I'm trying to create an OVA file from an installed VM.  If I try creating it with ovftool 3.5, it downloads everything completely then gives me the following error:

SHA1 digest of file https://172.31.68.10:443/ha-nfc/52cca89a-6cde-c7a7-0810-25ff2197d3d6/disk-1.iso does not match manifest
and then deletes the file(s) it generated.

I am using compress=0 and --noImageFiles so i don't get the install iso.

If I manually go into Edit Settings and remove the cdrom, then 3.5 creates the ova correctly.

If I use ovftool 2.0, it succeeds even without manually removing the cdrom iso.

I've seen posts where users get the same error I do when they are going ova/f to vm and the answer is to delete the manifest.   Since all of the files are deleted after the error message, I don't have the option to delete the locally created manifest.

Is there a way to keep the files around even after a manifest error?

Does anyone know why ovftool 3.5 would fail in this case and 2.0 would word?  Has there been some deprecation between the two of them?

Thanks,
Mike

Hopefully this is the right place to ask this.

We have a product that's distributed as an OVA and have done so for years. We're finally getting around to supporting vSphere 6.5 but are running into an issue. If we deploy the OVA directly to a 6.5 host, the import works fine. However if we deploy via vCenter, it fails with the following error:

Failed to deploy OVF package.

Cause:

A general system error occurred:

An error occurred: Could not convert field 'spec' of structure 'com.vmware.vcenter.vdcs.floppy_model'

This only happens on vSphere 6.5. It works fine with vSphere 6.0 and earlier. When we create the template, we do have a floppy device (it's needed as we do our OS install during the build process) so I changed it so right before it creates the OVA using ovftool 4.1, I edit the vmx (while the vm is powered off) and remove all references to the floppy device. However the corresponding ovf file still has references to the floppy.

Any ideas what's going on and how to fix? I'm not sure why all of a sudden it stopped working in 6.5. From our end, the build process hasn't changes in years. I can attach the vmx and ovf files if that helps. Thanks!

4.2.0 is bundled into the current build of Fusion10:

ovftool --version

VMware ovftool 4.2.0 (build-6230482)

This version has a busted --allowAllExtraConfig flag, so some VMs will not export to OVA, instead you get a slew of errors like this one:

- Line -1: Unsupported value 'disk.EnableUUID' for attribute 'key' on element 'ExtraConfig'.

Greetings!

I'm currently trying to sign created OVA package with trusted certificate from Thawte.

This cert is valid (till 2013) and could be easily verified with openssl (`openssl verify sign.cert`) or with Windows tools.

Signing works as follows and it is okay:

ovftool --sourceType=vmx --targetType=ova --privateKey=sign.pem package.vmx package.ova

But when I try to check it with ovftool (`ovftool package.ova`) it shows:

Error: Verification of package.cert failed

Also verification of package.cert itself with openssl is also fine.

Can anybody help me on what could cause such problem?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Can someone provide an indication on what is generating the following error when running ovftool to deploy a vm on a host in a vCenter?

Opening OVA source: /usr/local/path/to/ova/file.ova

The manifest validates

Opening VI target: vi://user@vCenter_ip:443/

Deploying to VI: vi://user@vCenter_ip:443/

^MTransfer Failed

^MTransfer Failed

Error: Failed to send http data

Completed with errors

The error reproduced on client setup to which I don't have access so I have no other additional logs.

Thanks.

Hi,

I would like to convert VirtualBox 3.2.4 virtual machine to VMWare ESX 4.0.

In VirtualBox I have exported appliance to 0.9 format and then follow the following tutorial: http://www.ctrip.ufl.edu/howto-convert-virtualbox-to-vmware

When executing command "ovftool my.ovf my.vmx" I got the following error:

Opening OVF source: e:\VMW\my.ovf

Warning: No manifest file

Opening VMX target: e:\VMW\my.vmx

Error:

• Line 39: Unsupported element 'Caption'

• Line 40: Unsupported element 'Description'

• Line 41: Unsupported element 'InstanceId'

• Line 42: Unsupported element 'ResourceType'

• Line 43: Unsupported element 'VirtualQuantity'

• Line 37: Missing child element 'InstanceID'.

