A company has several legacy servers that upper management would like to move into a virtual environment. Which of the following is the FIRST step an administrator should take to evaluating whether…

While cost comparison is an important factor for business justification, it is not the *first* technical step for evaluating the *feasibility* of moving the servers into a virtual environment.

Running SYSPREP (System Preparation Tool) is typically performed *after* a P2V conversion or as part of creating a generalized image, not as an initial evaluation step for migration compatibility.

Checking the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for the virtualization platform against the legacy servers' hardware and operating system specifications is the critical first step. This ensures that the existing hardware and software can be successfully migrated or that the virtual hardware presented will be compatible, preventing potential driver issues or instability in the virtual environment.

Verifying the latest OS service packs are installed is a good practice for system health and security, but it is not the *first* step for determining if the server's underlying hardware and OS are fundamentally compatible with the virtualization platform.