’s guest operating system, firmware, disks and virtual devices. Inventory the workload, prepare and test the target, validate a pilot VM, and cut over only with a rollback plan. There is no universal VMware conversion tool or set of prerequisites: the supported workflow depends on the destination and its tool version.

Choose the destination before the conversion tool

Start with the platform you intend to run, not a generic converter. The documented paths below differ in their source requirements, guest support and device limitations. Check the documentation for the release you will deploy before scheduling a migration.

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Destination Documented migration path Important checks and limits
Hyper-V System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) provides a wizard and PowerShell-based VMware VM conversion workflow. The source VM must be powered off and VMware Tools uninstalled. The documented workflow excludes VMware Workstation VMs, VMs with IDE-attached disks, and VMs stored on vSAN. Check firmware-to-generation mapping, disk attachment, and the default policy that can leave converted non-OS disks offline. Microsoft marks Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter as end of support in this documentation; it is not the current supported choice described there. Microsoft’s System Center VMM 2022 conversion documentation
Proxmox VE The integrated ESXi importer uses the storage plugin system to import a whole VM. The cited importer demonstration describes Proxmox VE 8.2. Plan for first boot and guest-device checks, including VirtIO SCSI boot setup where applicable, and consult documentation for the release you will install. Proxmox’s VMware ESXi import-wizard demonstration
RHEL KVM Red Hat’s virt-v2v converts supported VMware ESXi and Xen guests for KVM managed by libvirt or Red Hat OpenStack Platform. Guest support depends on the RHEL host version, and the cited Red Hat article limits support to x86_64. Check the support matrix for the exact guest release and host version. The article was updated June 26, 2025 and covers RHEL 7 through RHEL 10. Red Hat’s virt-v2v guest and version support information
OpenShift Virtualization Red Hat’s Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV) 2.11 lists VMware vSphere as a source provider. VMware NVMe disks are unsupported in the cited MTV 2.11 documentation. Preflight checks can identify unsupported operating systems or filesystems and missing LUKS passwords. Verify device and source-version compatibility against the release you plan to use. The documentation was last updated June 10, 2026. Red Hat MTV 2.11 migration documentation

Compare candidates against your actual workloads: supported guest releases, VMware source compatibility, firmware and disk-controller support, downtime, data transfer, network and VLAN mapping, driver changes, management and backup integration, operating requirements, and rollback options. The cited vendor documentation establishes different constraints and capabilities, but does not establish a universal ranking of hypervisors.

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Inventory each VM and its dependencies

Build a workload inventory before choosing a migration wave. Record enough detail to recreate each VM’s operating environment and spot incompatibilities before conversion.

  • Ownership and impact: owner, business criticality, maintenance window, application dependencies and vendor support requirements. Identify appliances that explicitly require VMware or certified hardware; a convertible disk does not establish that the appliance is supported on another hypervisor.
  • Guest and boot: operating system and release, CPU and memory, BIOS or UEFI firmware, Secure Boot or TPM requirements, and guest-level tools or drivers.
  • Storage: disk count, size, controller type, snapshots, encryption, shared-disk use and backup state. Note whether a VM uses LUKS encryption and who can provide any required password.
  • Networking: NICs, port groups, VLANs, IP assumptions, DNS dependencies and any required network isolation.
  • Operations: monitoring, backup and restore procedures, time synchronization, recovery objectives, and the people authorized to approve cutover or rollback.

Check compatibility and prepare the target

Match every workload to the destination’s documented conversion path and the exact tool release. Check guest OS eligibility, VMware source version, firmware, virtual disk and controller types, encryption, and target-driver requirements. Red Hat’s virt-v2v support varies by RHEL version and guest; MTV 2.11 documents specific operating-system, filesystem, LUKS-password and VMware NVMe constraints. Do not assume a workload is supported merely because an import tool can read its virtual disk.

