Recently, I had to migrate a VM from vCenter to Azure. Unlike the migration from vCenter to AWS, this migration is a little bit trickier and involves many steps. There is probably a better way with Azure Site Recovery, but you have to pay for that. See my other post for that.
We’ll use PowerShell for the migration. There are several prerequisites for the migration and they are listed in the comments section.
I have a resource group called rgTest, a virtual network called vnetTest and a subnet that spans all of the virtual network address space called subTest.

In addition, I’ve created a storage account called sablogtest and a container called conttest.

On my local machine, I have the VMDK files downloaded from vCenter in a folder called VM and I have another folder called VHD where the converted files will be stored. For the script, use the names of the VMDK files that are 1K in size.

The script works if the OS has one or two drives. If you have more drives, you’ll have to modify the script. It should be very straightforward.
I’ve noticed that if I run the script in PowerShell cmd, then the script waits sometimes for the user to hit any key. In Windows ISE PowerShell, I didn’t have these problems. Make sure you are local admin on the machine. It’s needed because of the VMDK to VHD conversion.
The VM will power up automatically. When you RDP to it, the data drive won’t be accessible. Make sure you run diskmgmt.msc and then online the drive.

################################################################################
## Kliment Andreev 2017 - (c) BSD License
################################################################################
## 1. Converts VMDK file(s) to VHD
## 2. Uploads the VHD(s) to an existing container
## 3. Creates a bootable disk and/or data disk
## 4. Creates a VM with a public and private IP
################################################################################
# Pre-req:
#       Microsoft CLI 2.0 for Azure
#       Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter 3.0
#       VMDK file(s) and enough storage to convert it/them to VHD
#       Existing subscription in azure
#       Known location of your subscription e.g East US
#       Existing resource group
#       Existing storage account and a container inside
#       Existing vNet where server will reside
#       Existing subnet where the server will reside
#       Existing security group that allows RDP
#       Make sure the OS is set for DHCP
#       Make sure the OS uses E1000, don't use vmxnet NIC
#       Make sure you know your local admin password
#       Make sure you have RDP enabled
################################################################################
# If for some reason the script fails 
# and you are starting from scratch,
# make sure you delete the VHD files.
# Otherwise the converter will create a new
# VHD file with (1) as suffix and the VM
# won't convert/upload properly
################################################################################
# Define your resources/variables here
# None of these can be empty except:
# $myDataVMDKFile and $myDataVHDFile
################################################################################
# Define where is your OS VMWare VMDK file, e.g. c:\users\name\desktop\server.vmdk
$myOSVMDKFile = "C:\Users\klimenta\Desktop\VM\testvm.vmdk"
# Define where is your DATA VMWare VMDK file, e.g. c:\users\name\desktop\server.vmdk
# If you have only C: drive, the string below can be empty e.g. ""
$myDataVMDKFile = "C:\users\klimenta\desktop\VM\testvm_1.vmdk"  
#$myDataVMDKFile = "" 
# Where do you want your OS VHD file created locally, e.g. c:\users\name\desktop\server.vhd
$myOSVHDFile = "C:\Users\klimenta\Desktop\VHD\testvm.vhd"   
# Where do you want your Data VHD file created locally, e.g. c:\users\name\desktop\server.vhd
$myDataVHDFile = "C:\Users\klimenta\Desktop\VHD\testvm_1.vhd"   
#$myDataVHDFile=""
# Virtual Machine Converter PS module
$ConverterFile = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter\MvmcCmdlet.psd1"
# Existing subscription name
$mySubscription = "Pay-As-You-Go"
# Existing location
$myLocation = "East US"
# Existing resource group
$myResourceGroup = "rgTest"
# Name of the existing storage account (it shoould be unique)
$myStorageAcct = "sablogtest"
# Name of the existing container
$myContainer ="conttest"
# Name of the existing VNET
$myVNET = "vnettest"
# Name of the existing subnet
$mySubnet = "subtest"
# Name of the existing security group
$mySecurityGroup = "sgAllowRDP"
# VM size
$myVMSize = "Standard_A2"
################################################################################
# If Standard_A2
# doesn't suit your needs
# check other sizes in a region with:
# Get-AzureRmVMSize -Location "East US" | Sort-Object Name
################################################################################
# Start the counter
################################################################################
$StartDate = (Get-Date)
# Check if any of the variables are blank
if (!(($myOSVMDKFile) -and ($myOSVHDFile) -and ($ConverterFile) -and ($mySubscription) -and `
    ($myLocation) -and ($myResourceGroup) -and ($myStorageAcct) -and ($myContainer) -and ($myVNET) -and `
    ($mySubnet) -and ($mySecurityGroup) -and ($myVMSize))) {
    Write-Host "Some of the required variables are empty. Exiting..." -ForegroundCOlor Red
    Exit
}
# Check if the OS VMDK exists
if (-not(Test-Path -Path $myOSVMDKFile)) {
        Write-Host "Error: VMDK file does not exist. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
        Exit
}
# Check if the Data VMDK exists but only if defined
if ($myDataVMDKFile -ne "")
{
    if (-not(Test-Path -Path $myDataVMDKFile)) {
            Write-Host "Error: VMDK file does not exist. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
            Exit
    }
}
################################################################################
# Check the VHD
################################################################################
$extension = ([IO.Path]::GetExtension($myOSVHDFile)).ToUpper()
if ($extension -ne ".VHD") {
    Write-Host "Error: Not a VHD file. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################
# Import Virtual Machine Converter
################################################################################
if (-not(Test-Path -Path $ConverterFile)) {
        Write-Host "Error: Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter not installed. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
        Exit
}
Import-Module $ConverterFile
# Get the VHD file name only and the URL of the container
$VHDOSFileName = [io.path]::GetFileName($myOSVHDFile)
$VHDDataFileName = [io.path]::GetFileName($myDataVHDFile)
$urlOS = "https://" + $myStorageAcct + ".blob.core.windows.net/" + $myContainer + "/" + $VHDOSFileName
$urlData = "https://" + $myStorageAcct + ".blob.core.windows.net/" + $myContainer + "/" + $VHDDataFileName
################################################################################
# Log in to your Azure account
################################################################################
Write-Host "Waiting...Login prompt coming up..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
try {
    Login-AzureRmAccount
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################
# Check if you can log to the specified subscription
################################################################################