• Line 37: Missing child element 'ResourceType'.

• Line 48: Unsupported element 'Caption'

• Line 49: Unsupported element 'Description'

• Line 50: Unsupported element 'InstanceId'

• Line 51: Unsupported element 'ResourceSubType'

• Line 52: Unsupported element 'ResourceType'

• Line 45: Missing child element 'InstanceID'.

• Line 45: Missing child element 'ResourceType'.

• Line 57: Unsupported element 'Caption'

• Line 58: Unsupported element 'Description'

• Line 59: Unsupported element 'InstanceId'

• Line 60: Unsupported element 'ResourceSubType'

• Line 61: Unsupported element 'ResourceType'

• Line 54: Missing child element 'InstanceID'.

• Line 54: Missing child element 'ResourceType'.

• Line 65: Unsupported element 'Caption'

• Line 66: Unsupported element 'Connection'

• Line 67: Unsupported element 'InstanceId'

• Line 68: Unsupported element 'ResourceSubType'

• Line 69: Unsupported element 'ResourceType'

• Line 63: Missing child element 'InstanceID'.

• Line 63: Missing child element 'ResourceType'.

• Line 74: Unsupported element 'Caption'

• Line 75: Unsupported element 'Description'

• Line 76: Unsupported element 'InstanceId'

• Line 77: Unsupported element 'ResourceType'

• Line 71: Missing child element 'InstanceID'.

• Line 71: Missing child element 'ResourceType'.

• Line 81: Unsupported element 'AutomaticAllocation'

• Line 82: Unsupported element 'Caption'

• Line 83: Unsupported element 'Description'

• Line 84: Unsupported element 'InstanceId'

• Line 85: Unsupported element 'ResourceSubType'

• Line 86: Unsupported element 'ResourceType'

• Line 79: Missing child element 'InstanceID'.

• Line 79: Missing child element 'ResourceType'.

• Line 90: Unsupported element 'Caption'

• Line 91: Unsupported element 'Description'

• Line 92: Unsupported element 'HostResource'

• Line 93: Unsupported element 'InstanceId'

• Line 94: Unsupported element 'Parent'

• Line 95: Unsupported element 'ResourceType'

• Line 88: Missing child element 'InstanceID'.

• Line 88: Missing child element 'ResourceType'.

• Line 99: Unsupported element 'AutomaticAllocation'

• Line 100: Unsupported element 'Caption'

• Line 101: Unsupported element 'Description'

• Line 102: Unsupported element 'InstanceId'

• Line 103: Unsupported element 'Parent'

• Line 104: Unsupported element 'ResourceType'

• Line 97: Missing child element 'InstanceID'.

• Line 97: Missing child element 'ResourceType'.

Please see attached ovf file.

What should I do? 

Thanks

Hello All,

Can anybody please help me with the VMware OVF Tool command line utility ?

It is supposed to allow you to import and export Virtual Machines containers (VMX files).

How do we specify the path to the .VMX we want to export from an ESXi server ?

The command line option <source locator> asks for a "vSphere locator identifying a virtual machine or vApp on vCenter, ESXi, or VMware Server" but I just can't make the application recognize any thing I try.

For example, on the following command line option:

> ovftool vi://username:pass@my_host/my_datacenter/vm/my_vm_folder/my_vm_name

What does "my_datacenter" is supposed to mean ? Where do I find the name of my vSphere ESXi server ?

I've installed the OVT Tool at the vSphere server itself. The binary is working well at Linux ESXi shell. I just don't understand how to point it to the specific file I want to export at the datastore.

[root@localhost:~] uname -a

VMkernel localhost 6.0.0 #1 SMP Release build-3620759 Mar  3 2016 18:41:52 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 ESXi

[root@localhost:~] ls -al vmfs/volumes/datastore1/cancao-cead/

total 174242840

drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          2520 Nov 21 11:14 .

drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root          2240 Oct 26 19:56 ..

