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Migrating a virtual machine to an upgraded version of Workstation
To upgrade a virtual machine created with Workstation 2.0 to Workstation
3.0 you can:
- Use
an existing configuration file (
cfg) and
virtual disk (.vmdk), and upgrade VMware Tools. You do not need to remove
the older version of VMware Tools before installing the new version. A virtual
machine set up in this way should run without problems. However, you will not
have the benefits of certain new features including: access to USB ports, the ability
to use an operating system on a dual-boot machine within a virtual machine (via
a BIOS setting), or access to the new unified video driver.
- Create a new virtual machine, then migrate an existing virtual disk (.vmdk file).
To do this, create a new virtual machine. Then delete the new .vmdk file created by the Wizard, and copy the
existing .vmdk file to the virtual machine's folder. You may encounter a variety
of issues with this approach, depending on the way the old virtual machine was
configured -- just as you would if you moved a physical hard drive into a new
computer with a different motherboard and video card.
Before using an existing virtual machine under VMware Workstation 3.0,
you should take a few precautions.
- Shut
down the guest operating system normally (do not just suspend the virtual
machine).
- If
you are using undoable disk mode, discard or commit changes to the disk when
you shut down.
- Back
up all the files in the virtual machine's directory.
If you are migrating an IDE virtual disk, use the Configuration Editor (Settings
> Configuration Editor) to be sure your new configuration is set up to
use an IDE disk. If it is set up for a SCSI disk, take these steps:
- Remove
the SCSI disk and add an IDE disk (at IDE 0:0 if it is your boot disk).
- Note
the name of the .vmdk file for this new IDE virtual disk.
- Delete
the .vmdk file created by the Configuration Editor and copy the virtual disk you
are migrating into its place -- using the same file name as the file you just
deleted.
Once you have the old virtual disk working under Workstation 3.0, you
can update it to the new disk format by selecting Settings > Upgrade Disk.
The new format provides improved disk I/O
performance.
Note:
Virtual machines created with the Experimental release of VMware Workstation
will not run in the current production release version.
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