Bad block on source

[lensv]

When I try to make a P2V with VMware Converter it fails with the message that the source drive has bad blocks. I have run chkdsk.exe on the computer in question and it has "fixed" the problem (no more bad blocks on the volume), but VMware Converter still seems to see the disk as faulty. Is there a way to get around this... or am I f*cked?

[victorg]

Are you using version 4.0 or 3.X ? Please attach your logs.

[lensv]

I use 3.0.3 (didn't know there was a newer version out there). Log files are coming up...

[lensv]

After several tests I'm no longer sure that the problem really arises from the bad block. When running the converter it stops at different percentage levels each time and the real error message actually says "Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent". The "Bad Block issue" is only a warning...

Therefore I'm really curious about those log files. Please take a look at them and please respond to this thread as soon as you find something...

[xe]

"Unrecoverable error 2 reading 65536 bytes starting from 0x00000001aaf8b000 from the source volume"

Not sure if this is a bad block or a controller failure? According to your logs the source has a lot of bad blocks that appear in groupings at regular intervals. If there's a problem with either the controller or disk, the hardware may 'stall' while it attempts to recover from the error. The OS may see this as an I/O error or bad blocks, usually a whole bunch in a row while the hardware is unresponsive to the I/O request.

Check the system's Event Logs for errors from source "Disk". If the source is actually a hardware RAID it's more likley to be a controller problem or an inconsistent state in the array. This is very likley a hardware problem. If your vedor has diagnosticsoftware you can run this may be of some assistance in pinpointing it.

You can try Ghost, setting it to ignore bad blocks. However if this is a controller problem you'll likley see the issue with Ghost also.

[continuum]

I would use BartPE and do a filebased copy with "unstoppable copier"

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description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:

[victorg]

I would suggest using Converter 4.0. It handles bad blocks better (normally ignores them). You may want to try file-based cloning (change the target volume size). It's a long shot, but it may help. And you definitely need to run chkdsk /f before conversion.

[lensv]

Now I've tried VMware Converter 4 and things actually went a litte bit better this time (ít didn't fail until 75%). These logfiles seems to be quite different, so I upload them here and hope for some more responses. Maybe someone can find out what is really stopping the conversion...

I have run checkdisk several times and after repairing the bad block it doesn't find any more errors. In the system event log I can find a couple of VolSnap entries though (containing the info. "The shadow copy of volume C: was aborted because of an IO failure"), but I don't know what that really means or if it affects this job in any way.

[victorg]

Looks like you have a serious disk problem. We rely on VSS snapshot when doing hot-cloning and apparently the snapshot fails due to bad blocks. You may want to try chkdsk /R if you have not done so already, or you can try to image your disk with third-party software.

[lensv]

Alright, now I have actually managed to successfully make a clone of the "corrupt" disk with Converter 4, even though lots of disk error entries were written in the system log. I switched back to block-level cloning (changed the target disk to become just slightly larger than the original disk) and that did it. I don't know if I was just lucky, but shame on those who gives up easily :smileywink:

unfortunately there is still a problem... When starting up the new VM it hangs with a blue screen showing the message "Configuration file is not unicode". I can start and log on in Safe Mode and I have also tried to upgrade/repair the installation with a Windows XP SP3 CD, but when staring up normally the system still hangs at the same point. Does anyone know what "Configuration file is not unicode" means and how to get passed it?

*Edit: The installation of WXP SP3 doesn't really finish. It stops after the first reboot (with the blue screen error mentioned above). After this I can no longer enter Safe Mode either since the installation needs to be completed...

[xe]

Does the virtual machine boot into graphical mode? A real "blue screen" should have a STOP error code on it and no mouse pointer.

If you're getting something about Setup when starting in Safe Mode it sorta sounds like its going into mini-setup or something?

Either way this means a critical file is corrupted on the virtual machine.

You said you resized the hard disk during conversion (this puts it in volume-based cloning, not block-cloning). That would have been my only other suggestion. Can you check the Converter logs for skipped files? There will be a message in the log if it had to skip a file. You might have more success with the Cold clone CD.

[lensv]

It's not a "real" BSOD... It is just a blue colored screen With a Windows XP logotype showing the message "Configuration file is not unicode". I have no idea what this means, so if anyone knows please let me know.

Concerning the conversion... I first switched to file-level cloning by making a major change of the disk size, but when I went back to almost the same size as the original (49.9 GB -> 50 GB) it actually made a block-level cloning (at least that's what the app. stated).

