VMware Converter is the free utility from VMware which helps to convert your Windows and Linux based physical machines and third-party image formats such as backup images, also other virtual machines to VMware virtual machines. VMware vCenter Converter converts local and remote physical machines into virtual machines without any downtime.

Being a Virtualization administrator, I spent a lot of time closely with vCenter Converter to migrate the physical workloads into virtual machines and also migrate the workloads from other hypervisors to VMware virtual machines. It was one of my daily used tools quite a few years ago. We do write quite a few articles about VMware Converter in our blogs.

Last week, VMware announced that vCenter Converter will no longer be available to download from the VMware website. You won’t be able to download and install from the VMware website until you have the vCenter Converter installer downloaded and saved locally earlier.

vCenter Converter – Installer Download Unavailable

Below is the note from VMware about the removal of the vCenter Converter installer

This is a precautionary measure to protect our customers from using legacy technology that does not comply with VMware’s high standards for security and stability. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Offering unsupported products based on legacy technology presents potential security and reliability risks to our customers. The last release of vCenter Converter occurred in May 2018, and its support officially ended in December 2019. While we understand some customers may want to use this tool, the risks reached a level where we had no choice but to remove it from the download site.

One of our top goals is to maintain the safety and stability of our customers’ workloads. As part of a technology’s evolution, we must consider the technical standards the customers must comply with. When a straightforward update cannot meet compliance requirements, the product needs to undergo a thorough rebuild. This is the case with vCenter Converter, whose functionality will be migrated to a modern platform based on a reliable technology stack.

Work on a renewed version of vCenter Converter is already in progress. Although we cannot commit to any specific timelines for its release, the updated tool will meet our high standards for security and stability, providing enhanced functionality and supporting the latest technologies available in vSphere virtual machines.

Any Alternative? – To convert your workloads

As per the statement, VMware updated that work on the new version of vCenter Converter is already in progress. Alternatively, you could try other free third-party converter tools like Starwind V2V Converter and Veeam Backup & replication to convert the virtual machines to supported virtualization formats.

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