VMware GSX Server 3 Administration, Administration Manual

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VMware GSX Server Administration Guide
Moving Older Virtual Machines
If you have created a virtual machine using GSX Server 1 or another VMware product
(not including VMware Workstation 3 and 4), you must upgrade the virtual hardware
the first time you run it under GSX Server 3. Once you have done this, you can follow
the instructions in
Moving a VMware GSX Server 3 Virtual Machine on page 172 .
If you have created a virtual machine using GSX Server 1 or another VMware product
(not including VMware Workstation 3 and 4), and you want to move it to a different
computer or to another directory on your host, you need to perform the following
tasks.
Note: These instructions assume that you are using a virtual disk — stored in a set of
.vmdk
or
.dsk
files on your host computer.
It is always safest to make backup copies of all the files in your virtual machine’s
directory before you start a process like this.
The following sections further describe moving older virtual machines:
• Virtual Machines May Use Relative or Absolute Paths on page 178
• Preparing Your Virtual Machine for the Move on page 179
• Preparing the New Host Machine on page 179
• Considerations for Moving Disks in Undoable Mode on page 180
Virtual Machines May Use Relative or Absolute Paths
In GSX Server 1, the path names for all files associated with a virtual machine were
absolute, or fully qualified, meaning the complete route to the files on the host was
stored. For example, the absolute path to a virtual disk file might be
C:\Documents
and Settings\<user name>\My Documents\My Virtual
Machines\<machine name>\<machine name>.vmdk
.
With GSX Server 2 and higher, path names to files are relative, meaning the path to the
each file is relative to the currently active directory. For example, if you are in the
virtual machine’s directory, the relative path to the virtual disk file is
<machine name>.vmdk
.