Failed at 98% : Unable to find the system volume, reconfiguration is not possible - Windows Vista

[NewGuyInVMs]

Greetings!

Issue:

The conversion stops at 98% showing the message in the title. There is no boot.ini file on the boot drive and trying to reconfigure the VM didn't solve the problem as well.

I tried un-successfully to convert only the active partition (C:) to the VM but the same problem appears.

Extra information:

The computer is an old laptop which has an internal Seagate drive with 3 partitions as it appears in the image attached. C: has the windows installation, D: is a partition for data and the 3rd one I am not sure what it contains; I believe it has some kind of recovery software (?)

OS: Windows Vista 32bit

VMware vCenter Converter: 6.2.0 build-7348398

Task with ID 6 is the conversion with all 3 partitions of the drive (logs can be found at ConverterDiagnostics20171111220416.zip file) and task with ID 8 is the conversion with only one partition - the one that has windows installed (C:) - (logs can be found at ConverterDiagnostics20180113045616.zip file)

Laptop's history:

I'm trying to make a VM of the laptop because it started showing signs that it might die soon - several times of freezing, then not being able to boot. After opening the laptop's case and clearing it a bit, it seems to be working fine - but in any case I'd like to somehow preserve the OS and programs/software that nobody has the installation files for anymore.

Any help would be appreciated!

[admin]

I have below error message in converter log .

error = (converter.fault.ReconfigurationNoSystemVolumeFault) {

-->                            faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null, 

-->                            description = "InternalError", 

-->                            msg = "Unable to find the system volume, reconfiguration is not possible."

Did you check if the information in KB

VMware Knowledge Base

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

Unfortunately I don't have an installation media with that exact version of Windows Vista 32bit OS, so I can't exactly follow these steps.

But on the laptop if I'm not mistaken the options seem fine, right?

[admin]

Could you provide me below information ...

can you confirm if you have dual boot configuration - ( check in Boot.ini)

your computer firmware is BIOS or EFI ?

did you try to without antivirus ?

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

As I mentioned in my OP there is no boot.ini file. If there is another way to check if I have dual boot configuration I'd be glad to do it that way, although in my knowledge no there hasn't been a second OS installed/configured in the drive and there is no second hard drive or any partition that another OS could have been installed.

Regarding the computer's firmware, I tried different methods (How to Know If Your Computer Uses UEFI or BIOS | iSumsoft ) I found online to check it:

I checked on the Run->msinfo32

On the C:\Windows\Panthers\setupact.log file, but there was no entry if it is UEFI or BIOS.

And I also checked on the Disk Management window:

I believe it is BIOS and not EFI/UEFI.

I had disabled the antivirus protection before starting the conversion, yes. If you think that the antivirus might be the issue, I could try uninstalling it and have a go converting it with no antivirus at all.

Let me know if there is anything else I can check or if I should try uninstalling the antivirus and trying again to convert the laptop.

Thank you!

[admin]

just wanted to know if  you using some disk-encription software? if yes than can you turn it off ?

run file-level cloning instead of block-level cloning if you are doing block-level cloning...

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

Nope, I don't have any disk encryption software.

About the different cloning, is that an option when creating the virtual machine through the VMware vCenter Converter because I don't see it?

Where do I select that?

[admin]

when you resize the disk file-level copying is used - other wise you get block-level copying...

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

So when selecting the partitions that I want to copy, I have to select the "Maintain size" option to do a block-level cloning of the disk? e.g.

(Note the above image is from another pc)

If that's the case, then I definitely did file-level cloning as I did select "Min size" when I tried to convert the machine.

[admin]

try to resize  C:  drive disk in order to run file-level cloning.

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

I have already tried to convert the machine selecting the "Min size" option which resizes the partitions from the original ~70 GB down to the amount of files' size, so if I understand correctly what you are saying, I have already resized the C: drive disk with the same result.

If I didn't understand correctly, could you rephrase what you are saying or provide me step-by-step what I have to do differently?

Thank you

[Rosen Tomov]

From logs I see that BCD hive (Vista's boot.ini :smileyhappy:) is found but its format is not recognized and can't be patched.

Did you try to power on VM despite this error?

Otherwise you can try to rebuild BCD and hopefully the recover will convert BCD to known format.

HTH

[NewGuyInVMs]

Oh, I must have missed that :smileyshocked:

I did try to find the boot.ini in the C: partition; I maybe checked in the wrong folder?

I did try to power on the VM created by the task with number 6 despite the error with no success. It didn't boot at all (showed me a message - should I get you a screenshot of that? ) and entered a cycle where the VM restarted itself.

As I have never done that before, do I have to rebuild BCD on the laptop and then convert the machine or try to rebuild BCD on the VM itself?

I found this guide (How to Rebuild the BCD in Windows [10 to 20 Minutes] ).

If the rebuild has to be done on the laptop, is it ok to start from step 2 by running a command prompt with admin rights?

If the rebuild has to be done on the VM itself, as I don't have the original windows cd, is it okay to boot a different windows vista installation disc to open up the System Recovery Options?

Thank you a lot HTH!

[Rosen Tomov]

There is no boot.ini starting with Vista, the BCD is registry hive placed in \Boot\BCD folder in your bootup volume.

Could you export the HKLM\BCD000000 registry and upload it here (via regedit.exe)?

About BCD recovery you need to start in recovery mode only, I've don't think the original CD is required. However look for Vista specific recovery. Keep in mind that this operation is dangerous.

