Overview:System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) allows you to convert an existing physical computer into a virtual machine, which is known as a physical-to-virtual machine conversion (P2V conversion). During a P2V conversion, disk images of the hard disks on the physical computer are created and formatted as virtual hard disks for use in the new virtual machine. The new virtual machine has the same computer identity as the physical computer on which it is based. VMM provides a conversion wizard which automates much of the conversion process.
P2V: Requirements for Physical Source Computers
The requirements for the physical source computer depend on whether you are performing an online or offline P2V conversion. In either case, VMM temporarily installs an agent on the physical source computer that you want to convert. With online P2V, VMM uses Volume Shadow Copy Service to copy data while the server continues to service user requests. The source computer is not restarted during the conversion. With offline P2V, the source computer restarts into the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) before VMM converts the physical disks to Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs).
To perform an offline P2V conversion, your source computer:Must have at least 512 MB of RAM.
Must be in a workgroup environment, in the same domain as the VMM server, or a member of a domain that has a full two-way trust with the domain of the VMM server.
Supported Operating SystemsTo perform a P2V conversion, your source computer should contain one of the following supported operating systems:
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2003 (32-bit) SP1 or later
Windows Server 2003 (64-bit) SP1 or later
Windows 2000 Server SP4 or later (Offline P2V only)
Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4 or later (Offline P2V only)
Windows XP Professional (32-bit) SP2 or later
Windows XP Professional (64-bit) SP2 or later
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Windows Vista SP1 or later (64-bit)
Note
VMM does not support P2V on source computers running Windows NT Server 4.0. However, you can use the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit (VSMT) or third-party solutions for converting computers running Windows NT Server 4.0.
Procedure:1. In the Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console, in the Actions pane in any view, click Convert physical server to open the Convert Physical Server Wizard.
2. On the Select Source page, configure the following options:
Computer name or IP address.
User name.
Password.
Domain or computer name.
3. On the Virtual Machine Identity page, configure the following options:
Virtual machine name.
Owner.
Description (optional).
4. On the System Information page, click Scan System to begin a survey of the source machine that lists its hardware and software and identifies any missing components that are required for the P2V conversion. The wizard installs software on the source machine to gather the information but removes this software when the conversion is complete.
5. On the Volume Configuration page, review the lists of all volumes that the wizard lists and determine whether you want to make any changes. (No Screen Shot provided)
6. On the Virtual Machine Configuration page, select the number of processors and amount of memory for the converted virtual machine.
7. On the Select Host page, review the number of stars under Rating for each host listed under Host Name to determine the most suitable host on which to deploy this virtual machine. (In my case I have only one Host Machine)
8. On the Select Path page, accept the default path on the host to which to save files associated with this virtual machine, or click Browse to specify a different path. The default path is as follows:
:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Shared Virtual Machines\
9. On the Select Networks page, modify the networks and attach them to Not Connected or to any of the virtual networks that are found on the selected host.
10. On the Additional Properties page, accept the default settings or modify these settings
11. On the Conversion Information page, do one of the following:
Confirm that the message No issues detected appears.
Review any issues reported by the wizard that must be resolved before the conversion can continue.
Each issue in the list explains how to resolve the issue. After resolving all issues, click Check Again to check for additional issues.
12. When no more issues are detected, click Next to continue.
13. In Jobs view, monitor the progress of the new virtual machine creation job and confirm that the virtual machine is created successfully. If the job fails, read the error message at the bottom of the Jobs window for information about the cause of the failure and the recommended action to resolve the issue.
Reference: Microsft Help - SCVMM
