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Last active October 22, 2025 18:11
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how to modify .ova file on linux/Mac using terminal....export vm (OVF 1.0) from virtualbox, then modify some tag and hash value for import vm to ESXi
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howToModifyOvaFile.md

extract ova files from an archive

$ tar -xvf vmName.ova

modify ovf for some invalid tag

$ vi vmName.ovf

re-calculate sha1 from vmName.ovf, then modify the hash value of vmName.mf

$ sha1sum vmName.ovf
$ vi vmName.mf

package to ova which source files from [vmName.ovf, vmName-disk1.vmdk, vmName.mf]

$ tar -cvf vmName-NEW.ova vmName.ovf vmName-disk1.vmdk vmName.mf
@ministryofjay
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ministryofjay commented May 27, 2022

On MacOS 10.15 i had to use

tar -cvf vmName-NEW.ova --format=ustar vmName.ovf vmName-disk1.vmdk vmName.mf

to get it imported.

Thanks! The --format=ustar made the difference for me

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