[victorg]

lensv, can make a snapshot of the screen with "Configuration file is not unicode message"? can you attach the log bundle for that conversion? I have a sneaky feeling it has to do with sysprep. Regarding the conversion mode, we fall back to file based cloning only when you shrink the volume.

[lensv]

Alright!

Screen dump and log files are coming here...

[xe]

Your VM is stuck in minisetup. Did you use Guest Customization?

[lensv]

The answer to that question is yes. Just don't tell me that I must start all over again and make a new conversion. I had a lot of troubles creating this VM and I'm doubtful that I'll have the same luck again.

It just has to be a way to make this work. Since I can startup the machine in fail safe mode the installation shouldn't be too damaged to be repaired?!?

[xe]

OK. If you can boot into safe mode I believe there is a way to back out of the sysprep. You will need the sysprep.exe file however and run it in the VM win safe mode (I think it's actually called factory.exe), but I'm a bit rusty on it. Anyone else feel free to elaborate on this.

[victorg]

lensv,

Are you using a localized version of windows? Which language do you have in ControlPanel->Regional&Language Options->Advanced->Language for Non-Unicode Programs ?

[lensv]

ERROR - Please delete!

[lensv]

Victorg or XE... Do you have any (new) ideas what I should do to make this work?

[victorg]

I dont think you can get past sysprep. I would suggest repeating P2V process without customization and change all the settings manually.

I have forwarded this problem to the appropriate people for investigation.

[lensv]

How about these regional settings... Could they be causing the problem?

[xe]

I agree. Actually I thought that's what you were going to try if you did another conversion.

I can't really say for sure what causes this error message because I can't find any information on it and why it happens. I doubt it is a regional setting because that would not affect the unicode status of any files.

It is possible that this message indicates a corrupted file. Considering the trouble you're having at getting the conversion off the source intially, it isn't reaching too far to conclude that it is a corruption issue. I've also seen sysprep failures that were related to OEM preparation and certain combinations of service pack levels or drivers.

What you can do is, convert with out customization and then perform the post-conversion customizations manually. Changing IP address and host name is done easliy. If you need to change the SID use NewSID. It's also possible to run sysprep, however it may fail again... create a snapshot point before trying it and don't forget to remove the snapshot if you are satisfied with the results.

[lensv]

Do you really think that this is a Sysprep issue... I find it hard to believe that it would be possible to start the machine up in safe mode if the "Sysprep-setup" isn't finished with its job (?)

[xe]

Sysprep is not run when you start in Safe Mode. From your screen shots the error is definately from Sysprep, which runs before the OS is fully loaded using "mini-setup". Is this an OEM supplied copy of Windows? Have you tried the conversion again?

[lensv]

This is not an OEM version. It's a Multi Volume License that is used for the installation on this machine...

As for the second question - I've had no time for any new conversions so far, but actually, I would rather like to know why this happens and what the message really means (and most of all, how to get passed it).

[victorg]

This is not really a sysprep problem, but rather Converter problem. We are saving sysprep.inf file in localized encoding and sysprep expects Unicode. What you can try to do is mount the disk using VMware DDK or connect the disk to another working VM and find c:\sysprep\sysprep.inf. Open it in notepad and save with Unicode encoding.

[lensv]

Regarding sysprep.inf... I guess that I can change the content when I boot up in safe mode as well (I'm not at the machine right now, but I shall try that later).

A question to "xe" - Is there a special reason why you recommend to remove the snapshot as soon as the results are satisfying (except for saving space)?

[xe]

Keeping on a snapshot reduces I/O performance. A snapshot is actually like a "redo-log", it's not a full copy. When one is created both the master and the snapshot log file are parsed to recreate the disk. Removing the snapshot consolidates the log back into the master.

[lensv]

Okay, so the built-in backup function in VMware Fusion (which uses lots of different snapshots) is not recommended to be used then?

Back to this case... I just booted up my VM in safe mode, but I couldn't try the last suggestion. There is no sysprep.inf on this system at all! Is that file supposed to be created automatically by VMware Converter?

[lensv]

Now I have made a new sysprep.inf and I have also saved it with unicode encoding, but that didn't help either (still stuck at "Configuration file is not unicode"). Could this message be related to something else?

[lensv]

Another attempt... This time I have tried to "back out" of Sysprep by following this KB...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287506

Unfortunately some of the registry entries in that article doesn't exist on my machine, so this attempt was unsuccessful as well :smileysad: