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Create and convert .ovf files with VMware

ESX 3.5 uses .ovf files when importing virtual machines. This is an open xml-based file format, and you can read more about OVF on the VMware website.

Setup ovftool

1. You must have a working java install to run ovftool, and it must be in your path. To check:

   java -version

2. Download ovftool
3. Unpack it

   unzip -d ovftool VMware-ovftool-*zip
   cd ovftool

4. Test run it to make sure it will work

   ./ovftool.sh

   If you get the error bad interpreter, then the file has Windows-style line endings. To fix it, run this:
   

   dos2unix ovftool.sh

   If you do not have dos2unix, run:

   cat ovftool.sh | tr -d "\r" > ovftool-FIXED.sh && mv ovftool-FIXED.sh ovftool.sh && chmod +x ovftool.sh

   and try again.

Use ovftool

1. Make a directory to store the files

   mkdir /path/to/OVF

2. To create an .ovf package from the command line, use:

   ./ovftool.sh /path/to/vmware/vmware.vmx /path/to/OVF

3. If you prefer a gui, use:

   ./ovftool.sh -i

 

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