When trying to convert a physical machine to a virtual one, you may receive the following error after authentication : unable to obtain hardware for the selected machine.
Facts :
The source machine is a Windows 2008 Server R2.
The host machine is a Esxi 5.1.0 build 23232326.
VMware Converter version : 5.1.0 build 1087880. The converter was run as administrator on a windows 8.1 PRO x64 machine.
All 3 machines are in the same subnet (/24).
Firewall was disabled for both Windows machines.
Antivirus was disabled for Win 8.1 PC.
Error logs :
vmware-converter-worker-22.log
2016-01-12T15:50:45.000+02:00 [03500 info 'vmomi.soapStub[14]'] Resetting stub adapter for server <cs p:05f39a90, TCP:192.168.55.99:9089> : Closed 2016-01-12T15:51:01.076+02:00 [03496 error 'Ufa.HTTPService'] Failed to read request; stream: <io_obj p:0x01403a8c, h:-1, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-worker-soap'>, <pipe '\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-worker-soap'>>, error: class Vmacore::TimeoutException(Operation timed out)
vmware-converter-server-22.log
2016-01-12T15:50:12.424+02:00 [03380 info 'Default'] ConverterConnection: KeepAlive timer canceled, StopKeepAlive succeeded 2016-01-12T15:50:12.449+02:00 [03380 info 'vmomi.soapStub[2]'] Resetting stub adapter for server <cs p:03191940, PIPE:\\.\pipe\vmware-converter-worker-soap> : Closed 2016-01-12T15:50:25.604+02:00 [03360 info 'Default'] [user,874] Successfully authenticated user Bogdan from this local machine (using pipe)
As you can see from the logs, i was using an user named Bogdan, (which has Administrator privileges).
The solution for me, was to use the built-in Administrator account for the Windows 2008 Server in the VMWare converter.