ESX Virtualization

VMware ESXi, vSphere, VMware Backup, Hyper-V... how-to, videos....

Nakivo Backup and Replication - #1 Backup solution for Virtual, physical, cloud, NAS and SaaS

Menu
  • Certification
      • VCP-DCV vSphere 8
          • vcp2024-125.
        • Close
    • Close
  • VMware
    • Configuration Maximums
    • vSphere
      • vSphere 8.0
      • vSphere 7.0
      • vSphere 6.7
      • vSphere 6.5
      • vSphere 6.0
      • Close
    • VMworld
      • VMware EXPLORE 2024
      • VMware EXPLORE 2023
      • VMware EXPLORE 2022
      • VMworld 2019
      • VMworld 2018
      • VMworld 2017
      • VMworld 2016
      • VMworld 2015
      • VMworld 2014
      • VMworld 2013
      • VMworld 2012
      • VMworld 2011
      • Close
    • Close
  • Microsoft
    • Windows Server 2012
    • Windows Server 2016
    • Windows Server 2019
    • Close
  • Categories
    • Tips – VMware, Microsoft and General IT tips and definitions, What is this?, How this works?
    • Server Virtualization – VMware ESXi, ESXi Free Hypervizor, VMware vSphere Server Virtualization, VMware Cloud and Datacenter Virtualization
    • Backup – Virtualization Backup Solutions, VMware vSphere Backup and ESXi backup solutions.
    • Desktop Virtualization – Desktop Virtualization, VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, VMware Horizon View, tips and tutorials
    • How To – ESXi Tutorials, IT and virtualization tutorials, VMware ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x and VMware vSphere. VMware Workstation and other IT tutorials.
    • Free – Free virtualization utilities, ESXi Free, Monitoring and free backup utilities for ESXi and Hyper-V. Free IT tools.
    • Videos – VMware Virtualization Videos, VMware ESXi Videos, ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x tips and videos.
    • Home Lab
    • Reviews – Virtualization Software and reviews, Disaster and backup recovery software reviews. Virtual infrastructure monitoring software review.
    • Close
  • Partners
    • NAKIVO
    • StarWind
    • Zerto
    • Xorux
    • Close
  • This Web
    • News
    • ESXi Lab
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Archives
    • Disclaimer
    • PDFs and Books
    • Close
  • Free
  • Privacy policy

How to migrate VMware vCenter Server 6.5 Windows to vCSA 7.0

By Vladan SEGET | Last Updated: April 14, 2020

Shares

In this post and video, we'll discuss a migration of Center Server 6.5 running on Windows server to the latest VMware Center server appliance (VCSA) 7.0 running Photon OS. Yes, I know, most people have already migrated to VCSA, but willing to post it anyway as in some cases with old infrastructures, you'll need to migrate from 6.0 to 6.5, and then to 7.0. So this post will detail with a video How to migrate VMware vCenter Server 6.5 Windows to vCSA 7.0.

This post might be interesting for admins which inherited an older vSphere 6.0 infrastructure with Center server on Windows. If you're running Center server 6.0 on Windows (you're out of support btw), you cannot upgrade directly to VCSA 7.0 but you must do an in-place upgrade of 6.0 to 6.5 first and also upgrade your hosts from ESXi 6.0 to ESXi 6.5. After only you have a direct path from 6.5 to 7.0.

VMware has no Windows version of Center Server 7.0 so the only path you're able to upgrade to is to upgrade to VCSA 7.0. If you’re running vCenter Server and Platform Service Controler (PSC) on Windows Server these systems, those will be converged for you via the upgrade process.

The installer performs a pre-check of the environment and it does make sure that your architecture meets some requirements. As an example, the pre-check validates that you have enough space on the system where you are migrating from.

