Imposible to migrate VM from vmware to proxmox

[CarlosIglesias]

Hi,

I'm trying to migrate from esxi 7.0.3, 24585291 to proxmox 8 using this guide:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migrate_to_Proxmox_VE#Automatic_ESXi_Import:_Step_by_Step

But when i lunch migration process fails with this error:

create full clone of drive (eslcesx90:ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk)
Rounding up size to full physical extent 4.00 MiB
Logical volume "vm-100-disk-0" created.
transferred 0.0 B of 1.0 KiB (0.00%)
qemu-img: output file is smaller than input file
Logical volume "vm-100-disk-0" successfully removed.
TASK ERROR: unable to create VM 100 - cannot import from 'eslcesx90:ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk' - copy failed: command '/usr/bin/qemu-img convert -p -n -f vmdk -O raw /run/pve/import/esxi/eslcesx90/mnt/ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk zeroinit:/dev/pve/vm-100-disk-0' failed: exit code 1

If i try to verify the vmdk using qemu-img i have this message:
qemu-img info -f raw /run/pve/import/esxi/eslcesx90/mnt/ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk
image: /run/pve/import/esxi/eslcesx90/mnt/ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk
file format: raw
virtual size: 1 KiB (1024 bytes)
disk size: 0 B
Child node '/file':
filename: /run/pve/import/esxi/eslcesx90/mnt/ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk
protocol type: file
file length: 1 KiB (1024 bytes)
disk size: 0 B


I allways have 0B from disk size in all my VMDKs from all virtual machines.

Can you helpme?

Thanks

 

[gasherbrum]

seems like youre trying to migrate the disk descriptor instead of your actual VM disk, which should have -flat in the name

 

[pmt_cnq]

1- Verify if you point the correct disk (the real one, not the descriptor).
2- Remove any snapshots before trying the migration.
3- Test the VMDK with qemu-img info on the Proxmox node.
4- If it still fails → export via OVF from vSphere client and re-import into Proxmox.

 

[CarlosIglesias]

On the source folder i have all files, .vmdk and -flat.vmdk:


qemu-img info on the flat.vmdk is:


But when i lunch migration wizard i have the error:

create full clone of drive (eslcesx90:ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk)
  Rounding up size to full physical extent 4.00 MiB
  Logical volume "vm-100-disk-0" created.
transferred 0.0 B of 1.0 KiB (0.00%)
qemu-img: output file is smaller than input file
  Logical volume "vm-100-disk-0" successfully removed.
TASK ERROR: unable to create VM 100 - cannot import from 'eslcesx90:ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk' - copy failed: command '/usr/bin/qemu-img convert -p -n -f vmdk -O raw /run/pve/import/esxi/eslcesx90/mnt/ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/ESLCKALI01.vmdk zeroinit:/dev/pve/vm-100-disk-0' failed: exit code 1

i have to migrate more than 100 virtual machines, i cant export and import all of them

 

[pmt_cnq]

Did you confirm that there is no snapshot of the VM?

Also, you can test a manual conversion just to see if it passes. At least you will know if the source vm disk is corrupted or not.

# Copy descriptor & flat file
cp /run/pve/import/esxi/eslcesx90/mnt/ha-datacenter/ESX90/ESLCKALI01/*.vmdk /tmp/

# Convert manually
qemu-img convert -f vmdk /tmp/ESLCKALI01.vmdk -O raw /tmp/test.raw

If this works → the issue might be in Proxmox’s ESXi import plugin.
If this fails → the VMDK might be unreadable or corrupted.

 

[uptonguy75]

When moving 35 ESXi VMs to Proxmox 8.3, I found it easiest to do it using Clonezilla. You can’t do live migrations and you have to manually create the VM specs in Proxmox, but it was rock solid.

 

[CarlosIglesias]

yes, the VM there is no snapshost.

I copy vmdks files and do manual conversion with no issues:



About Clonezilla... create all VMs specs very lazy process