How to convert a VHDX file to VHD?

I made an image with disk2vhd and unfortunately I chose VHDX instead of VHD. I didn't see any information about what to choose.

Anyway, now that file is all I have, the original PC is trashed. So I need to know how to run it as a Virtual Machine in Windows 7.

VirtualBox doesn't have an option to open VHDX and WM Converter doesn't have an option to open VHDX (or to convert to VHD).

Bjorn

Posted 2014-05-10T14:13:55.583

Reputation: 371

Answers

You can do that conversion with VirtualBox :

VBoxManage.exe clonemedium "input_file.vhdx" "output_file.vhd" --format VHD

Default Path to VBoxManage.exe

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\

Poulpos

Posted 2014-05-10T14:13:55.583

Reputation: 441

It looks like this is broken in VirtualBox 5.0. The report is labeled as "critical", but hasn't been modified in 7 months, so not very optimistic.

– Wasabi Fan – 2016-02-03T02:07:22.500

2@WasabiFan - it works again in 5.1.4 (I just used it). – WiredPrairie – 2016-09-10T22:23:57.817

Also, one can encounter the VHDX: Image has a non empty log which is not supported (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED) error message. – Bass – 2017-12-25T13:12:34.717

Before anything, make a backup of the original .VHDX, just in case.

You said you have Windows 7. In that case, you can easily convert VHDX to VHD with PowerShell.

Go to "Run..." (Windows + R) and type Powershell.

Then, in the PowerShell command line, type the command PS C:\> Convert-VHD –Path YOUR VHDX PATH –DestinationPath YOUR DESTINATION PATH

It should be converted then.

You can find additional information about the Convert-VHD command here.

matan129

Posted 2014-05-10T14:13:55.583

Reputation: 1 914

1Hyper-V is not available in Home editions. – Álvaro González – 2014-09-27T18:58:07.140

Even after upgrading to PowerShell 4.0 I just get The term 'Convert-VHD' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. on Windows 7 – James EJ – 2016-03-15T13:55:38.303

Go to Turn Windows Features on and off > Hyper-V > Hyper-V Management Tools > Hyper-V module for Windows PowerShell and enable it. – Carl – 2017-06-28T23:27:49.753

2Ok, I give it a try.

But it says >> Applies To: Windows 8.1, Windows PowerShell 4.0, Windows Server 2012 R2 – Bjorn – 2014-05-10T16:01:15.550

@Bjorn - Powershell 4 will work on Windows 7. – Ramhound – 2014-05-10T16:03:11.487

10this is a cmdlet which only works in Win8/Server 2012 when Hyper-V is activated. – magicandre1981 – 2014-05-10T17:50:08.190

To convert vhdx to vhd use the free StarWind V2V Image Converter

shujauddin

Posted 2014-05-10T14:13:55.583

Reputation: 57

Just tried it, only works on Win8 or above. – Simon Hova – 2016-03-23T05:29:44.347

I made the same mistake, when creating the Virtual disk from the physical with Disk2VHD, there is a check box at the top right (second down) that is ticked by default to create a vhdx, Remove this check and it will create a vhd instead.

James Taylor

Posted 2014-05-10T14:13:55.583

Reputation: 41

I managed to extract files from a Windows 10 VMDH "Windows Image Backup" and to write them to a Windows 7 machine: I installed Windows Server 2012 (free 180 days evaluation) in a virtual machine and connected it to my local hard disk via a network share. This way I could "mount" the VMDH backup and write the important files back to my local drive.

fraber

Posted 2014-05-10T14:13:55.583

Reputation: 169