Hyper-V: Convert .vhd Files to .vhdx

The vhdx format provides support for 2 terabyte drives, can difference dynamic disks faster and provides more options for sector sizes. When upgrading into Server 2012, you can migrate your vhd files to vhdx files using Hyper-V Manager. To do so:

1. Open Hyper-V Manager
2. Click on the Action pane from the Action menu
3. Click Edit Disk…
4. At the Edit Virtual Disk Wizard click Next
5. Provide the name of the location for the vhf file
6. Click Next at the Location pane
7. Click Convert at the Choose Action pane
8. Click Next
9. Click the vhdx format at the Choose Disk Format
10. Click Next until the wizard is complete

You can also use the convert-vhd powershell cmdlet to covert these vhd files. It’s an easy powershell command to use. Simply  specify the source as your first positional parameter and the target as the second, as follows.

convert-vhd V:\myvm.vhd V:\myvm.vhdx

The fact that you can manage these from a script also opens up the ability to automate the conversion for a number of files concurrently.