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VMware vCenter Standalone Converter is usually updated with new version of vSphere, although it is no more included with the vSphere suite itself (the Enterprise edition of Converter was dropped with vSphere 5.0).

But there are a few issues that you can have with VMware Converter and vSphere 5.x that you have to know and take care.

One is strange and I’ve got few time to time to replicate and troubleshoot: I’ve tried to use the VMware vCenter Standalone with the vCenter Virtual Appliance (vCSA). Both were on latest 5.5 version and the error message was:

An error occurred while opening a virtual disk. Verify that the converter server and the running source machines have a network access to the source and destination ESX/ESXi hosts

As written I’ve not verify on other installations, so much cases must be investigated. But on the VMTN I’ve not found similar errors (related to this kind of versions.

A possible and simple solution that could be point directly to one host instead of the vCenter Server. But this solution cannot work with latest version because in the vCenter Converter Standalone UI, you see the error:

Converter5.5

The access to the host resource settings is restricted to the server IP that is managing the host. Use the management server as a destination.

Actually this is a well know “issue”: You cannot select an ESXi 5.0 host as the destination for a P2V conversion. This is an expected behavior explained in KB 2012310: unlike in vSphere 4.x, you cannot use an ESXi 5.0 host as a conversion destination if that ESXi 5.0 host is currently connected to and managed by a vCenter Server.

In this case a simple solution could be remove a host from your cluster, use it for convert some systems and then re-join again in your VMware cluster. There is also a simplest way: just click disconnet on host (that you want to use for the conversions) and when you have finished just click on connect.

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Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.