If you're running vSphere 6.7 and your vCenter server is already running on Linux, then you will not use the “Migrate” option, but rather the “Upgrade” one. It's just to make sure you follow ….

vCenter Server 6.5 Windows to VCSA 7.0 Requirements

  • Your current vCenter must be running vSphere 6.5 or higher
  • ESXi must be running at least version 6.5 or higher

Migrate vCenter 6.5 on Windows to VCSA 7.0

The steps:

Connect to your vCenter server 6.5 Windows machine and mount the VCSA 7.0 ISO you have downloaded from VMware.

Then go to the folder called “migration-assistant” where you'll find an executable called VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe which you'll need to launch. It will open a command-line prompt asking you for a single sign-on (SSO) password.

Note: If you forgot SSO password here is how to reset if Center is installed together with Platform services controller (PSC) on the same machine:

On your Windows-based Center server, open a command prompt and change dir to:

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmdird

Then type:

vdcadmintool

this gives you different options. Just pick the option 3 to Reset account password.

Video of migration of Windows vCenter Server 6.5 to VCSA 7.0

Here is a detailed video recorded in my nested lab which shows the whole process. Parts of the video are accelerated as the whole process is quite long. You'll see phase 1 where a new VCSA appliance is deployed to the target vCenter or ESXi host and takes a temporary IP address. And then there is a phase 2 where you'll chose what to migrate:

  • Configuration and inventory
  • Configuration, Inventory, tasks and events
  • Configuration, In inventory, Tasks, Events and Performance Metrics

The detailed video is here:

Enjoy, share and come back for more -:)

More from ESX Virtualization

  • vSphere 7.0 Download Now Available
  • vSphere 7.0 Page [All details about vSphere and related products here]
  • VMware vSphere 7.0 Announced – vCenter Server Details
  • VMware vSphere 7.0 DRS Improvements – What's New
  • Upgrade from ESXi 6.7 to 7.0 ESXi Free
  • What is VMware Skyline?
  • VCP6.5-DCV Study Guide

Stay tuned through RSS, and social media channels (Twitter, FB, YouTube)

Shares
Vote !

| Filed Under: Server Virtualization Tagged With: migrate VMware vCenter Server 6.5 Windows to vCSA 7.0

About Vladan SEGET

This website is maintained by Vladan SEGET. Vladan is as an Independent consultant, professional blogger, vExpert x16, Veeam Vanguard x9, VCAP-DCA/DCD, ESX Virtualization site has started as a simple bookmarking site, but quickly found a large following of readers and subscribers.

Connect on: Facebook. Feel free to network via Twitter @vladan.

Private Sponsors

Featured

  • Thinking about HCI? G2, an independent tech solutions peer review platform, has published its Winter 2023 Reports on Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Solutions.
  • Zerto: One Platform for Disaster Recovery, Backup & Cloud Mobility: Try FREE Hands-On Labs Today!
Click to Become a Sponsor

Most Recent

  • FREE version of StarWind VSAN vs Trial of Full version
  • Commvault’s Innovations at RSA Conference 2025 San Francisco
  • VMware ESXi FREE is FREE again!
  • Installation of StarWind VSAN Plugin for vSphere
  • Protect Mixed environments with Nakivo Physical Machine recovery (bare metal)
  • No more FREE licenses of VMware vSphere for vExperts – What’s your options?
  • Tails – Your Private OS on USB Stick
  • StarWind V2V Converter Now has CLI
  • Veeam VHR ISO v2 – 2025 Download and Install
  • Deployment OVA and Installation of Nakivo Backup and Replication for VMware

Get new posts by email:

 

 

 

 

Support us on Ko-Fi

 

 

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Sponsors

Free Trials

  • DC Scope for VMware vSphere – optimization, capacity planning, and cost management. Download FREE Trial Here.
  • Augmented Inline Deduplication, Altaro VM Backup v9 For #VMware and #Hyper-V – Grab your copy now download TRIAL.

VMware Engineer Jobs

VMware Engineer Jobs

YouTube

…

Find us on Facebook

ESX Virtualization

…

Copyright © 2025 ·Dynamik-Gen · Genesis Framework · Log in