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You are here: Home / VMware / VMware ESX – How to downgrade a VM’s VM Version/HW Level from 7 (4.0) to 4 (3.x)

VMware ESX – How to downgrade a VM’s VM Version/HW Level from 7 (4.0) to 4 (3.x)

11 January 2010 by Simon Seagrave 16 Comments

Downgrading a VM’s ‘VM Version’ or as it is commonly called by many it’s ‘hardware (HW) level’ is probably not a task that you’ll find yourself performing that often though it is useful to know how to should the requirement ever arise.  The most obvious reason for downgrading a VM’s ‘VM Version’ is when moving a VM from a vSphere (ESX(i) 4.0) environment to an older VI3 (eg: ESX(i) 3.5) installation.

A VM running on a VMware VI3 environment is at VM Level 4 and once upgraded in a vSphere environment it is at VM Level 7.  So why the jump from Level 4 to Level 7?  With the help of Joep Piscaer (Twitter: jpiscaer) we seem to think it’s because Levels 5 and 6 are used for VMware Workstation.  If anyone knows anything more or can confirm this then please let me know.

The following is a step-by-step guide on how to perform this downgrade – as you’ll see it’s quite straight forward which is always good news!  🙂

I will be performing this downgrade on a Windows Server 2003 VM called ‘W2K3 Std x32 – Test VM’ which I have been running in one of my VMware vSphere labs.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change VM Version 

 

This VM is currently running at VM Version 7.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change hardware level

 

What you will need, if you haven’t already downloaded and installed it, is a copy of the VMware vCenter Converter.  You may have used this useful utility before when migrating your physical server infrastructure into your new shiny VMware VI3/vSphere environment.  The converter tool comes in two flavours, standalone and enterprise.  The good news is that a copy of the free downloadable standalone version will suffice in performing the VM Version downgrade which can be downloaded from here.

Once downloaded and installed then run the vCenter Converter.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change VM Version

 

Click on ‘Convert Machine’

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change hardware level

 

What we are going to be doing is a virtual to virtual (V2V) copy of the source VM whose VM Version we want to downgrade.  This is a little different to the physical to virtual (P2V) that you may have used vCenter Converter for before.

The conversion process is simplified through the use of a wizard which takes you through the required steps.

Step 1 – Specify the Source: As the machine we are wanting to downgrade is, and would always be, a virtual machine select ‘VMware Infrastructure virtual machine’ from the ‘source type’ dropdown list box.  Also enter in the name/IP of the ESX(i) host or the managing vCenter Server instance along with logon credentials.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change HW level

 

Select the VM whose VM Level you want to downgrade.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change VM Version

 

Step 2 – Specify the Destination: Next we want to select where this source VM is to be copied to.  Since we want to maintain it as VM because we are downgrading the VM Level, select ‘VMware Infrastructure virtual machine’ from the destination type dropdown list box.  Once again enter the details (name and logon credentials) of the destination ESX(i) host or vCenter Server instance.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change hardware level

 

At this next stage you have the chance to assign a new name to the virtual machine.  For this article I am going to amend ‘HW Lvl 4’ to the end of the VM’s name. You can also select the target datastore along with, most importantly, the opportunity to select the VMs  VM Level – where we select ‘Version 4’.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change HW level

 

Step 3 – View/Edit Options:  This step is actually the most interesting as from here you can change a wide array of the VM’s settings.  I recommend spending the time to take a look around to see what can be ‘tweaked’ or changed.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change VM Version

 

A useful option is the ability to convert the VMs disk(s) to and from flat to thin during the V2V process.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change hwardware level

 

Another rather good option in my opinion is being able to modify individual service settings on the VMs OS (in this case Windows Server 2003).

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change HW level

 

Step 4 – Thunderbirds are GO!  This next step presents you with a summary of the configuration settings which will be used for the V2V process. At this stage you still have the ability to go back and make any necessary modifications to these configuration settings.  To proceed press the ‘Finish’ button and go and make a cup of tea/coffee/water (delete where applicable).

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change VM Version

 

The vCenter Converter now validates the configuration and then proceeds to create a clone (at HW Lvl 4) of your selected VM to the target storage device.  I find that the estimated time remaining does fluctuate a lot and tends to take less time than originally specified – as is the case with most software packages offering estimated time.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change VM Version

 

Once the V2V process is complete you will see the ‘Completed’ status in the vCenter Converters status field.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to change hardware level

 

How here comes the test!  When I start up the newly created instance of the VM on my ESX(i) 4.0 host we can see that it is now successfully running at VM Version 4 and not the original (ESX(i) 4.0) level 7.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to downgrade VM Version

 

The real test is running the same VM on an ESX(i) 3.5 host which wouldn’t normally be able to run a VM Level 7….. As you can see (below) it runs with no problems at all.

