So to make it short: normally there is no need to convert isos to vmdks - because it does not make sense unless you have very special needs. Though I use this quite often it is not a common scenario - never heard about anybody else using iso-files like this. The iso-file still has to be renamed to name-flat.vmdk and you have to create the descriptor.vmdk manually. In the ESXi environment an iso-file that has been modified by isohybrid can be directly used as a bootable vmdk. When the tool has finsihed the iso is slightly modified so that it boots after the image has been transfered to a harddisk. It was designed to eaily create an USB-bootable stick when you have a bootable ISO. There are no commandline options for ESXi to convert / create a vmdk from an Iso-file.įor Linux there exists a tools named isohybrid.
