Unable to convert Windows 7 VM from VMware Fusion

I have a copy of Windows 7 Professional x64 installed in a VM under VMware Fusion 3.1.1. It is working normally. I attempted to convert it to a Parallels VM. I get an error message that Parallels cannot find the Operating System in this virtual machine. I canceled the conversion at that point. Does anyone know what the problem may be?

I am running OS X 10.6.4 on a 2010 17" Mac Book Pro with 8 G-Byte of RAM and a 500 G-Byte hard drive with half of the space free. I already converted another VM that contained Windows XP Professional x32 with only minor issues getting the applications all running.

 

More Info

It probably does not matter but the MacBook Pro has an i7 processor running at 2.66 GHZ and it is current with software updates.

When this VM was first created in VMware Fusion, I was running Windows XP x64 in it. I did a clean install of Windows 7 after reformatting the VM hard drive. This left the VM package Files named as Windows XP Professional x64 edition files. That works just fine in VMware. However, I wonder if that is fouling up the conversion? If so, is there any solution short of a clean install in Parallels? I have a great deal of time invested in many application installs and much configuration work.

 

Might just be the drivers.

One guy I know converted his VMWare image by first uninstalling VMWare drivers while running it with VMWare, importing it as an IDE drive (not SATA), and fi that worked adding a SATA drive temporarily to get Windows to install the SATA driver, then removing that drive and switching the ATA to SATA.

 

Suggestion for a fix

BallO,

I read your discussion of a possible path that would allow the importation of Windows 7. It is not obvious how to implement your suggestion. Tell me, did the person you know that tried it have the same problem where Parallels did not recognize the operating system on his Windows 7 VM under VMware Fusion?

Rauck

 

More Additions to problem description

The Windows 7 Fusion VM is formatted with the NTFS file system. I wouldn't expect that to matter but I offer it for the sake of completeness.

 

Windows 7 VM Virtual Hard Drive type

BallO,

The virtual hard drive on my existing Windows 7 VM is SCSI.

Rauck

 

If it doesn't recognize the OS it could be a problem with your import.

You could try setting the disk as an IDE to eliminate the driver as being a possible issue and see if that works, but maybe it was imported poorly. I think there are pages in the knowledge-base covering VMWare import procedures.

 

VMware Import of Windows 7 VM

It was not imported poorly or any other way. I received the error message as soon as I requested the conversion. I stopped immediately so no import occurred. It appears that your suggestions may be based on the false assumption that I completed the import and now things are not working. I am trying to debug an error message so that I can import the VM.

 

OK. Why not make a copy of the drive and go through with the conversion (after removing VMTools, of course)?