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VIRT-CONVERT(1) Virtual Machine Manager VIRT-CONVERT(1)

NAME

virt-convert - convert ovf/vmx to native libvirt guests

SYNOPSIS

virt-convert INPUT.vmx|INPUT.ovf|INPUT-DIR|INPUT.zip [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION

virt-convert is a command line tool for converting VMX or OVF virtual machines to native libvirt XML. Disk format conversion can also be done at the same time.

The simplest invocation is simply: virt-convert INPUT. INPUT might be a .vmx or .ovf file, a directory containing a .vmx or .ovf file (and likely 1 or more disk images), or an appliance archive like .zip, .tar.gz, or .ova. virt-convert will try to do the right thing in each case.

By default, the virt-convert will convert all encountered disk images to 'raw' format, sending the output to a new directory location. So the original disk images are _not_ altered in place.

OPTIONS

Connect to a non-default hypervisor. See virt-install(1) for details

CONVERSION OPTIONS

Input format. This should be auto-detected, but can be forced if necessary. Currently "vmx" and "ovf" are supported.
Output disk format. The default is 'raw', so any encountered disk images will be converted to 'raw' format using qemu-img(1). Pass "none" if no conversion should be performed: in this case the images will just be copied to the specified --destination.
The directory to send converted/copied disk images. If not specified, the hypervisor default is used, typically /var/lib/libvirt/images.

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS

Don't automatically try to connect to the guest console. The default behaviour is to launch virt-viewer(1) to display the graphical console, or to run the "virsh" "console" command to display the text console. Use of this parameter will disable this behaviour.
Print the generated libvirt XML, but do not perform any disk conversions or install/start the guest. This option implies --dry-run.
Proceed through the conversion process, but don't convert disks or actually write any converted files.
Show the help message and exit
Show program's version number and exit
Avoid verbose output.
Print debugging information

EXAMPLES

Run a fedora18 OVA archive:

  # virt-convert fedora18.ova

Run an extracted zip archive containing a centos6 .vmx and .vmdk file, converting the images to qcow2 format

  # virt-convert centos6/ --disk-format qcow2

Convert the specified .vmx file. Any references disk images must be in the same directory. Don't change the disk format. Move the disk images to /tmp

  # virt-convert foo.vmx --disk-format none --destination /tmp

BUGS

Please see <https://virt-manager.org/bugs>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) Red Hat, Inc, and various contributors. This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public License "https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html". There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

virt-install(1), the project website "https://virt-manager.org"

2020-08-24 2.2.1