VMDK-CONVERT(1)

📦 version 0.3.13, in ubuntu stonking

💖 VMDK-CONVERT(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the vmdk-convert manual page — it lives in the User Commands section and it's literally about turning your raw disk images into something VMware will actually vibe with. let's get into it 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

vmdk-convert — convert raw disk images or VMFS extents to streamable VMDK images 🌈

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

vmdk-convert [-t tools_version] input_file [output_file]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so here's the tea, bestie: the vmdk-convert command takes raw disk images or VMFS virtual machine disk extents and turns them into streamable VMDK images that are compatible with VMware products. yes, those VMware products. 👑

and wait, there's more — it can also set the VMware Tools version in the disk metadata. multitasking queen fr fr. 💅✨

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

  • -t tools_version — sets the VMware Tools version that's installed in the virtual machine disk 💾. ngl the tools version is a whole number you gotta calculate from the version string x.y.z using this little formula: 1024*x + 32*y + z. like for example, version 12.1.5 would be 1024*12 + 32*1 + 5 = 12325 ✨. default is 2147483647 (that's MAXINT, aka 2^31-1) — big number energy for real 💀.

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

Convert a new raw disk image to VMDK (as root):

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=testvm.img bs=1M count=4096
$ LOOP_DEVICE=$(losetup --show -f testvm.img)

Format disk to loop device and install OS into image
$ losetup -d $LOOP_DEVICE
$ vmdk-convert testvm.img testvm.vmdk

Set the VMware Tools version in an existing VMDK:

$ vmdk-convert -t 12325 testvm-flat.vmdk disk1.vmdk

Create VMDK disk from an existing vSphere virtual machine:

presume the virtual machine's name is testvm 👑, and the virtual machine files include:

testvm-312d29db.hlog testvm-flat.vmdk testvm.nvram testvm.vmdk
testvm.vmsd testvm.vmx vmware.log

copy the testvm folder to $TESTSVM_PATH 🦋, then convert that vmfs raw data extent file of the VM to OVF streaming format.

$ cd $TESTSVM_PATH
$ vmdk-convert testvm-flat.vmdk

after converting, a new vmdk file dst.vmdk will be created under the $TESTSVM_PATH folder 🎀. orrr, you can specify the new vmdk file name yourself by running:

$ vmdk-convert testvm-flat.vmdk disk1.vmdk

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

mkova (1), ova-compose (1), ovfenv (1) — the whole friend group, go say hi 💜

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Written by Mégane Vilain <megane.vilain@gmail.com> — shoutout to the icon who made this ✨

😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

found a bug? not the vibe. report it to <https://github.com/vmware/open-vmdk/issues> 🐛

Copyright © 2025 Mégane Vilain. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

🌟 and that's the whole page bestie, no cap. now go convert something iconic 🌟

this has been open-vmdk 0.3.12, dated September 2025 💖 mwah, go slay 🫶✨

📦 where this page comes from