P2V: Requirements for Physical Source Computers
Applies To: Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1
The requirements for the physical source computer in a physical-to-virtual machine (P2V) conversion performed in System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008 or VMM 2008 R2 depend on whether you are performing an online or offline P2V conversion. In either case, VMM temporarily installs an agent on the physical source computer that you want to convert. With online P2V, VMM uses Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to copy data while the server continues to service user requests. The source computer is not restarted during the conversion. With offline P2V, the source computer restarts into the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) before VMM converts the physical disks to Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs).
Note
VMM performs P2V conversions on a best-effort basis. We cannot guarantee that all possible combinations of physical hardware can be converted to a virtual machine.
To perform an offline P2V conversion, your source computer must meet the following requirements:
The P2V source computer must have at least 512 MB of RAM.
The P2V source computer cannot be in a perimeter network. A perimeter network, which is also known as a screened subnet, is a collection of devices and subnets placed between an intranet and the Internet to help protect the intranet from unauthorized Internet users. The source computer for a P2V conversion can be in any other network topology in which the VMM server can connect to the source machine to temporarily install an agent and can make Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) calls to the source computer.
Important
Before you convert a VMware virtual machine to a Hyper-V or Virtual Server virtual machine, you must uninstall VMware Tools on the guest operating system of the virtual machine.
The following table lists the Windows operating systems for which P2V conversions are supported in VMM 2008 and in VMM 2008 R2.
Note
Support for Windows 2000 Server and Windows XP SP2 ended on July 13, 2010. After this date, integration services for these operating systems will not be updated and support will not be available for any issues arising from using these operating systems in virtual machines. For more information about the end of support, see Support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Ends on July 13, 2010 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=196755).
Supported Operating Systems for P2V Conversions in VMM 2008 and VMM 2008 R2
| Operating System | VMM 2008 | VMM 2008 R2 |
|---|---|---|
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 (SP3) |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition SP3 |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition (32-bit x86) |
Yes (Requires SP1 or later.) |
Yes (Requires SP2 or later.) |
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86) |
Yes (Requires SP1 or later.) |
Yes (Requires SP2 or later.) |
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86) |
Yes (Requires SP1 or later.) |
Yes (Requires SP2 or later.) |
Windows Server 2003 x64 Standard Edition |
Yes (Requires SP1 or later.) |
Yes (Requires SP2 or later.) |
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition |
Yes (Requires SP1 or later.) |
Yes (Requires SP2 or later.) |
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter x64 Edition |
Yes (Requires SP1 or later.) |
Yes (Requires SP2 or later.) |
Windows Server 2003 Web Edition |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Small Business Server 2003 |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1) |
Yes |
Yes |
64-bit edition of Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1) |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Server 2008 Standard 32-Bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise 32-Bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter 32-Bit |
Yes |
Yes |
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard |
Yes |
Yes |
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise |
Yes |
Yes |
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Datacenter |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows Web Server 2008 |
Yes |
Yes |
Windows 7 |
No |
Yes |
64-bit edition of Windows 7 |
No |
Yes |
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard |
No |
Yes |
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise |
No |
Yes |
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter |
No |
Yes |
Windows Web Server 2008 R2 |
No |
Yes |
The following restrictions apply to P2V operation system support:
VMM does not support P2V conversion for computers with Itanium architecture–based operating systems.
VMM does not support P2V on source computers running Windows NT Server 4.0. However, you can use the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit (VSMT) or third-party solutions for converting computers running Windows NT Server 4.0.
VMM 2008 R2 does not support converting a physical computer running Windows Server 2003 SP1 to a virtual machine that is managed by Hyper-V. Hyper-V does not support Integration Components on computers running Windows Server 2003 SP1. As a result, there is no mouse control when you use Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to connect to the virtual machine. To avoid this issue, update the operating system to Windows Server 2003 SP2 before you convert the physical computer. As an alternative, you can convert the computer by using VMM 2008 and then deploy the virtual machine in VMM 2008 R2.
For more information about the recommended system requirements for VMM deployment scenarios, see VMM 2008 System Requirements (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110906).