try {
    if(Get-AzureRmSubscription -SubscriptionName $mySubscription -ErrorAction Stop) {}
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: The name of the subscription is incorrect or you don't have rights. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
Get-AzureRmSubscription -SubscriptionName $mySubscription | Select-AzureRmSubscription
Write-Host "Your current subscription is set to" $mySubscription -ForegroundColor Yellow
################################################################################
# Check if the resource group exists
################################################################################
try {
    if(Get-AzureRmResourceGroup -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup -ErrorAction Stop) {}
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: The name of the resource group is incorrect or you don't have rights. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################ 
# Converting from VMDK to VHD (OS)
# If you get an error from Azure that the blob is corrupted, use 
# -VhdType FixedHardDisk
################################################################################
try {
    Write-Host "Converting VMDK OS Disk to VHD in progress... Hit any key when no progress on top." -ForegroundColor Yellow
    if(ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath $myOSVMDKFile -DestinationLiteralPath $myOSVHDFile `
    -VhdType DynamicHardDisk -VhdFormat Vhd -ErrorAction Stop) {}
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: The VMDK file is most likely corrupt, access violation or incorrect VMDK format. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################
# Converting from VMDK to VHD (Data)
# If you get an error from Azure that the blob is corrupted, use 
# -VhdType FixedHardDisk
################################################################################
if ($myDataVMDKFile -ne "")
{
    try {
        Write-Host "Converting VMDK Data Disk to VHD in progress... Hit any key when no progress on top." -ForegroundColor Yellow
        if(ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath $myDataVMDKFile -DestinationLiteralPath $myDataVHDFile `
        -VhdType DynamicHardDisk -VhdFormat Vhd -ErrorAction Stop) {}
    }
    catch {
        Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
        Write-Host "Error: The VMDK file is most likely corrupt, access violation or incorrect VMDK format. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
        Exit
    }   
}   
################################################################################
# Upload the OS VHD to the existing blob/container
################################################################################
Write-Host "Uploading OS VHD to" $urlOS -Foreground Yellow
Add-AzureRmVhd -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup -Destination $urlOS -LocalFilePath $myOSVHDFile -OverWrite
# Upload the Data VHD to the existing blob/container
if ($myDataVMDKFile -ne "")
{
    Write-Host "Uploading Data VHD to" $urlData -Foreground Yellow
    Add-AzureRmVhd -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup -Destination $urlData -LocalFilePath $myDataVHDFile -OverWrite
}
################################################################################
# Create the OS disk
################################################################################
Write-Host "Creating OS disk from VHD..." -Foreground Yellow
$VHDOSFileNameOnly = [io.path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($VHDOSFileName)
try {
    $osDisk = New-AzureRmDisk -DiskName $VHDOSFileName -Disk `
        (New-AzureRmDiskConfig -AccountType StandardLRS  -Location $myLocation -CreateOption Import `
        -SourceUri $urlOS) `
        -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong when creating the OS disk. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################
# Create the Data disk
################################################################################
if ($myDataVMDKFile -ne "")
{
    Write-Host "Creating data disk from VHD..." -Foreground Yellow
    $VHDDataFileNameOnly = [io.path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($VHDDataFileName)
    try {
        $dataDisk = New-AzureRmDisk -DiskName $VHDDataFileName -Disk `
            (New-AzureRmDiskConfig -AccountType StandardLRS  -Location $myLocation -CreateOption Import `
            -SourceUri $urlData) `
            -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup
    }
    catch {
        Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
        Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong when creating the data disk. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
        Exit
    }
}
################################################################################
# Create and assign a public IP
################################################################################
$ipName = "ip" + $VHDOSFileNameOnly
Write-Host "Creating and assigning a public IP" $ipName -Foreground Yellow
try {
    $pip = New-AzureRmPublicIpAddress -Name $ipName -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup -Location $myLocation `
        -AllocationMethod Dynamic
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong with the IP. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################
# Create the NIC
################################################################################ 
$nicName = "nic" + $VHDOSFileNameOnly
Write-Host "Creating the NIC" $nicName -Foreground Yellow
try {
    $VNET = Get-AzureRmVirtualNetwork -Name $myVNET -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup -ErrorAction Stop
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong with the NIC. Check the vNet name. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
try {
    $nic = New-AzureRmNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup `
        -Location $myLocation -SubnetId $VNET.Subnets[0].Id -PublicIpAddressId $pip.Id -NetworkSecurityGroupId $mySecurityGroup.Id
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong with the NIC. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################
# Create the VM config
################################################################################
$vmName = $VHDOSFileNameOnly
Write-Host "Creating the VM config for" $VHDOSFileNameOnly -Foreground Yellow
try {
    $vmConfig = New-AzureRmVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $myVMSize -ErrorAction Stop
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong with the VM Config. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################
# Attach the NIC
################################################################################
Write-Host "Attaching the NIC to" $VHDOSFileNameOnly -Foreground Yellow
$vm = Add-AzureRmVMNetworkInterface -VM $vmConfig -Id $nic.Id
################################################################################
# Add the OS disk
################################################################################
Write-Host "Adding the OS disk to" $VHDOSFileNameOnly -Foreground Yellow
try {
    $vm = Set-AzureRmVMOSDisk -VM $vm -ManagedDiskId $osDisk.Id -StorageAccountType StandardLRS `
         -CreateOption Attach -Windows
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong with the OS disk. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}

