Is it possible to use a VMware image created on WindowsXP 32bits on MacOS X?

Question

I have a running VMWare virtual machine created on a 64bits edition of Windows 7, the guest OS being Ubuntu 10.04 64bits.

I wish I could use that very same virtual machine on a Mac.

If I copy the vmx,vmdk & co. files to a MacBook, would I be able to use the VM ?

Answer 1

Yes, you should.

If it was different VM software, you might want to consider exporting to OVF, but you should be able to move a VM between different OSes running VMware with no issues, other than architecture considerations (if the guest os is 32 bit, no issue at all - 64 bit oses may have some processor prerequisites)

I note though, your title and question seem to have different host OSes

Answer 2

Yes, you'll be able to do that. VMware products are compatible enough to be able to do this, so in the end it's similar to moving a hard disk from one computer to the other.

That also means that some characteristics of the host system hardware (e.g. processor) shine through to the guest OS -- enough that Windows clients require a new license. Low-level OS components in your guest system might therefore behave differently.

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You should place all files related to the VM into a folder named SomeDescriptiveName.vmwarevm. This will make the folder appear as a bundle on OS X, just like VMs created using VMware Fusion.