Prepare target storage and networks before conversion. Map each source network and VLAN deliberately rather than accepting a default mapping without review. Record the original VM settings, confirm the target has adequate resources, and establish how the destination VM will be backed up and restored. The vendor sources do not promise that a particular backup product will interoperate across platforms, so confirm target coverage with its vendor and test a restore.

Follow the selected tool’s own preparation instructions. For the documented VMM workflow, power off the VMware VM and uninstall VMware Tools before conversion. Those requirements are specific to that path; do not apply them automatically to Proxmox, virt-v2v or MTV. Avoid removing source-side components early if doing so would undermine a tested rollback plan.

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Run a pilot before migrating production workloads

Choose a low-risk VM that represents a meaningful workload class—for example, one with the relevant guest OS, firmware, storage controller and network setup. Measure the transfer and outage time, record exceptions, and refine the runbook before converting a larger batch.

  1. Back up and confirm recovery. Preserve a usable source backup and verify that you can restore it. Document the original VM configuration.
  2. Convert using the destination’s supported path. Follow the tool’s instructions for that source VM and release. Do not treat steps from one platform’s workflow as universal.
  3. Check boot and devices in the target console. Confirm the expected firmware mode, operating-system boot, guest drivers, storage controllers and visibility of every disk. Proxmox’s cited import demonstration includes first boot, VirtIO SCSI boot setup and Device Manager checks.
  4. Test connectivity and service behavior. Check NIC and VLAN assignment, DNS and IP assumptions, application health, monitoring, time synchronization and any dependent services.
  5. Test operations, not just startup. Confirm that target-platform backups run and that a restore works. Record configuration changes and unresolved exceptions.
  6. Get workload-owner acceptance. Have the application owner confirm that the VM performs its required business functions before treating the pilot as a successful migration.

Plan cutover and preserve a rollback path

Group VMs by application dependency and criticality, then schedule each wave with its owners. The precise downtime and synchronization method depend on the selected tool and workload; the VMM workflow described by Microsoft does not support online conversion and requires the source VM to be stopped.

  1. Agree on the maintenance window, write-freeze or application quiescence steps, service checks, and who can authorize the cutover.
  2. Perform the final conversion or data-transfer step using the chosen method, then verify the target VM’s boot, disks, network and application health.
  3. Direct users or production traffic to the target only after the agreed checks pass. Do not run source and target simultaneously with the same identity or writable data unless the design explicitly supports it; competing writes can create divergent data.
  4. Keep the original VM and a recoverable backup until the business owner accepts the destination and recovery has been verified. Define in advance how to stop writes, prevent source/target divergence, and restore service on the source if rollback is authorized.

These controls are operational safeguards, not a universal rollback procedure prescribed by the vendors. The migration method, workload and application design determine the exact recovery mechanics.

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Watch for firmware, disk and device mismatches

Hyper-V generation and firmware

In Microsoft’s VMM wizard, UEFI VMware VMs map to Hyper-V Generation 2 and BIOS VMware VMs map to Generation 1. Confirm the firmware mode during inventory and check the resulting VM configuration instead of assuming a successful disk conversion guarantees a bootable guest. Microsoft’s VMM conversion guidance

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Disk count and offline disks

Microsoft warns that BIOS-based VMware VMs with more than four disks can have disks left unattached after conversion. It also notes that, by default, converted non-OS disks may be offline because of VMware’s NewDiskPolicy setting. Inspect the target’s disk attachments and status before bringing disks online, especially if shared disks are involved. This is a VMM-specific caution, not a rule for all import tools. Microsoft’s VMM conversion guidance

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Guest drivers and virtual devices

A converted guest may need destination-specific drivers or boot-device configuration. Validate the guest’s storage and network devices after first boot, and follow the destination’s documented process for VMware Tools, Hyper-V integration components or KVM/virtio drivers. For MTV 2.11, VMware NVMe disks are unsupported according to Red Hat; use preflight results and release documentation to identify other device blockers before scheduling a cutover. Red Hat MTV 2.11 migration documentation

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