################################################################################
# Create the VM
################################################################################
Write-Host "Creating the VM. This will take some time...Hit any key." $VHDOSFileNameOnly -Foreground Yellow
try {
    New-AzureRmVM -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup -Location $myLocation -VM $vm
}
catch {
    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong with the VM creation. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
    Exit
}
################################################################################
# Add the Data disk
################################################################################
if ($myDataVMDKFile -ne "")
{
    Write-Host "Adding the Data disk to" $VHDDataFileNameOnly -Foreground Yellow
    try {
        $vm = Get-AzureRmVM -Name $VHDOSFileNameOnly -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup
        $vm = Add-AzureRmVMDataDisk -VM $vm -ManagedDiskId $DataDisk.Id -StorageAccountType StandardLRS `
             -CreateOption Attach -Lun 1
        Update-AzureRmVM -VM $vm -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup
    }
    catch {
        Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red
        Write-Host "Error: Something went wrong with the Data disk. Exiting..." -ForegroundColor Red
        Exit
    }
}
################################################################################
# Finalize
################################################################################
$publicIP = Get-AzureRmPublicIpAddress -Name $ipName -ResourceGroupName $myResourceGroup
$EndDate = (Get-Date)
Write-Host "========================================================================" -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host "CREATION OF THE VM COMPLETED. The IP address is" $publicIP.ipaddress -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host "========================================================================" -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host "=> TOTAL TIME:"($EndDate - $StartDate).Days "days," ($EndDate - $StartDate).Hours "hours," ($EndDate - $StartDate).Minutes "minutes."

Recently, I wrote a blog post about migrating VMs from VMware vCenter to AWS using basic export OVA/OVF files. Amazon made a connector that ties your vCenter to AWS so the export is kind of simplified, but the configuration is not. While using the export as OVA/OVF requires you to change the NIC from vmxnet* to e1000 and changing the static IP of your server to DHCP, with AWS Connector you can leave everything as is. Also, the export as OVA/OVF requires your VM to be powered off, while with AWS Connector you can migrate your VMs while they are powered on (using snaps). I also found that AWS Connector is slower than plain export as OVA/OVF. In this post I’ll show you how to configure the AWS Connector.