-rw-------    1 root     root     17179869184 Nov 21 11:14 cancao-cead-ab4b36ea.vswp

-rw-------    1 root     root     161061273600 Nov 22 18:44 cancao-cead-flat.vmdk

-rw-------    1 root     root          8684 Nov 22 18:37 cancao-cead.nvram

-rw-------    1 root     root           475 Nov 21 11:14 cancao-cead.vmdk

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 May 28  2016 cancao-cead.vmsd

-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          2740 Nov 21 11:14 cancao-cead.vmx

The file I'm trying to reach from the OVF Tool command line is last one:cancao-cead.vmx

How can I make OVF Tool command to find that file ?

I am trying to install ovftool 4.1.0 on a Ubuntu guest I have on my Windows host.  I downloadedd the ovftool bundle changed permission to +x, started the bundle, and accepted the license.  It says it is ready to install and I press enter.  Then I get the below and ovftool is never installed.


 


Rolling back VMware installer component 2.1.0


Removing files..


Uninstalling VMware installer component 2.1.0


Deconfiguring...


 


Any ideas? The bundle I have is the 'VMware-ovftool-4.1.0-2459827-lin.x86_64.bundle' on Ubuntu 14


 

Hi,

I am trying to pass a description to a vAppTemplate which is uploaded via OVFTool.

I tried to use the --annotation option but this annotation is passed to the VMs description within the vApp and not to the vApp description.

Is there a way to get a vApp description instead of a VM description?

Thanks in advance,

JL

I try to deploy a OVA into a vCenter 5.5, using OVFTool with the following command:

/usr/bin/ovftool --powerOn --acceptAllEulas --noSSLVerify --skipManifestCheck --allowAllExtraConfig --X:enableHiddenProperties --deploymentOption=${VMNAME_DEPLOYMENT_SIZE} "--net:Network 1=${VMNAME_PORTGROUP}" --datastore=${VMNAME_DATASTORE} --diskMode=${VMNAME_DISK_TYPE} --name=${VMNAME_DISPLAY_NAME} --prop:vami.DNS.APPLIANCE=${VMNAME_DNS} --prop:vami.gateway.APPLIANCE=${VMNAME_GATEWAY} --prop:vami.ip0.APPLIANCE=${VMNAME_IPADDRESS} --prop:vami.netmask0.APPLIANCE=${VMNAME_NETMASK} --prop:guestinfo.cis.appliance.ssh.enabled=${ENABLE_SSH} ${VMNAME_OVA} vi:/${VCENTER_USERNAME}:${VCENTER_PASSWORD}@${VCENTER_HOSTNAME}/?dns=${ESXI_HOSTNAME}

and I got this error:

Opening VMX target: vi:/administrator*************
Error: OVF Package is not supported by target:
 - Line 768: Unsupported virtual hardware device 'VirtualSCSI'.
Warning:
 - ExtraConfig options exists in source.
Completed with errors

The OVF file has the following settings:

            <Item>
     LINE768-->   <rasd:Address xmlns:rasd="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/CIM_ResourceAllocationSettingData">0</rasd:Address>
                <rasd:ElementName xmlns:rasd="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/CIM_ResourceAllocationSettingData">SCSI Controller 0 - pvscsi</rasd:ElementName>
                <rasd:InstanceID xmlns:rasd="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/CIM_ResourceAllocationSettingData">4</rasd:InstanceID>
                <rasd:ResourceSubType>virtualSCSI</rasd:ResourceSubType>
            <rasd:ResourceType>6</rasd:ResourceType>
              </Item>

and also :

<System>
        <vssd:ElementName>Virtual Hardware Family</vssd:ElementName>
        <vssd:InstanceID>0</vssd:InstanceID>
<vssd:VirtualSystemType>vmx-07 vmx-08 vmx-09</vssd:VirtualSystemType>
      </System>

Any advice on how to fix this issue and deploy the OVA?

