ovftool throws error "Error: Failed to open file: .\" when try to export to ovf

[GordyNorth]

Hello,

I created a virtual machine in virtualbox which I then exported to OVA format using the export.

In VMWare player I then opened the OVA file. The VM opened, I was able to start the virtual machine and test it. All is working correctly.

I now wanted to export the VMWare virtual machine to a OVF format using the ovftool.

I run the ovftool providing the source and target, the ovftool is throwing a "Failed to open file" error no matter which source I provide. It is very frustrating since even in the verbose log there is no indication about which file the program is failing to find.

The verbose log is not very long so I will post it below.

What am I missing??

======= Verbose log

2018-12-27T23:27:15.862-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] [SSL_DB] Using C:\Users\Gordynorth\AppData\Roaming\VMware\ovftool_SSLDB as SSL DB

2018-12-27T23:27:15.887-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Subscribing to signal: 2 (SIGINT)

2018-12-27T23:27:15.887-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Subscribing to signal: 4 (SIGILL)

2018-12-27T23:27:15.887-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Subscribing to signal: 22 (SIGABRT)

2018-12-27T23:27:15.887-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Subscribing to signal: 8 (SIGFPE)

2018-12-27T23:27:15.887-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Subscribing to signal: 15 (SIGTERM)

2018-12-27T23:27:15.887-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Initializing progress

2018-12-27T23:27:15.887-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] OvfTool Version: VMware ovftool 4.3.0 (build-10104578)

2018-12-27T23:27:15.888-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Using home directory: C:\Users\Gordynorth\AppData\Roaming\VMware\ovftool.cfg

2018-12-27T23:27:15.894-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Curl Version: 7.59.0

2018-12-27T23:27:15.894-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Done initializing libs

2018-12-27T23:27:15.894-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Determining source

2018-12-27T23:27:15.895-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Determining target

2018-12-27T23:27:15.895-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Getting source

2018-12-27T23:27:15.896-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Opening source

2018-12-27T23:27:15.896-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] [Context::Context] started. No parameters.

2018-12-27T23:27:15.896-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] [VmxConsumerContext::VmxConsumerContext] started.

2018-12-27T23:27:15.897-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] .\ is not a file

2018-12-27T23:27:15.903-05:00 verbose OVFTool[15156] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Backtrace:

--> [backtrace begin] product: VMware Workstation, version: e.x.p, build: build-10104578, tag: OVFTool, cpu: x86_64, os: windows, buildType: release

--> backtrace[00] vmacore.dll[0x001F6D2A]

--> backtrace[01] vmacore.dll[0x00064FD0]

--> backtrace[02] vmacore.dll[0x0006776E]

--> backtrace[03] vmacore.dll[0x0002533C]

--> backtrace[04] ovftool.exe[0x00013FB6]

--> backtrace[05] ovftool.exe[0x0003AF07]

--> backtrace[06] ovftool.exe[0x0023B3CF]

--> backtrace[07] ovftool.exe[0x0023F77B]

--> backtrace[08] ovftool.exe[0x0023EA12]

--> backtrace[09] ovftool.exe[0x00247641]

--> backtrace[10] ovftool.exe[0x000D16E7]

--> backtrace[11] ovftool.exe[0x00159CBF]

--> backtrace[12] ovftool.exe[0x000DAC7C]

--> backtrace[13] ovftool.exe[0x000DB954]

--> backtrace[14] ovftool.exe[0x003846C5]

--> backtrace[15] KERNEL32.DLL[0x00017E94]

--> backtrace[16] ntdll.dll[0x0006A251]

--> [backtrace end]

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

please post the command(s) that you've tried so far.

André

[GordyNorth]

I tried to run the ovftool without providing an input path, I changed the path of the command line to the path of the vmx file:

D:\My Documents\Virtual Machines\MetadataManager>"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool\ovftool"  --X:logFile=d:\gordon\downloads\temp\ovftool.log --X:logLevel=verbose MetadataManager.vmx D:\gordon\Downloads\temp\MetadataManager.ovf

Opening VMX source: MetadataManager.vmx

Error: Failed to open file: .\

Completed with errors

I first tried to run with the source/target paths:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool>ovftool --X:logFile=d:\gordon\downloads\temp\ovftool.log --X:logLevel=verbose "D:\My Documents\Virtual Machines\MetadataManager\MetadataManager.vmx" D:\gordon\Downloads\temp\MetadataManager.ovf

Opening VMX source: D:\My Documents\Virtual Machines\MetadataManager\MetadataManager.vmx

Error: Failed to open file: D:\My Documents\Virtual Machines\MetadataManager\

Completed with errors

Since my source file had spaces I enclosed the full path name in quotes.

[a_p_]

I just did some tests with OVFTool 4.3.0, and everything worked as expected, even with long file names (with spaces).

One difference is that I have the April build (7948156) installed, rather than the current U1 build.

• Which host OS, and which VMware Wokstation version do you use?
• Can you attach the VM's configuration (.vmx) file to a reply post?

André

[GordyNorth]

The host OS is Windows 10 v1809 the hosted VM is Ubuntu 18.4.

I am using VMware® Workstation 15 Player 15.0.2 build-10952284

I started the VM and then shut it down.

The VMX file is attached. There is an extended VMX file which I also attached.

I also attached the VMWare log file found in the same location as the vmx file.

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

That's strange, and to be honest, I don't really understand what's going on.

When looking at the vmware.log file, it looks like the .vmx file is only partly read (unitil tools.syncTime = "FALSE").

After some tests I changed

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

to

ide1:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"

(as it was interpreted to this in the vmware.log file), and OFVTool seems to work now.

André

[GordyNorth]

Wow, who would have known that this would cause such an error.

So it looks like the cdrom-image was making the ovftool to search for an ISO cd but could not find one.

Thanks, all is working now, I was able to produce my OVF file.

[palandia]

Thank you very much, I solved this issue by DELETING my CDROM device and I could export to OVA... later on I can ADD DEVICE again... 😉