AWS Connector is not just about VM migrations. It has some other useful functions. Check this web page for more information and this PDF for the install/user guide. So, head to this page first and scroll all the way down to the bottom.

Step 1, Download the AWS Connector. Step 2, click on Setup AWS Management Portal for vCenter. Log in with your AWS account. Click on Get Started Now.

I will use the first option and most likely you’ll do. Option 2 is if you have a SSO (Single Sign-On) to AWS.

Make sure you have some IAM users defined, otherwise you’ll receive this error. As a matter of fact, you’ll want a separate IAM user for this. This user acts as a proxy between AWS and your vCenter.

In my case, I’ve created a new IAM user called vCenter. Check Programmatic Access.

On the next screen, click on the Attach existing policies directly and in the Filter: Policy type, start typing AWSConnector. This is an AWS managed policy. Click on the check mark and proceed.

Make sure you download your credentials for this IAM user. They’ll be saved as credentials.csv file on your computer.

Go back to your first tab (or the initial URL) and hit refresh. Type the username vCenter and click on the check mark that you agree.

The next step tells you to add the admins for AWS Management Portal. Make sure that these accounts are admins in vCenter. In my case, my vCenter is joined to the domain and I am using my own domain account to manage vCenter. You can create a separate user for this, but make sure it’s a vCenter admin.

Now, this part is very important. I’ve spent hours troubleshooting this. It was right in front of my eyes, but I didn’t pay attention.

The easiest way is to open a command prompt from your desktop and type:

set | find "USERDOMAIN"

My domain is not andreev. It is actually ANDREEV, so I had to correct the entry.

The last entry will ask you to create an AMP-Connector Key. Just type some name.

At the end, you’ll have to download the configuration file. It’s a text file with some key text in it.
So, you have two files now, one with the credentials for the proxy user and one with the configuration key. After you are done with this, you’ll land up on this page. You can expand the settings and make sure everything looks OK. You can ignore the Configure Instance Export menu. That’s for S3 exports.

Now, you will need another proxy user, but this time on the vCenter side. It can be a local vCenter user or in my case, I prefer to have an AD account. So, I’ve created an AD account called awsconnector. No special rights needed and don’t add this account to vCenter. Just create a plain AD account as a Domain User.

At this point, you should be OK on the AWS side. Head back to your vCenter and deploy the OVA file that you’ve downloaded.

Once the appliance is provisioned, power it up. If you have a DHCP on your network and you are fine with the DHCP assigned IP on this VM, you don’t have to do anything. But, I prefer to have a static IP so open the console of this VM and log as ec2-user with ec2pass as a password. Type sudo setup.rb. Type ec2pass for password. You should see this menu. Choose option 2 to assign a static IP if you need. If you are OK with a DHCP, it’s fine. It’s up to you.

Once you have the AWS Connector on the network go to https://aws_connector_IP address. Make sure to use https. Use your vCenter admin to log in.

Click Trust when you get a certificate warning.

You’ll be prompted to change the web front-end password. There is no user name for this next time you log to your AWS Connector.

Once you log in, this will pop up.

Click Upload the configuration file, select the file that you’ve downloaded from AWS. It’s called AMP_Setup_Configuration.txt and click Next. Again, log with your vCenter admin account.

Click Trust.

Now, enter that AD account that you’ve just created.

Use the credentials from credentials.csv file to enter the username and password. The Trust Role ARN field should be automatically populated.

Click on I agree to install the vCenter SSL certificates… otherwise you won’t be able to proceed and click Register.

You should get this pop-up which means you are good.

Open the vCenter client and from the Plug-ins menu click Manage Plug-ins…The AWS Connector should be enabled.

In the web client it should look like this.

Now, it’s time to get some action. Pick a VM that you want to migrate to AWS. Did I say that you need RDP/SSH enabled?
Right-click on this VM and choose Migrate to EC2.

You’ll get this error. AWS Connector is not yet configured.

All right, so go to Home -> AWS Management Portal in vCenter and add the preferred region.

Click on Create an environment.

Select your VPC and choose all subnets.

Go back to your VM and try to migrate it to EC2.

Oh, snap!

Go to vCenter roles, and follow up the instructions from above.

Then again, go back to your VM, right-click and choose Migrate to EC2. You’ll get this warning. It pretty much tells you that while migrating the VM will be slow.

