Using the Windows Admin Center VM Conversion Tool, how can you re-synchronize VM

Question

I am using Windows Admin Center Build 2.6.2.6, and I am getting started with the VM Conversion extension. I have been able to connect to a vCenter server, and done a first try sync and then migration. There were some issues with the VM, so I have made some changes to the source VM, but in the Windows Admin Center VM Conversion interface, I don't see a way to re-synchronize the VM or re-migrate the VM. When I try to syncronize or migrate the VM the interface tells me that I have already syncronized or migrated, and I don't see a way to delete the syncronization or migration. I have deleted the migrated VM from HyperV, but that did not seem to make any difference to the VM Conversion tool. How do you re-do a VM migration in this tool?

Answer 1

Hello Karl Bundy,

This is specifically tied to Windows Admin Center (WAC) and its VM Conversion extension running on Windows Server. Windows Admin Center is a server management tool, and the VM Conversion extension is designed to migrate VMware VMs into Hyper‑V. The behavior you are seeing is due to how the extension tracks migration state internally, not a licensing or cloud service problem.

Once a VM has been synchronized or migrated, the extension maintains metadata about that VM in its local database. Deleting the VM from Hyper‑V does not reset this state, which is why the interface continues to show the VM as already migrated. At present, the extension does not expose a “reset” or “delete migration record” option in the UI. The only way to re‑migrate the same VM is to either change the VM identifier on the vCenter side (effectively making it appear as a new VM to WAC) or clear the extension’s migration state.

The migration state is stored in the Windows Admin Center extension data folder. On the gateway server where WAC is installed, you can look under:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ServerManagementGateway\Extensions\VmMigration

or in %ProgramData%\Microsoft\ServerManagementGateway\ExtensionsData. Within those directories, the extension keeps JSON metadata files that track synchronized and migrated VMs. Removing or editing those entries forces the extension to treat the VM as new. Be cautious here, as modifying extension data is not officially documented and could affect other migrations.

If you want a supported approach, the recommendation is to create a new migration job by pointing to the modified VM in vCenter with a different identifier (for example, clone the VM or change its UUID). That way, WAC sees it as a fresh object and allows synchronization and migration again.

In short, the VM Conversion extension does not provide a built‑in “redo” function. You either clear its internal state on the gateway server or present the VM as a new object from vCenter. This is a limitation of the current build of Windows Admin Center, not a Windows 365 or Windows for Business issue.

I hope you've found something useful here. If it helps you get more insight into the issue, it's appreciated to accept the answer. Should you have more questions, feel free to leave a message. Have a nice day!

Domic Vo.