Microsoft launches VM Conversion tool

"Microsoft has made a new VM Conversion tool available in Windows Admin Center in a public preview. The extension is designed to help organizations convert virtual machines from VMware to Windows Server with Hyper-V, without additional costs or complicated installation. Although Microsoft Azure offers a fully managed cloud environment with numerous pay-as-you-go services, many organizations prefer to keep their data on-premises for compliance or governance reasons. For this target group, Microsoft is now introducing an accessible way to migrate VMware environments to Hyper-V,"

"The VM Conversion tool is agentless and appliance-free. Once connected to the virtualization environment, virtual machines are automatically discovered and prepared for migration. The process takes place in two phases: first, an initial replication is performed while the source VM remains operational, followed by a second replication when the machine is temporarily shut down. This ensures that any changes made since the first copy are still included, minimizing downtime during the final transition."

"The software supports both Linux and Windows guests and can also fully transfer machines with multiple disks. The tool performs extensive checks on crucial components in advance. These include boot configuration, disk types, and memory requirements. Any issues that come to light during these pre-checks must be resolved manually by IT administrators before the migration can continue. Only then is replication performed using change block tracking, which ensures that changes are incorporated efficiently and reliably."

Microsoft released a public preview VM Conversion tool in Windows Admin Center that enables agentless migration of VMware virtual machines to Windows Server with Hyper-V without extra cost or appliances. The tool discovers VMs automatically and migrates in two phases: an initial replication while the source VM remains operational and a second replication after temporary shutdown to capture recent changes and minimize downtime. Up to ten VMs can be converted simultaneously, with BIOS-based VMs mapped to Hyper-V Generation 1 and UEFI-based VMs to Generation 2. The tool supports Linux and Windows guests and multiple disks and runs pre-migration checks on boot configuration, disk types, and memory, requiring administrators to resolve issues before replication uses change block tracking to efficiently transfer changes.

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