Getting the VMware Cold Clone ISO
Posted by VMsage on Oct 13, 2008
I get asked all the time where you can download the “Cold Clone” bootable ISO image for VMware’s Converter product, so I figured it was worth mentioning here for all to see!
The bootable Converter disc is called the “cold clone” disc because it allows you to convert a physical machine into a VM without actually having the machine up-and-running from the OS disc. This is useful for problematic servers which are difficult to convert includine MSSQL, web, and Exchange servers. The problem is that during a “warm clone” the disk is constantly being updated by these software packages and VMware Converter cannot get a good image of the disk.
So, there exists the cold-clone disc. This is a bootable CD-ROM disc that you actually boot the physical server from. The disc contains a pre-installed Windows 2003 image that runs a built-in version of Converter. Since you boot from the CD, none of the server’s processes start-up so you can get a good clone of the hard drive.
Anyway, the VMware Converter cold-clone disc is not the most obvious download to find. Your account must be entitled to use the disc first — this usually means you have either licensed the standalone Converter program or have a license to Virtual Center and the other VI stuff. So, if your account is enabled, you must look below the normal .exe download and look for a .zip file. The .exe is the Windows version you install, but the .zip contains the bootable ISO image.
And, since I’m a nice guy, I’ll save you some work and give you the link to where you can find the VMware Converter cold-clone ISO image download 
THNX
[...] propose gratuitement P2V-Converter. Cet outils peux aussi est intégré dans un LiveCD ColdClone (lui aussi basé sur BartPE). Il s’acquitte des tâches de sauvegarde du PC physique, [...]
I usually get around needing the cold clone by simply stopping (MS)SQL and Exchange services, or whatever service is causing the disk to be changed too frequently.
Thank you! I have been looking for this for a long time. Now I just need to inject my Network Drivers into it and I should be good to go. I tried the 4.0 standalone version but my Virtual Server wouldn’t boot.
Thanks again.
For those of us with the licenses to download vSphere 4.2, here’s the latest version:
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/vc40u2/ZHcqYmRoZXRiZHR3ZA==
Even after finding this article, it still took WAY TOO LONG to find the damn download. But like the example above, there’s a zip that contains the bootable ISO.
Thanks for the update, Beerman. I agree – the VMware website is a nightmare to navigate and try to find things. I’ve even found multiple different versions of the same document which provide conflicting information.
[...] מ Live-CD VMware Converter Enterprise Edition הידועה גם כ-VMware Cold Clone ISO. גרסה זו בעלת יכולות P2V נרחבות (בדומה לאופליין P2V של VMM). [...]
Beerman coool!!! Vmware downloads site too stupid )) Thx for the link!
Location of Cold Clone CD:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1026714
Is this REALLY a KB article on finding it!!! LOL
Isn’t that sad? Instead of just making it easier to find and download, some poor technical documentation guy has to maintain that KB about how to *find* the download! That is funny – thanks H Turrey.
lol i agree. Finding the cold clone isnt a easy task.
Thx guys…need this to v2v a sql server that has a 60 gig snapshot atached to it for 3 weeks. Too scared to commit the snap and delete so v2v with cold clone is the safest way.
Thanks for the feedback, Vito. Also, for your particular situation, if you can power-off the VM, you can do a ” vmkfstools -i current.vmdk new.vmdk ” and that will collapse the snaps and create a brand new vmdk that can be added to another VM for testing/etc. That’s the easiest and safest way to deal with huge snapshots, as the source data is not touched, but it does require downtime of the VM.