how to import existing VM in vmware workstation 8 inventory
- by Wimmel
I like to add existing vmware (player) virtual machines to the vmware workstation 8 inventory on linux. When I create a new virtual machine, it is stored in /var/lib/vmware/Shared VMs/. But copying new directories to that folder, does not make them appear in the workstation window.
I found out, the inventory is stored in /etc/vmware/hostd/vmInventory.xml;
<ConfigRoot>
<ConfigEntry id="0000">
<objID>1</objID>
<vmxCfgPath>/var/lib/vmware/Shared VMs/test 1234/test 1234.vmx</vmxCfgPath>
</ConfigEntry>
</ConfigRoot>
But I don't know if I break anything when adding entries myself, and giving it an unique ID. Besides, adding a large number of VMs this way is a bit cumbersome.
On ESX, it was possible to use vmware-cmd -s register, but I don't have a vmware-cmd installed. In another question it was suggested to use vmware converter. But vmware converter 5 (on windows) only allows a destination file location when I select workstation as destination type. When I select vmware infrastructure as destination type, it says the destination is unsupported; it required vmware vcenter server.