Thanks.

Hi I'm wondering if there is an automation tool/command(s) that will allow us (team of developers) to import/use a .iso file that contains 64bit OS and pass it through VMware ESXi or Server and then export it to OVF/OVA?

Is it possible? Can it be done?

Your answers will be very apreciated, many thanks!

I have a Linux VM running on fusion, and using ovftool to convert this .vmx into .ovf, then import into a ESXi 5...unfortunately having this error message.

I tried the -lax option, but doesn't help...I look into the ovf file, and found it could be this section issue

    <vmw:BootOrderSection vmw:instanceId="7" vmw:type="disk">

      <Info>Virtual hardware device boot order</Info>

    </vmw:BootOrderSection>

Anyone can share me some light to get around this...thanks

Hi,

I have a ESXi 5.0 server running which has a Guest VM running CentOS 5.6.

The ESXi server is a standalone server, not included in a datacenter, not managed by vCenter.

The server has a HDD of 80G which has both the ESXi host & the Guest OS running on top of it.

I installed ovftools on my Windows laptop & tried to create a ovf from the VM but am unsuccessful. I constantly get the following error -

c:\>ovftool vi://root:<rootpassword>@<ESXi Host IP>/datastore1/CentOS c:\testVM.ovf

Error: Cannot parse locater: vi://root:<rootpassword>@<ESXi Host IP>/datastore1/CentOS

Completed with errors

The local datastore name is "datastore1"

Can someone help me out here with forming the correct the ovftool command to create an ovf & possibly an OVA out of the running VM?

Thanks

Bhushan Pathak

I downloaded the latest OVF converter tool but it looks like as per documentation, it cannot convert OVA to VMX?

If yes, how?  If no, how do I?  Thanks

Hopefully this is the right place to ask this.

We have a product that's distributed as an OVA and have done so for years. We're finally getting around to supporting vSphere 6.5 but are running into an issue. If we deploy the OVA directly to a 6.5 host, the import works fine. However if we deploy via vCenter, it fails with the following error:

Failed to deploy OVF package.

Cause:

A general system error occurred:

An error occurred: Could not convert field 'spec' of structure 'com.vmware.vcenter.vdcs.floppy_model'

This only happens on vSphere 6.5. It works fine with vSphere 6.0 and earlier. When we create the template, we do have a floppy device (it's needed as we do our OS install during the build process) so I changed it so right before it creates the OVA using ovftool 4.1, I edit the vmx (while the vm is powered off) and remove all references to the floppy device. However the corresponding ovf file still has references to the floppy.

Any ideas what's going on and how to fix? I'm not sure why all of a sudden it stopped working in 6.5. From our end, the build process hasn't changes in years. I can attach the vmx and ovf files if that helps. Thanks!

HI,

I'm trying to create an OVF using ovftool 3.0.1. When I issue the ovftool command from the command line I get:

Error: cURL error: Couldn't connect to server
Completed with errors

I used the following command:

/usr/bin/ovftool vi://username:password@XX.XX.XX.XX/datacenter/vm/folder/vmname /destination

I can issue the command as above without the vmname to see if I can access Vsphere and to make sure I have a valid source locator.  The command is successful and returns a list of VMs I can use. When I add the VM name to the source locator path, I get the above error. The VM is pysically about 14GB in size (that is the space alloacted).

I can use the same command to another Vpshere server and I'm successful in creating the OVF. Which leads me to think that it might be a configuration issue with this Vsphere server?

What sorts of issues can lead to the above error?

Thanks,

Fernando

Hi All,

Please help me as I am trying to deploy my OVF in an esxi and I get the following error

"Failed to deploy OVF package: File ds:///vmfs/volumes/546b400f-680d4bc0-11f7-001517d3b60c/_deviceImage-0.iso was not found"

I don't know if I am correct if i deduce that the export might have an iso image mounted on it and now it can't locate it?

I exported the OVF from esxi 5.5 and the destination esxi is also 5.5.

