I will recommend you read this VMware KB article: VMware KB: Best practices for using and troubleshooting VMware Converter
Here are some another tips:
Prepare for the conversion process– There are some thinks that you should not forget, and you should always check.
– Disable real time antivirus on the source
– Shut down any kind of Database or unneeded services and applications
– Use the latest version of VMware converter
– Install the VMware converter software directly onto the source OS if you can, if not go and do remote conversion (as last resort do cold clone)
– If the NIC of the source machine is compatible TOE (TCP offload engine) card, you must disable by “Netsh int ip set chimney DISABLED”
– 200 Megs of disk space is minimum requirement
– run MSconfig and disable every possible service and application which runs at startup (except all Microsoft services and converter service)
– If you’re converting server with static IP, reconfigure for DHCP, if you can (you’ll lose that conf. information during the conversion process. You can do “ipconfig /all >c:\ip.txt” to save your IP configuration into a text file on your C drive
– If you’re converting Virtual PC Virtual machine, remove the “Virtual PC additions” first
– If the destination is ESX server, connect to it via IP address (not DNS name).
– Make sure that the ports 443 and 902 are opened
– use root account for the authentication
– use unique name for the target VM in order to avoid possible DNS resolving issues with converter ( make sure that there is not another VM with the same name)
And answering your questions:
Should I use the "Synchronize" function in the converter?
No, just follow the best practices and you will don't need this.
Do I need to restore each database from a latest backup to the converted VM?
No, all datafiles/logs will be intact on destination VM if you follow the best practices, that says to shutdown the database before start the conversion.
Or can I simply stop services, convert it then bring it online?
Yes, just stop all SQL related services and after the conversion, just start them again.
Are there queries I need to run on the databases after the conversion?
If you aren't the DBA, just ask the DBA if everything is working.
Anyone else have experience in converting a SQL box?
Yes, not only SQL but some big Oracle boxes too.