How to Fix: VMware OVA Import Failed (Virtualbox)

Infopackets Reader Calli P. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

We are running one of our virtual machines on Virtualbox, but the performance is extremely lackluster and is very slow to respond, especially over a remote desktop session. I have read reports online that suggest VMware Workstation has nearly double the performance of Virtualbox and would like to migrate. After reading a few articles online, I tried exporting the Virtualbox VM to .OVA format (open virtualization format) in hopes of importing the single .OVA file into VMware Workstation, however, I get an error on VMware Workstation that says: 'OVA did not pass OVF specification conformance or virtual hardware compliance checks. Click Retry to relax OVF specification and virtual hardware compliance checks and try the import again, or click Cancel to cancel the import.' I am not sure what to do next. Can you please help? "

I asked Calli if she would like me to look into this issue using my remote desktop service, and she agreed.

Below I will discuss my findings.

How to Fix: VMware OVA Import Failed (Virtualbox)

After connecting to Calli's Hypervisor I tried to import her .OVA file created by Virtualbox, and also received the same error message "OVA did not pass OVF specification conformance" (etc). I canceled the request, but luckily the newly half-imported virtual machine was listed in VMware Workstation, meaning that the import sort of worked.

I then tried to right click the settings of the newly imported virtual machine, however, I recevied the following error:

VMware Workstation unrecoverable error: (vmui)
Exception 0xc0000094 has occured.
A log file is available in c:\users\username\appdata\local\temp\vmware-spac\vmware-ui-6472.log

After that, VMware Workstation would crash and I would have to reload it again. Attempting to review the virtual machine settings would cause the same error message and crash.

To resolve the issue, this I created a blank virtual machine template, modified the template file, then attached the VMDK disks from the failed virtual machine to the new template and booted the machine. It did give a blue screen (thread exception) on initial boot but I was able to get passed that.

Step by step:

1. I reviewed the .VMX (VMware Workstation virtual machine configuration file) of the newly created virtual machine to see what kind of hard drive it was booting from. In this case, it was a SATA drive using BIOS / MBR (master boot record) partition scheme on Windows 10.
    
2. I created a new virtual machine for Windows 10 using Custom Options. In the "Guest Operating Installation" menu, I selected "I will install the operating system later," then selected "BIOS" as the firmware and "SATA" as the Disk Type, then finished the installation wizard. This created a new virtual machine template without installing anything.
    
3. I renamed the .VMDK (virtual machine disk) files in the template virtual machine from Windows 10 x64.vmdk to Windows 10 x64 - temp.vmdk, then copied over the .VMDK files from the failed VMware import, and renamed those "Windows 10 x64 os.vmdk" and "Windows 10 x64 data.vmdk".
    
4. I made a backup copy of the .VMX virtual machine configuration file, then edited the original .VMX and changed the section which references the original boot drive (i.e. "Windows 10 x64.vmdk") and renamed it to "Windows 10 x64 os.vmdk" (which is the operating system hard drive belonging to the failed import), then added in the second hard drive "Windows 10 x64 data.vmdk" manually. To do this, I just simply referenced the same configuration for the Windows 10 x64 os.vmdk.
    
5. I then saved the .VMX file, and powered on the virtual machine and voila - it booted, but it went into a blue screen the first time around with a threat exception error during the initial Windows 10 configuration after transferring platforms. I noticed when I blue screened it was referencing Virtualbox's guest addition file, so I removed that on the second reboot and installed VMware Guest additions and everything worked.
    
6. After that I ran GeekBench to benchmark the old Virtualbox and the new virtual machine running on VMware and it was double the performance.

I hope that helps.

Need Additional Help? Not Sure How to Proceed?

Modifying a .VMX file can be a bit confusing, or perhaps your configuration is a bit more advanced. If you need help migrating your Virtualbox appliance to VMware Workstation, I can help using my remote desktop service. Simply contact me using the contact page and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

About the author: Dennis Faas is the CEO and owner of Infopackets.com. Since 2001, Dennis has dedicated his entire professional career helping others with technology-related issues with his unique style of writing in the form of questions-and-answers; click here to read all 2,000+ of Dennis' articles online this site. In 2014, Dennis shifted his focus to cyber crime mitigation, including technical support fraud and in 2019, sextortion. Dennis has received many accolades during his tenure: click here to view Dennis' credentials online DennisFaas.com; click here to see Dennis' Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science (1999); click here to read an article written about Dennis by Alan Gardyne of Associate Programs (2003). And finally, click here to view a recommendation for Dennis' services from the University of Florida (dated 2006).