Converting Hyper-V .vhdx to .vhd file formats for use in Windows Azure

So you’ve implemented Hyper-V and are using the .vhdx VM file formats for your virtual machines and want to go to the next level and take those virtual machines and move them into Windows Azure.

There are a few methods to accomplish this task, however I find using PowerShell is the quickest method to convert a .vhdx to .vhd.

CONVERTING YOUR VMs

Open a PowerShell window on the server that houses your .vhdx files and execute the following command:

PS C:\> Convert-VHD –Path c:\test\MY-VM.vhdx–DestinationPath c:\test\MY-NEW-VM.vhd

Note: if you’re utilizing differencing disks you’ll want to merge the disks with their parent before converting and uploading to Windows Azure.

Here’s an example:

That’s it!

Now you’re ready to upload your VM to Windows Azure.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Convert-VHD http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh848454.aspx