I recently had an issue where I exported a VM as an OVF using the vSphere client, a few weeks later I needed to import the VM back into our environment and after importing I received an "Error loading Operating System" error. I have imported and exported countless VMs as OVF files, and this is very frustrating. I also have VMs sent to me from Government entities and I always express how they should send them as an OVF file since it makes it very easy for me to import. Recently I had 1 out of 3 errors after the import with the same "Error loading Operating System" message.
I have tried to change the HD controller on the VM, I also created a New VM with the "custom" option and I chose the exact OS and vHardware for the VM, and I tried to use the existing .vmdk files and that does not work. I'm just wondering if there is some simple fix out there for what I thought was a simple import and export.
I'm using ESXi 4.1 Update 2 on HP BL hardware...oh, I also have VMware Workstation 8, and I can mount the vmdk files.