HTH

[NewGuyInVMs]

Hello HTH!

You can find the file attached to the post.

From what I understand I have to do the BCD recovery on the laptop itself, right? If it is dangerous and I can break things, I might consider going the laptop to a professional service nearby before attempting doing it myself.

Edit: Is it possible if I keep a backup of the BCD settings not to be able to restore them? (I found there are two commands: "bcdedit /export C:\data\BCDbackup" and "bcdedit /import C:\data\BCDbackup")

Thanks a lot once again!

[Rosen Tomov]

So, in your BCD disk signature and disk offsets are not ones found on real disk (that's why Converter could not match source with destination partitions).

The BCD recovery procedure should fix this problem.

Hope This Helps (HTH)

[NewGuyInVMs]

I'm laughing on the HTH..

I'll try to do the BCD recovery in the next days as I don't have access to the laptop at the moment and will let you know how did it go!

Thank you POCEH! :smileyhappy:

[Rosen Tomov]

Before rebuild BCD you can try to convert without 'optimized alignment' switch... just a wild guess.

[NewGuyInVMs]

Hello POCEH!

I did rebuild the BCD and unfortunately the conversion failed again.

I did try though to start the VM; when it first started the below message appeared in which I selected Yes.

After that, Windows Vista started loading and then I had a BSOD which I didn't manage to get a screenshot of as the VM rebooted. After the reboot, I got the below message:

I've tried Safe mode booting and Start windows normally options, but with no success - they both result in a BSOD.

I'm attaching in the post the logs of the converter and the HKLM/BCD in case that helps to find out why the Converter failed again.

I guess I will have to find a windows vista installation disc and try to repair the VM? Or is there another option/anything else I could try?

Thank you a lot for the help so far! I really appreciate it!

P.S. I just thought of something that might affect the conversion - the date/time of the laptop is incorrect, not the actual time. I guess that doesn't affect the conversion, but thought to mention it.

[NewGuyInVMs]

So I borrowed a windows vista disc from a friend and I booted the VM with the installation disc trying to repair it.

First thing it found was the below (note at first try the copy/backup bcd was named BCD.Backup.0001). I selected to repair it and then restarted the VM, but it resulted in BSOD again.

Next thing I tried was to repair the windows installation. It attempted to automatically repair it, but failed to do so, giving me the below error:

Also, I did record a video of the BSOD, so here is an image of the BSOD:

I'm not sure what to do next.

P.S. I also tried to rebuild the BCD in the VM, but that resulted in BSOD again after I restarted the VM. And afterwards when I booted from the installation disc, I got the message you can see in the first image of this post.

[admin]

Can you please post/attach the VM's vmx file.

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

This is the VM's vmx file.

Thanks for reminding me!

[admin]

Can you see below link about BSOD 7B....

P2v and 0x0000007B BSOD

While you are editing the vmx file, you may also want to replace

guestOS = "longhorn"

by

guestOS = "winvista"

or - even better - edit the guest OS in the VM's settings.

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

I did change the guestOS, but it made no difference.

BSOD appears again (this time appeared without a code, but with the same message). I did run a chkdsk on the VM, but nothing changed.

[admin]

can you confirm if you change

change

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

to

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsisas1068"

It only applies if the virtual disk is configured like this

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsisas1068"

On the target platform boot the newly created VM into the Windows Recovery CD.

After boot is finished click on the CMD-button and run regedit.

Select HKLM and then Menu > File > Load Hive.

Browse to the Windows-directory on the virtualdisk > system32\config and select the file SYSTEM.

When asked for a name enter ILIAS_NB_FIFTH.

Then find the key

 

HKLM\ILIAS_NB_FIFTH\ControlSet001\services\LSI_SAS

 

and set the start type to REG_DWORD 0

Then select HKLM\ILIAS_NB_FIFTH and click Menu > File > Unload Hive.

You can close regedit now and restart.

On next boot you can start into the Windows Vista system. It should find drivers and probably needs a reboot when done

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

Oh, wow! That actually did make it work! VM booted with no problem and I logged into the admin account! :smileyhappy:

Thanks ranchuab and POCEH for all your help!

[admin]

you are welcome NewGuyInVMs :smileyhappy:

Regards,

Randhir

[NewGuyInVMs]

I've got only one last problem - not sure if I should make a new question on the Workstation forum about this so I'll ask here first.

I am trying to install VMware Tools on this VM, but it fails giving me the below error message:

I can successfully visit the webpage from the browser of the VM and also on the browser of the pc running the VM:

Any idea what to do in this case?

[Rosen Tomov]

First check if VM Player 12 is supported yet. If not should upgrade to latest one and then try to install tools.

Just wild guess. HTH

Also check if Vista is supported.

[Rosen Tomov]

If VM booted this is step ahead :smileyhappy:

From the screenshots I've see that probably "ahci" controller is not present in Vista, so try to change it to "lsisas1068", "lsilogic" and "buslogic" (in this order) and boot VM. You can change the string in VMX file directly with text editor.

Please share the result.

[NewGuyInVMs]

I guess you are referring to the

sata0.virtualDev = "ahci"

line in the .vmx file. I tried to boot the VM after I changed it to both 3 values, but on every one of them similar message to the below appeared:

I tried also the suggestion of ranchuab to change

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

to

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsisas1068"

But that didn't make any difference as well.

I will try to do the rest he suggests once I get to open a CMD through the installation disc - I have to select the repair option and wait for it to complete the try before it shows up the options to open the cmd.