PowerOn failure after import from Workstation 10 to esxi 5.5

Question

I have a working VM accessed through Workstation 10. I have imported the files to ESXI 5.5, then "Add[ed it] to Inventory" through the Datastore Browser. When I try to Power On the imported VM, I get the following error:

Failed to start the virtual machine. Module DiskEarly power on failed.

Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/549538b8-a387b068-348e-001b21ab99b8/Docuware/Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 (DW)-000002.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.

The system cannot find the file specified

VMware ESX cannot find the virtual disk "/vmfs/volumes/549538b8-a387b068-348e-001b21ab99b8/Docuware/Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 (DW)-000002.vmdk". Verify the path is valid and try again.

I have verified the filename and it exists in the referenced path. I do not know how to verify the GUID, but I assume it is correct.

Any thoughts on this??

Answer 1

That's not the best way to migrate from W10 to ESXi, export the VM as an OVF/OVA and import it - basically, as I'm sure you've figured out, the file paths are wrong doing it the way you have. Alternatively just edit the .vmx file but to be honest it's just quicker to export/import.

Answer 2

This is probably caused by the issue described in http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2036572: ESXi does no longer support virtual disks of hosted formats (basically the Workstation format) by default.

See the KB article for help and workaround.