Fail to import ova file to VMware Player

Question

I downloaded an OVA file from SDN-Hub (sdnhub.org/tutorials/sdn-tutorial-vm/ original link infested by Adware. Do NOT use it. Instead use archived version), and used VMWare Player 11 to import it.

It came out with this error message:

Error while converting to a virtual machine:
Line 96:Unsupported element 'StorageItem'
Line 105:Unsupported element 'StorageItem'
Line 114:Unsupported element 'EthernetPortItem'

It's weird, because I downloaded the same file a few months ago in my other computer, and it worked well.

Hunch

Answer 1

Convert to OVF v1.0 and try again

Seems the problem is related to the OVF format: the virtual machine was exported using OVF 2.0.

What I did to import it to VMware was to import the SDN-Hub VM into VirtualBox and export it again using OVF format 1.0.

Then VMware was happy importing the machine, and it just works fine.

Ito

It's a pity they haven't fixed this, after 4 years (not sure whether it's VirtualBox or VMWare at fault). – George

Still a problem in 2022. – Cromlech

Even extracting vmdk from ovf doesn't work! It will be read only file system, no way to fix this – Coniology

vmware should have this in their docs stupid of them to rely on third party online forums...... – Donalt

Answer 2

When you go to export from the virtual box, it gives you the option to choose a format; 0.9 or 1.1 versions. I chose v1.1 for my CSI Linux ova on the virtual machine and it was converted straight to another ovs file of the format I chose and to a dir of my choice. I then uploaded this into my VMware Workstation Player 17 and it is working perfectly.

GM.

Fragile