The command line order for converting vdi into vmdk images, generates an image unusable with vmware (vmplayer message is: ASSERT …/disk.c:3868 bugNr=21838).
# VBoxManage internalcommands converthd -srcformat VDI -dstformat VMDK file.vdi file.vmdk
But converting the same file to raw and then converting into vmdk produces good images.
# VBoxManage internalcommands converttoraw file.vdi file.raw # VBoxManage convertfromraw -format VMDK file.raw file.vmdk