Fixing Dell DataDomain OVA Import Issues on VMware Workstation

quality7501@newsletter.paragraph.com (Quality7501) — Thu, 01 May 2025 23:25:41 GMT

If you're someone who enjoys testing various software and has been required to install Dell DataDomain Virtual Edition on your laptop or desktop, you may have encountered significant compatibility issues when using the OVA (Open Virtualization Archive) file provided by Dell, as it's primarily designed for deployment on VMware ESXi servers rather than running on VMware Workstation. This can lead to import issues, despite correctly placing the files in the selected location, as the final step of importing the VMX file often fails. To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

Open your preferred text editor and navigate to the folder containing the DataDomain files.
Open the VMX file and locate lines 45 and 50, which should contain the following:
scsi0:0.mode = "independent_persistent" scsi0:1.mode = "independent_persistent"

Replace the "_" with "-" in both lines, so they read:
scsi0:0.mode = "independent-persistent" scsi0:1.mode = "independent-persistent"

Open VMware Workstation, click on "File," then "Scan for Virtual Machines." Browse to the folder containing the VMX file, click "OK," and then "Next.". Confirm that the VMX file is recognized, click "Finish," and then "Close."

The VMX file should now be imported successfully. Click "Start" to begin using the virtual machine.

If you encounter an error message, it may indicate a typo in the VMX file. In my case, I had forgotten to save the file after making changes, and I had also accidentally removed one of the "t"s from "persistent." To resolve the issue, I corrected the typo, saved the file, canceled the VMware Wizard, and click again on the VM from the library.

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