Once the migration starts you’ll see this.

Do that. Go to Home -> AWS Management Portal -> Dashboard in vCenter. You’ll see the progress. If you scroll to the right you can actually see how much is uploaded. AWS is uploading the snap, so my VM has a 30GB disk (thick provisioned), but it was a plain vanilla OS with nothing installed except a text file on the desktop. So the actual size for upload is 4GB.


Once your migration completes, you can find your instance/VM under IMAGES | AMIs in AWS console.


Right-click on the AMI, choose Launch, follow the prompts and you should be all set. You’ll have to specify a key, but you can use your local admin credentials to log in.

I needed to move some VMs from my home lab (vCenter 5.5) to my Amazon AWS cloud account. This is what I did.
First, you have to prepare the VM. If you have any vmxnet* network card, you have to delete it from the properties of the VM in vCenter. Second, make sure that you have RDP or SSH enabled on the VM and third, uninstall the VMware tools. Shut down the VM, add an E1000 NIC and power it up again. Make sure that the TCP/IP and DNS settings for the new NIC are set for DHCP. Verify that all these requirements apply and then shut down the VM again.
In vCenter, select the VM for export, click on File | Export and then Export OVF template. Choose Single file (OVA).

Once the export is completed, you have to upload the OVA file to a S3 bucket. I created a new bucket for this, called uploadvmstuff with the default settings. You’ll have to pick a unique name for the bucket, but you probably know that. Upload your OVA file to S3. It might take a while depending how big the file is.

I am using my admin account in AWS to import the VM, but I still have to assign some policies. So, when the upload is complete, go to the command prompt or PowerShell on your desktop. Make sure you have AWS CLI installed. You can check my other blog post on how to do this. Very simple.

Create these three files in Notepad and save them on the desktop. The first file is called trust-policy.json. See this link for more info.

{
   "Version": "2012-10-17",
   "Statement": [
      {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Principal": { "Service": "vmie.amazonaws.com" },
         "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
         "Condition": {
            "StringEquals":{
               "sts:Externalid": "vmimport"
            }
         }
      }
   ]
}

Execute this command from the command prompt. Make sure that you are in the same folder in the command prompt where you saved your files, e.g. cd c:\users\whatever\desktop.

aws iam create-role --role-name vmimport --assume-role-policy-document file://trust-policy.json

Create the 2nd file called role-policy.json so it looks like this. Replace the two occurrences of disk-image-file-bucket with your bucket name, in my case it was uploadvmstuff.

{
   "Version": "2012-10-17",
   "Statement": [
      {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Action": [
            "s3:ListBucket",
            "s3:GetBucketLocation"
         ],
         "Resource": [
            "arn:aws:s3:::disk-image-file-bucket"
         ]
      },
      {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Action": [
            "s3:GetObject"
         ],
         "Resource": [
            "arn:aws:s3:::disk-image-file-bucket/*"
         ]
      },
      {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Action":[
            "ec2:ModifySnapshotAttribute",
            "ec2:CopySnapshot",
            "ec2:RegisterImage",
            "ec2:Describe*"
         ],
         "Resource": "*"
      }
   ]
}

Execute this command from the command prompt.

aws iam put-role-policy --role-name vmimport --policy-name vmimport --policy-document file://role-policy.json

The third file is called containers.json and it looks like this. Change the lines so it matches your settings. For Description use whatever you want, change the S3Bucket line and the S3Key. The S3Key is the name of the ova file that you’ve exported from vCenter.

[
  {
    "Description": "Windows 2008R2 Import",
    "Format": "ova",
    "UserBucket": {
        "S3Bucket": "uploadvmstuff",
        "S3Key": "nvm.ova"
    }
}]

Now, you are ready to import the file from S3 to EC2. Execute this line from the command prompt.

aws ec2 import-image --description "Windows 2008R2 VMDKs" --license-type BYOL --disk-containers file://containers.json

You should get your prompt back after 2-3 seconds. But, this means that the import started, not that it finished. To check the status, execute this line.

aws ec2 describe-import-image-tasks

It takes some time, for my OVA file that was created from a 40GB disk and 3.7GB OVA file it took about 20-25 mins. You will see the Status change to completed once everything is OK. Make sure that your AWS CLI is configured to do the output in JSON so it’s easy to see.

Once completed, you will see your import in the AMI section of EC2. Go to EC2 section, click Launch New Instance and choose the AMI that you just created. Follow the standard prompts for the type of the instance, security groups, volumes, etc… and once your instance is launched you can RDP to it. You will use the same admin password as before to RDP.