VMware ESX and ESXi - How to downgrade hardware level

 

Hope you found this step by step guide useful.  🙂

 

Technorati Tags: VMware,vSphere,ESX,ESXi,hardware level,HW,level,VM,downgrade,uninstall,4,7,how,to

Filed Under: VMware

About Simon Seagrave

Simon is a UK based Virtualization, Cloud & IT Technology Evangelist working as a Senior Technology Consultant and vSpecialist for EMC. He loves working in the ever changing IT industry & spends most of his time working with Virtualization, Cloud & other Enterprise IT based technologies, in particular VMware, EMC and HP products.

As well as on this site, you can find him on Twitter and Google+

Comments

  1. Dave Convery says

    11 January 2010 at 11:39 am

    So obvious! Why didn’t I think of that?!?

    Reply
    • Kiwi Si says

      12 January 2010 at 9:22 am

      Hi Dave,

      TBH I always thought it’d be more complicated. 🙂

      Cheers,

      Simon

      Reply
  2. andreas says

    3 March 2010 at 5:56 am

    Thanks! That was exactly the information i was looking for! Great site, your other articles have been really helpful too.

    Reply
    • Kiwi Si says

      8 March 2010 at 12:44 pm

      Hi Andreas,

      Glad you found the article useful. 🙂

      All the best,

      Simon

      Reply
  3. Anuradha Podila says

    11 May 2010 at 12:14 pm

    Very useful link.

    Reply
  4. Martin says

    19 May 2010 at 4:54 pm

    Hi, thank you very much for the helpful information!
    Please be aware that (at least in my environment with Converter 4.0.1) the conversion of a Linux (RHEL5) VM doesn’t give the choice of the VM (HW) Version.
    My Linux VM was Version 7 (on vSphere 4). After converting it to ESX 3.5U5 (VC 2.5U4) it didn’t show anything about HW Version or changing it.
    The conversion finished successfully and I was able to start the VM without problems.
    Since VC 2.5 doesn’t show VM HW Version information (afaik), I took a look into the vmx-file of this VM. The following is listed there:
    virtualHW.version = “4”.
    So I guess Converter was changing the Version without any intervention… great 😉
    with kind Regards, Martin.

    Reply
  5. Chris says

    9 June 2010 at 2:36 am

    Martin, if the destination ESX host during the conversion is ESX 3.x, you won’t receive the option to select the VM Hardware Version.

    Since ESX 3.x only supports HW Version 4, and not 7, Converter automatically chooses 4.

    Great article Simon. Exactly what I needed since the VM Template I made for Windows Server 2008 was HW Version 7 and I needed to deploy it to a 3.5 server. Thanks!!!

    Reply
  6. anjan kumar says

    23 January 2012 at 7:06 am

    Thanks alot This is what I am searching for.

    Reply
  7. Abhrajit says

    24 February 2012 at 9:27 pm

    Hi
    I floowed your guide step by step. But for some reason, i did not get the option for changing ‘virtual machine version’. I got everything else, but that option. Any clue please?

    Reply
  8. IT Support Forum says

    31 July 2014 at 2:02 am

    You also need to do the VM Tools in the VM

    Reply
  9. Free MCP Training says

    31 July 2014 at 2:04 am

    Do you need the VMTools downgraded?

    Reply
    • Simon Seagrave (TechHead) says

      30 September 2014 at 7:38 pm

      Hi,

      Yes, you’d need to downgrade the VMTools to the match the version made available with the version of ESXi that you are running.

      Cheers,

      Simon

      Reply
  10. uday kiran says

    12 December 2014 at 7:03 am

    You can directly change the number in vmx file, by opening with notepad at virtualHW.version =

    Reply
    • mer1 says

      24 January 2015 at 9:48 am

      thanks dude ! VM created with version 8 worked on VM Ware 7 😀

      Reply
      • Simon Seagrave (TechHead) says

        26 January 2015 at 1:17 pm

        Hey there, Glad you found the post of help. 🙂 Cheers

        Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Downgrading ESX virtual hardware 7 to 4 - A. Mikkelsen says:
    19 November 2010 at 8:18 pm

    […] Or http://techhead.co/vmware-esx-how-to-downgrade-a-vms-vm-versionhw-level-from-7-4-0-to-4-3-x Or […]

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Simon Seagrave - TechHead - VMware EMC HP IT Tech Blogger My name is Simon Seagrave and I am a Massachusetts (ex UK) based Technical Marketing Consultant working for Dell EMC. I love my work & spend most of my time working with Virtualisation & other Enterprise IT based technologies, in particular VMware, EMC and Dell products. I am a VMware vExpert (2009 - Present).

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