hyper2kvm Engine
The VM conversion and guest OS fixing engine that completes the migration pipeline.
What It Does
hyper2kvm takes exported VM disks and makes them boot-ready on KVM/KubeVirt — handling format conversion, driver injection, and OS-level fixes automatically.
By the Numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Input Formats | 8 — VMDK, OVA, OVF, VHD, VHDX, AMI, Azure VHD, Raw |
| Output Formats | 4 — QCOW2 (default), RAW, VMDK, VHD |
| OS Support | 35+ versions — Windows and Linux |
| API Endpoints | 71 REST endpoints |
| Test Suite | 1,506 tests (1,367 Python + 139 Go) |
| Success Rate | 96.8% first-boot success |
| Performance | 5-7x faster than traditional tools |
| LVM Activation | 0.71s with 100% host protection |
7-Stage Pipeline
| Stage | What Happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Fetch | Acquire source VM disks (vSphere, Azure, Hyper-V, local) |
| 2. Flatten | Collapse snapshot chains into single files |
| 3. Inspect | Detect OS, firmware, bootloader, partition layout |
| 4. Plan | Determine required fixes based on guest OS |
| 5. Fix | Apply offline fixes (fstab, initramfs, GRUB, network, VirtIO injection) |
| 6. Convert | Transform disk format (compression optional) |
| 7. Validate | Boot test (libvirt/QEMU smoke test) |
Key differentiator: Deterministic offline fixes ensure first-boot success, eliminating the "boot and hope" approach traditional tools use.
Windows Migration
- 5 VirtIO drivers injected: viostor (block storage), netkvm (network), balloon (memory), vioser (guest agent), viorng (RNG)
- Registry modifications — CriticalDeviceDatabase, boot controller
- Auto-detection — Filename containing "win" triggers Windows mode
- Supported: Windows 7/8.1/10/11/12, Server 2012/2012 R2/2016/2019/2022/2025
Linux Migration
- fstab stabilization — Rewrite device references to UUID/LABEL
- initramfs regeneration — Include virtio modules (dracut/mkinitramfs)
- GRUB update — Fix boot parameters for KVM
- VMware tools removal — Clean up conflicting packages
- Supported: RHEL 7-10, Ubuntu 18.04-24.04, Debian 10-12, Fedora, SUSE/openSUSE, Rocky, AlmaLinux, Oracle Linux, Amazon Linux, Photon OS 3-5
VMCraft API
480+ native Python VM manipulation APIs for advanced disk operations — format detection, partition analysis, filesystem repair, and driver injection at the block level.
Web Dashboard
hyper2kvm includes its own web dashboard (h2kweb) with 71 API endpoints covering:
| Category | Endpoints |
|---|---|
| Authentication | 3 |
| Providers & VMs | 10 |
| Migrations & Jobs | 10 |
| VM Management | 18 |
| KubeVirt | 6 |
| Networks | 4 |
| Storage & Upload | 9 |
| Webhooks, Metrics, Audit | 11 |
Schedule a Demo to see the full migration pipeline.