Q: Can I use OVF-packaged virtual appliances with Hyper-V?

A: Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is a Distributed Management Task Force packaging standard that's used to allow virtual appliances to be packaged and transported to customers and then used on the customers virtual infrastructure.

Microsoft has released an OVF Import/Export tool that works with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012. Two new Windows PowerShell cmdlets are used: Export-SCVirtualMachine and Import-SCVirtualMachine, which export and import OVF packages respectively.

It's important to note the tool doesn't convert virtual hard disk (VHD) image formats, which could mean if the OVF uses a format such as VMDK (VMware) then a conversion to VHD will need to be performed prior to importing the OVF package.

Full details can be found at the Microsoft website on the use of the OVF add-in for SCVMM 2012.