Hi, Based on the information provided, my early conclusion is:

The error message "Unsupported specified file format" indicates that the file format of the VMDK being used for migration is not supported by AWS. This could be due to an incompatible VMDK version or an unsupported file format. It is important to ensure that the VMDK file is in a supported format and version for successful migration. (ex: Let's say you have a VMware vSphere 6.5 environment running on-premises, and you have created virtual machines with VMDK files in that environment. The VMDK files in this case would typically be in a specific version that corresponds to the version of vSphere being used.

For example, vSphere 6.5 introduced VMDK version 6, which brought enhancements like support for 4K Native Drives and Virtual Volumes (vVols). In this case, the VMDK files created in your vSphere 6.5 environment would be in VMDK version 6.

Later versions of VMware vSphere, such as vSphere 6.7 or vSphere 7, may introduce new VMDK versions with additional features and improvements. Therefore, VMDK versioning allows for compatibility and differentiation between different releases of VMware vSphere.)

To proceed with a more detailed assessment and provide accurate recommendations, I would need additional information about the source VM environment, VMDK details, and the specific steps followed during the migration process. This information will help in identifying the exact cause of the error and providing appropriate solutions to overcome it. I would request answers for the following questions to gather more information:

1. What hypervisor platform are you using for your on-premise VM? (e.g., VMware, Hyper-V)
2. What is the version of your hypervisor platform?
3. What is the version of the VMDK file you are trying to migrate?
4. Could you confirm the file format of the VMDK file?
5. Have you made any changes or modifications to the VMDK file recently?
6. At what point in the migration process did you encounter the error?
7. Are you using any additional tools or services alongside Migration Hub for the migration?

Hi Mysoti-dev1, Good day!

Thanks for providing additional information about the VMDK files and the migration process. Based on the details you shared, it seems that the VMDK files you received from the hosting service are in a compatible format for AWS import. But, the issue might lie with the VMX file, which is not supported by AWS import.

To address this, I recommend the following steps:

1. Since the VMX file is not supported, you can focus on the VMDK files. To ensure compatibility with AWS import, you can convert the VMDK files to the VMDK version 2 format. You can use VMware tools or other conversion tools available to perform this conversion. Ensure that the VMDK files remain intact and are not modified during the conversion process.

2. Once the VMDK files are in the compatible format, create a new folder and place both the converted VMDK files (abc-flat.vmdk and abc-ctk.vmdk) in that folder. Make sure that the VMDK files are not modified after conversion.

3. Now, you can create a tarball (.tar) archive of the folder containing the VMDK files. This will bundle the files together and ensure they can be easily imported into AWS.

4. In the Migration Hub, follow the migration steps and select the option to import the source image from S3. Upload the tarball containing the VMDK files and proceed with creating an AMI for EC2.

By converting the VMDK files to a compatible format and packaging them appropriately, you should be able to proceed with the migration without encountering the "Unsupported specified file format" error.

I hope these recommendations help resolve the issue.

Have a good day!!