Windows compatible OS versions used by migration tool

[owenodonohoe1]

Hi 

Can I use the migration tool to migrate Windows 2012, 2016, 2019 from ESXi to HPE VME?

[dccolpitts]

The native migration tool simply utilizes VMware export tool to OVF to export the VM from ESXi (it's a bit more than that, but this is the simplified answer).  My experience is you can migrate any VM from ESXi to VME, regardless of the guest OS.  However, that guest OS should either already have the Virtio drivers installed into it, or you must be able to install Virtio drivers into once it is migrated.

My blog post below details how to inject the Virtio drivers into Windows.  If it's a Linux based VM, or a vendor supplied appliance, you may face challenges.  However as long as you have local Administrator rights to Windows (2003 to 2025, and XP to 11), you should be good to go.

https://blog.jbgeek.net/2025/09/05/howto-inject-the-virtio-drivers-in-a-windows-vm-to-prepare-for-migration-to-hpe-vme/

dcc

[owenodonohoe1]

Thanks a million for your response...

The official support doc states 

"Windows Server 2022 (or later) Supported versions and assumptions − Windows Server 2022 or later"

[SprinkleJames]

In my recent testing, injecting the drivers from the latest virtio-win-0.1.285.iso worked for Windows Server 2016 and 2019.

However, for Server 2012R2 the migrated VM would not boot. But if I injected drivers from the older virtio-win-0.1.189.iso and migrated, it then booted successfully.

I have not yet tried migrating Windows Server older than 2012R2.

[Voortman123]

I've tested Windows Server 2019 & 2022 and both worked fine. 2025 however did fail, will look into that tomorrow.