Techniques for migrating a virtual machine (VM) from a source host system to a destination host system, where the VM is associated with a source virtual disk file (VMDK) residing in a local storage component of the source host system, are provided. In one embodiment, a virtual infrastructure (VI) server in communication with the source and destination host systems can create a shell directory in the local storage component of the source host system, where the shell directory includes a symbolic link to the source VMDK. The VI server can further promote the shell directory to a private virtual storage appliance (PSVA) running on the source host system. The VI server can then cause an execution state of the VM to be transferred from the source host system to the destination host system, without transferring the source VMDK between the host systems.