The most fundamental requirement for a successful conversion is a clean and unobstructed network path between the Converter machine and the Linux source.
Unpack it, and run the script as the user you are using for conversion. If this succeeds, the issue is with the SSH session environment; if it fails, it is a permission issue. Summary Checklist Requirement SSH Root login allowed OR user has NOPASSWD sudo .bashrc No echo or output statements SFTP Enabled in sshd_config User Shell Valid shell (e.g., /bin/bash )
The Converter cannot authenticate properly. Detailed Troubleshooting and Solutions The most fundamental requirement for a successful conversion
Sometimes a previous failed conversion leaves behind incomplete agent files in /tmp/VMwareVConverter* . This can cause subsequent queries to hang or fail.
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VMware Converter expects every source file system to map to a single, unique mount point . If you have a single disk device mounted in multiple directories (like a disk bound to / and at the same time to a directory under /var ), the partition analysis logic breaks.
The conversion process for a live Linux machine relies on the Converter Standalone agent being pushed to and executed on the source Linux host. This agent collects disk, partition, and OS configuration data. When the query fails, it indicates a breakdown in one or more of the following stages: Summary Checklist Requirement SSH Root login allowed OR
A failure at any of these steps can trigger the "unable to query the live Linux source machine" error.
SFTP engines expect clean machine readable protocol outputs when starting data exchanges. VMware vCenter Converter Standalone - VA.gov yum VMware Converter expects every source file system
The "Unable to query the live Linux source machine" error in VMware vCenter Converter Standalone typically occurs when the tool cannot execute its discovery scripts on the target machine . This is usually due to restrictive permissions, non-standard shell configurations, or network blockages. "unable to query the live source machine" in P2V convert
Converter requires elevated privileges to execute the system information script. You have two primary options: using the root user or configuring a non-root user with passwordless sudo .