Converting Open Virtualization Format (OVF) -Virtual Machines to VMware Fusion

Ray over at Yellow-Bricks.com has posted about how to get an OVF virtual machine (usually VMware Appliances) converted so you can open them in VMware Fusion on the Mac. Here’s his link:

http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2011/02/26/converting-open-virtualization-format-ovf-virtual-machines-to-vmware-fusion/

Copied here for reference:

I needed to run an appliance inside VMware Fusion on my Mac, the appliance was in OVF format. VMware Fusion currently does not support this format and requires you to convert the image with a tool called ovftool which can be downloaded at the following location:http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vsphere/automationtools/ovf

Conversion is as simple as:

./ovftool "source.ovf" "target"

Optionally you could use parameters that are described in full detail when running ovftool –help. What remains is importing the created .vmx into Fusion, that’s it.

 

Release: VMware Fusion 3.1

Thanks to VMguy.com for the great write up. Fusion 3.1 has been released.  You can download it here.  There’s tons of great information in the what’s new section of the release notes.

Here’s also the post on the Fusion Team blog, which has a little more detail and screenshots:
http://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2010/05/vmware-fusion-31-better-stronger-faster-than-ever.html

VMware Fusion 3.1 has a large number of new and improved features, including:

New Features

8-way SMP
2 TB Virtual Disks
OpenGL 2.1 for Vista
OpenGL 2.1 for Windows 7
Support for overlapping Unity windows in Exposé and Dock Exposé
USB “EasyConnect” to easily assign USB devices to virtual machine or Mac when connected
OVF Tool for Mac OS X now included as optional install with full download or CD install
OVF Tool 2: Import and export OVF packaged virtual machines and upload to vSphere with bundled OVF Tool
Drag a disk image or virtual disk to the installation media pane of the assistant
Add shortcut for opening a virtual machines configuration file in default text editor for VMware Fusion (Hold down option and right-click in Virtual Machine Library)
User Experience Improvement Program

Graphics Improvements

Aero is much faster on Windows Vista and Windows 7
Greatly improved scrolling speeds in Windows Vista and Windows 7 with latest Mac OS X release
Some games up to 10x faster than VMware Fusion 3.0 with VMware Fusion 3.1 and latest Mac OS X release
Improved performance and better compatibility for both DirectX 9 and OpenGL 3D applications

Boot Camp Improvements

Up to 5x disk performance in Boot Camp virtual machines
New option to minimize prompting for password (authentication dialogs) when using Boot Camp virtual machines
Handle Mac OS X disk changes better to avoid multiple references to Boot Camp partition in the Virtual Machine Library

PC Migration Improvements

Improvements to Migrate Your PC assistant, including better validation of names and better location prompt
Prompt user if Mac OS X guest account prevents guest access to shared folders instead of failing
Open new virtual machine on successful migration
Enhanced user interface on PC being migrated including:
New progress dialog on the PC being migrated as well as in VMware Fusion
Option to show converter logs and troubleshooting steps on PC if PC migration fails
Avoids port conflicts with Web server software installed on PC such as IIS, Tomcat, and Apache

New Guest Operating Systems Supported

Ubuntu 8.0.4.4: 32- and 64-bit
Ubuntu 10.04: 32- and 64-bit (currently in Beta)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 Service Pack 1: 32- and 64-bit
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 1: 32- and 64-bit
RHEL 5.4: 32- and 64-bit

You can download it using the link above or running the updater inside of Fusion itself.  Enjoy.

Release: VMware Fusion 3.1 Beta Now Available

VMware Fusion 3.1 Beta was released. It does list a lot of stability updates and bug fixes, however the feedback on the Fusion beta forums are not that great. If you update, leave a comment on how things work for you!

From the VMware Fusion Blog:
The VMware Fusion 3.1 Beta is now available at http://communities.vmware.com/community/beta/fusion.

This beta software includes 10+ new and improved features including:

• More Powerful Graphics Performance for Games & 3D Apps: OpenGL 2.1 support for Windows Vista and Windows 7, DirectX 9.0 SM3 performance improvements, Windows Aero performance improvements, better OpenGL compatibility for modeling apps
• Improved USB Support: USB “EasyConnect” makes it simple to assign a USB device to a virtual machine or your Mac and then remembers preferred settings for each USB device
• Support for larger virtual machines: 8-way SMP support added, maximum virtual hard disk size increased from 950 GB to 2 TB
• Improved Boot Camp Support: Improved disk performance for your Boot Camp VMs, better handling of disk configuration changes to avoid duplicate entries, option to avoid authentication dialogs when using a Boot Camp virtual machine
• PC Migration Improvements: Migration status displayed on PC, now avoids port conflicts, guest account issues on Mac OS X now resolved
• User Experience Improvement Program: VMware uses information obtained through the User Experience Improvement Program to improve the quality, reliability, and performance of our products and to plan our future development and testing. Participation in the program is voluntary and you can opt out at any time.
• Many Additional UI Improvements and Various Fixes: See the VMware Fusion 3.1 Beta Release Notes for more information.