Question Copying from Vmware workstation to Esxi

[enkidoe]

Hello, i am looking for an easy sollution to copy a vm to different esxi machines.

i created a lab environment in my Vmware Workstation(the latest version). I would like to copy the lab to several esxi 6.5 , thr free version, but i dont know how. The vsphere client only allows me to copy a file one by one. By using the webbrowser it allows me to copy a folder, but that takes ages because it is a network copy. Isnt it possible to connect an usbdisk to the machine so i can import from the usb to the Esxi's datastore?

Many thanks for any help/advice.

 

[TerryLaze]

Somewhere you have a .vmdk file, that is your whole system, you can copy paste this one file to different names and import them into a new VM.
I assume that esxi uses the same format as VMware since it's the same company, if not you would have to find a way to convert that file.

If it's just data files you want to transfer, if you added a USB to the VMware hardware then just plug in a stick while the VM is running and VMware will ask you if you want to connect it to the normal OS or to the VM. I have no idea about esxi.

 

[enkidoe]

Thanks for the reply. I can give it a shot with the vmdk only. The esxi has no other vm's, only an empty datastore. The idea is to copy the vm's through an usbdisk into the datastore.

 

[TerryLaze]

Thanks for the reply. I can give it a shot with the vmdk only. The esxi has no other vm's, only an empty datastore. The idea is to copy the vm's through an usbdisk into the datastore.

The .vmx file is the settings file for VMware, it might be compatible with esxi to just import/move it.

 

[enkidoe]

ok, tested that and it takes also ages. Pitty.

 

[TerryLaze]

If your USB drive is slow then it can only do so much, you would need a really good network between the two PCs to do fast transfers or just take the drive out and connect it physically for the copy.