I have also attached the screenshot of the error mentioned above.

Please help

Appreciate all the help I could get and thank you in advance

Regards,

Hi Everyone,

I was trying to deploy a VM using the ovftool, I thought I would use the properties which are thrown from a "probe" of the OVA file.

ovftool http://server/files/builds/vpas/6.0.0/latest/vPAS-installer.ova

Properties:

  ClassId:     vami

  Key:         gateway

  InstanceId   vPAS

  Category:    Networking Properties

  Label:       Default Gateway

  Type:        string

  Description: The default gateway address for this VM. Leave blank if DHCP is

               desired.

  ClassId:     vami

  Key:         DNS

  InstanceId   vPAS

  Category:    Networking Properties

  Label:       DNS

  Type:        string

  Description: The domain name servers for this VM (comma separated). Leave

               blank if DHCP is desired.

  ClassId:     vami

  Key:         ip0

  InstanceId   vPAS

  Category:    Networking Properties

  Label:       Network 1 IP Address

  Type:        string

  Description: The IP address for this interface. Leave blank if DHCP is

               desired.

  ClassId:     vami

  Key:         netmask0

  InstanceId   vPAS

  Category:    Networking Properties

  Label:       Network 1 Netmask

  Type:        string

After having made sure that such properties exists from the probe, I tried to use them to give the VM a static IP post deployment, automatically.

ovftool --datastore="31_datastore" --acceptAllEulas --ipAllocationPolicy=fixedPolicy --name="vPAS_31_1" --powerOn --prop:ip0="172.16.121.115" --prop:netmask0="255.255.0.0" --prop:DNS="172.16.1.10" --prop:gateway="172.16.1.1" http://server/vpas/6.0.0/latest/vPAS-installer.ova vi://root:password@172.16.121.31/

Opening OVA source: http://server/files/builds/vpas/6.0.0/latest/vPAS-installer.ova

The manifest validates

Opening VI target: vi://root@172.16.121.31:443/

Deploying to VI: vi://root@172.16.121.31:443/

Transfer Completed                   

Powering on VM: vPAS_31_1

Warning:

- OVF property with key: 'DNS' does not exists.

- OVF property with key: 'gateway' does not exists.

- OVF property with key: 'ip0' does not exists.

- OVF property with key: 'netmask0' does not exists.

Completed successfully

Can someone please explain me whether this is a common problem ( from VMware ) or something I am doing wrong?

Thanks,

Hey all. I know I am using proper syntax, but it seems like there's a missing service running on my esx cluster. I am able to log in with vSphere, but cannot use ovftool to export a stopped server in my ESX 4.0 cluster environment.

command I am using:

ovftool vi://[username]:[password]@vi://192.168.77.111/[serverid] d:\[serveridoutput].ovf

the error I am receiving is as follows:

Error: Could not lookup host: [username]

Completed with errors

Now it's interesting because the server does seem to know that I am using a proper user/pass because if I make a mistake on the password, I am given another chance to log in, until I miss three tries. If I enter the correct password, it seems to almost connect, then fails out with the above error. I would *REALLY* appreciate some help with this guys.

Thanks in advance!

I have an OVF I'm trying to import into VI (ESX 3.5) and I'm getting the following error:

Error: OVF Package is not supported by target:
- Line 57: No space left for device '7' on parent controller '6'.

Here's the snippet of OVF:

      <Item>
        <rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>
        <rasd:ElementName>IDE 0</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>6</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceSubType>piix4</rasd:ResourceSubType>
        <rasd:ResourceType>5</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>
        <rasd:ElementName>Harddisk disk1</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:HostResource>ovf:/disk/disk1</rasd:HostResource>
        <rasd:InstanceID>7</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:Parent>6</rasd:Parent>
        <rasd:ResourceType>17</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:Address>1</rasd:Address>
        <rasd:ElementName>IDE 1</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>8</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceSubType>piix4</rasd:ResourceSubType>
        <rasd:ResourceType>5</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>

Thanks!

Mike