Why convert VHDX to VMDK?
VHDX is Hyper-V's native virtual disk format while .VMDK is VMware's; VMware Workstation and ESXi cannot attach a VHDX directly, so migrating a VM from Hyper-V to a VMware platform requires converting the disk.
How to convert VHDX to VMDK
qemu-img OPEN-SOURCE
Run qemu-img convert -O vmdk in.vhdx out.vmdk; for ESXi add -o subformat=monolithicFlat for a preallocated output. The VM must be shut down first.
StarWind V2V Converter FREE
Select the .vhdx as the local source, choose VMware VMDK as the output format, pick a destination folder, and click Convert.
About these formats
.VHDX
Virtual Hard Disk v2 (Hyper-V)
A VHDX file is a complete virtual hard disk - partition table, filesystem, and often a full OS - stored in one file. It is Microsoft's modern format for Hyper-V VMs, WSL2, and Dev Drive. On…
Open .VHDX details →
.VMDK
VMware Virtual Machine Disk
A VMDK file is a VMware virtual hard disk - it stores a complete operating system and all its files as one or more host files. You attach it to a virtual machine rather than opening it like…
Open .VMDK details →Quality & what to watch
- Shut down the VM and merge all checkpoints (
.avhdxfiles) in Hyper-V Manager before converting; an active or locked disk will fail or produce a broken image. - By default qemu-img writes a monolithicSparse VMDK; for ESXi you may need
-o subformat=monolithicFlator a further conversion with VMware's own tools. - After attaching the VMDK to a new VMware VM, the guest OS may require driver updates since the virtual hardware has changed.
Frequently asked questions
Does qemu-img handle VHDX checkpoints?
Will the resulting VMDK work on ESXi as well as VMware Workstation?
-o subformat=monolithicFlat or convert again with vmkfstools on the ESXi host.
