VMware vSphere

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  • 1.  Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 07, 2007 07:39 PM

    Used VMware Converter for P2V on a Windows 2003 Std/Exchange 2003 server. However the VM will not boot on VMware Server installed locally or even on ESX 3 after importing the VM to ESX, I receive, ""Network boot from AMD Am79C970A" "PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM. Operating System not found".

    Yesterday from the ESX server, I booted the VM to a Windows 2003 CD & accessed the Recovery Console to run the fixboot & fixmbr commands as suggested by the VMware Support rep.

    It didn't work either, still no boot, so I ran the converter again last night P2V, and I attempted to launch the newly created vm using VMware Server directly on the Exchange Server, but it still comes up with the same error as above.

    Now I'm trying to boot to a Windows 2003 Server ISO image file that I downloaded since I'm 1 hr away from our co-lo facility. Changed the CD-ROM on the VM to point to the ISO file, but I still get the same result. Why can't I even boot to the ISO.

    How else can I get this Exchange Server converted over to a VM.

    Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to be descriptive so I can get the best advice.

    Thx,

    Arne



  • 2.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 07, 2007 07:53 PM

    attach the .vmdk disk to antoher vm and check if the boot.ini entries ex: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0) ... are ok.



  • 3.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 07, 2007 07:54 PM

    Is your boot.ini correct?

    Was there a diag partition on the physical box that is not on the vm?

    mount this vmdk on another system, edit the boot.ini to boot off the proper partition.



  • 4.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 11, 2007 04:51 PM

    What if there IS a diag partition on the physical box, does that need to be copied as well? I believe I did copy it the first time I tried to virtualize, is there some special mythod to copying it?



  • 5.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 11, 2007 04:54 PM

    No you do not need to copy it, it has no function on a virtual server. If you do not select it then Converter wil automatically adjust the boot.ini on the new VM.



  • 6.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 13, 2007 08:39 PM

    I had same problem after converting a physical compaq server

    to vm.

    Solution was :

    As compaq server had a first small partition ( about 40mo ) for

    his management, we didn't convert it to the vm.

    This server had scsi drive with order for partitions.

    Unable to boot the system after conversion.

    Has SCSI order was not correct ( C: was not on 0 or 1 ... ),

    I edited settings of my VM, and change the first drive to Second, the

    second drive to the first ( change pointer to .vmdk ).

    And tried to boot.

    At a moment, my boot order was correct / SCSI order, and my

    server stated.

    Hope this can help you, give you idea.

    Patrick.



  • 7.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 07, 2007 09:29 PM

    Thanks for the rapid repsonse everyone, I really need to get this up & running by Monday.

    I have done as suggested, and the boot.ini info is below. Also looked in Disk Manager, and there is only 1 30GB partition for this VM, no small diagnostic partition or any other partitions.

    \[boot loader]

    timeout=30

    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

    \[operating systems]

    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Standard" /noexecute=optout /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Boot Mirror C: - secondary plex"



  • 8.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 08, 2007 02:12 PM

    Were you using software mirroring on the original server? You usually have to break that before converting. Have you tried removing the boot mirror (rdisk1) from your boot.ini, I'm not sure what that is but it sounds like mirroring. Also are you using the LSI SCSI controller with the VM, it should be used with 2003.



  • 9.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 08, 2007 03:07 PM

    I just inherited this Exchange Server, so I'm not familiar with all the specifics. Looking in Disk Manager, it says Mirrored Volume, Dynamic Disk (Disk0 = 68.35 GB, Disk1 = 68.35 GB) Fault Tolerance = Yes.

    I've never broken a mirror before, I see that I can right click the disk & choose Remove Mirror or Break Mirrored Volume. Which do I choose, and which disk do I remove from the mirror Disk0 or Disk1?

    This is a production Exchange Server, will this cause any problems? Will I be able to rebuid the mirror with minimal interuption? So you say, break the mirror & then create the P2V image?

    I will try removing rdisk1 from the boot.ini tomorrow when I get into the office. As to LSI, I believe that's what we're using it was originally set as BusLogic, but the VMware rep had me set it to LSI.

    Thanks,

    Arne



  • 10.  RE: Cannot boot VM after P2V

    Posted Apr 08, 2007 05:56 PM

    As always, make sure you have a good backup before doing this. It should be a relatively easy and risk-free procedure though. If you do not feel comfortable doing this I would try to make the boot.ini work instead.

    You would want to Break the mirror, this just un-mirrors the disks and turns the other one into a separate drive letter with a 2nd copy of all the data. Once broken you can try the P2V again. There is no guarantee of success even after it is broken if you have dynamic drives, alot of people have had problems converting dynamic drives. I've broken the mirror on one server and had no problems converting it, your mileage may vary though.

    Removing the mirror actually deletes all the data from the second disk.

    Break a mirror:

    http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/12261b76-b310-4a5b-9fe5-684f86a4de651033.mspx?mfr=true

    Remove a mirror:

    http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/ff5d628c-d7ec-4253-b079-d3045930d5a51033.mspx?mfr=true