I was preparing to write the pre-requisite steps for converting a Windows VMDK into a VHD with our tool. Since the tool itself does not remove anything in the process or fix any HAL issues a Windows machine will fail to boot without some preliminary steps taken.

As I’m preparing this Andrew Dugdell (aka Dugie) writes his piece on our tool and points me to a tip article written by Chris Wolf for SearchServerVirtualization that basically explains the steps needed to prepare a Windows VMDK for conversion into a VHD.

Chris’ overall conversion plan is an imaging one using Ghost, which oddly enough is the same method we used to use and the exact reason we developed this converter. Still the first part of his guide is really good; he even provides a script for disabling VMWare drivers from the image and nine simple steps to follow to get the whole thing ready, which includes resetting the HAL. His guide is located here and is useful for those of you working with Windows VMDKs.

http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid94_gci1225164,00.html?asrc=SS_CLA_303373&psrc=CLT_94

We may still put out some of our steps for doing this but if it is in the community already lets use it.