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Question

Best approach to migrate legacy OS VMs from VMware to Nutanix AHV

  • March 27, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 49 views
Tominaga
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Hello everyone,
I am planning a migration from VMware to Nutanix AHV.
The environment still includes some legacy operating systems, such as:

  • Windows XP / Windows Server 2003
  • Windows Server 2008 (non-R2)
  • Very old Linux distributions (kernel 2.6 era)

I fully understand that:

  • These OS versions are not supported on AHV
  • Migration is technically difficult and not recommended
  • This would be a best-effort / temporary solution

However, due to VMware licensing constraints, the customer must exit VMware and migrate these VMs anyway.

My question to the community is simple:

👉 In this kind of situation, what has been the most effective or realistic approach you have used to migrate legacy OS VMs from VMware to AHV?

Any real-world experience or advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.

2 replies

Tominaga
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  • Tominaga
  • Author
  • Adventurer
  • March 29, 2026

Thanks for checking.

It seems there are no widely shared success stories for this scenario, which is understandable given how challenging it is.
Nutanix is recommended internally, so I wanted to explore the possibility, but based on this, we’ll step back and consider alternative approaches, including other migration options or platforms.

That said, I’ll keep this question open, so if anyone has relevant experience or ideas later on, I’d still be very interested to hear them.

JeroenTielen
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Hi Tominaga,.

 

If something is not supported doesnt mean that it isnt working ;)

 

So for those old legacy operating systems just try to move them with nutanix move. If that doesnt work you can migrate them manually. There are two methods. 

 

  1. Install VirtIO drivers in the original VM. Export the vmdk. Import the vmdk into ahv cluster. Create vm (bios or uefi, depends on the source vm) with sata/scsi disk from it. 
  2. If there are no working VirtIO drivers available then export the vmdk. Import the vmdk into ahv. Create a legacy bios virtual machine with ide disk. If the network card isnt working attach an e1000 network card to it via cli. 

 

But in all cases it is possible to migrate them, but it will take some extra steps ;)

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