Importing VMware .vdmks into FreeNAS VMs

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Darren David

Explorer
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
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Hi all-

I'm playing around with 11.2-RC2 and I have several VMware .vdmk files I'd like to bring into FreeNAS. I've seen this oft-referenced post on conversion, but it's from a few years ago, and it's not FreeNAS specific. In this latest version of FreeNAS, is there a more streamlined and/or sanctioned way to "import" (or at least reference) an existing virtual disk from with a FreeNAS VM? My hope would be that I could:
  • create the VM in the FreeNAS GUI
  • Convert the .vmdk to a raw file using virtualbox-ose tools
  • Move the raw file to the proper dataset and attach it as a device
FYI all of the virtual machines I'm importing are Windows-based.

Am I crazy, or is this possible?

Thanks in advance for any and all help here.

Darren
 

kdragon75

Wizard
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Aug 7, 2016
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You may also want to make note of the Mac addresses in the vmx files but that's less important with will Windows. As long as the old VMs were uefi boot and you convert the vmdks to raw disks, I don't see any issues.
 

Darren David

Explorer
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
51
Thanks, @kdragon75. I've got the raw disk copied over to a zvol using dd - is there a way to create a new virtual machine and just point it at the zvol, or am I missing some critical steps? When I create a new VM in the GUI it requires install media; I was hoping I could skip that step.
 
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