The file specified is not a virtual disk

[carybielenberg]

I have converted a Windows 2003 server with 2 disks 1st is a raid 5 on a IBM controller & 2nd is a single scsi disk both are basic disks. The host is Vmware server on Ubuntu. I have a 2003 server running fine! After creating the the image I gzip it up to ftp to the linux box. When unzip it into the /var/vm directory I get this message:- Cannot open the disk '/var/vm/sky01/sky01.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on. Reason: The file specified is not a virtual disk!

I would appreciate any help.

Cheers Cary

[admin]

Just to make sure, you:

1. selected Server 1.x as the destination VM

2. copied all files over to the VMware Server

It could be that you need to create 2GB files for the virtual disks rather than a single large file.

[carybielenberg]

Yes to both answers! I'm re-creating the image at present with the 2G split! I didn't do that before as I thought that was a windows FS issue & as it is going on a ext3 linux partition I created as a whole drive. will let you know how it goes!

A addendum the console recognized the server & all the details etc but I couldn't edit any of the disk info.

Cheers Cary

[admin]

Windows can handle large files. Ftp may not fair so well.

[carybielenberg]

Ok, I created 2G files for the disk & I now can edit the disk properties & defrag the disks:-) I now have a permissions error with the log file trying to start the server! Does anyone know what permissions I need to apply to thew directory? The host O/S is Ubuntu 0610 (edgy)

Cheers Cary

[carybielenberg]

Have now changed the permissions & can start the machine? but only get a black screen. I only used VM because of this tool, perhaps Xen might have been the better option:-(

Cary

[admin]

What are the SCSI controller types listed in the .vmx? Make sure they are LSI Logic.

Also, how many virtual disks do you have? It's possible that the boot disk is in the wrong order.

[carybielenberg]

is this the section? scsi0.virtualDev = "buslogic"

The machine according to the log file is booting all I get is a black screen I don't even get a vm bios boot screen?

Cary

[admin]

Hmm... it should have set that to lsilogic for you when it created the Windows 2003 VM for you.

[carybielenberg]

Changed to lsilogic in the file, It asked me did I want to change when I started the server but still get a black screen!

Cary

[admin]

Did your IBM machine have a system partition? It could be your boot.ini in your VM needs to be updated. You can attach your VM's virtual disk to a Windows 2003 VM as a second disk and look inside the boot.ini and change the partition number.

[carybielenberg]

The original was a IBM server with an old 4lx controller with raid 1 (mirrored pair) it had a 2nd disk a single 8G scsi but only had junk on it! I have booted the box without the 2nd drive with no problems. I didn't copy the 2nd drive across as I was having problems with VM picking it as the primary disk & not booting. The original was a basic disk btw & not dynamic.

Cary

[carybielenberg]

Is there something in the logs that might steer me in the right direction? out put from the end of the log Feb 22 09:59:58: vmx| Installing the VMware Tools package will greatly enhance graphics and mouse performance in your virtual machine.

Feb 22 09:59:58: vmx|

Feb 22 09:59:58: vmx| WARNING: You cannot install the VMware Tools package until the guest operating system is running. If your guest operating system is not

running, choose Cancel and install the VMware Tools package later.

Cary

Message was edited by:

carybielenberg

[gautam]

Hi Cary,

I haven't really understood the steps you went through here, is this something like what you did?

\- you started out with a Win 2K3 physical machine

\- installed converter on it and cloned it to a windows share

\- copied the files to your Linux physical machine with Converter installed on it

\- changed the disk paths to point to the right vmdk

\- tried to power on the VM

Am I right? can you list the files in the dir and post a copy of the .vmx file?

[carybielenberg]

Gautam, I copied the physical server from my PC that has the converter software on it!

the vmx file:-

root@skycab-vm01:/var/vm/sky01# cat sky01.vmx

#!/usr/bin/vmware

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

memsize = "2096"

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"

MemTrimRate = "-1"

displayName = "sky01"

guestOS = "winnetstandard"

numvcpus = "2"

uuid.location = "56 4d 07 ac 82 c3 1d a7-5a 22 d7 2c 36 0e 26 23"

uuid.bios = "56 4d 8a 61 d9 36 1f f0-0a 65 25 81 0f b9 2c dc"

tools.remindInstall = "TRUE"

floppy0.present = "TRUE"

floppy0.fileName = "A:"

usb.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.present = "TRUE"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"

scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0:0.fileName = "sky01.vmdk"

ide0:0.present = "TRUE"

ide0:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

ide0:0.filename = "/usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/windows.iso"

ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

scsi0.present = "TRUE"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

priority.grabbed = "normal"

priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

scsi0:0.mode = "persistent"

floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"

scsi0:0.redo = ""

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:b9:2c:dc"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

Ethernet0.startConnected = "FALSE"

ide0:0.startConnected = "FALSE"

root@skycab-vm01:/var/vm/sky01#

list of files in the directory:-

root@skycab-vm01:/var/vm/sky01# ls -al

total 50765964

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2007-02-22 09:57 .

drwxrwxrwt 4 root root 4096 2007-02-22 07:58 ..

-rw------- 1 root root 2197815296 2007-02-22 09:57 564d07ac-82c3-1da7-5a22-d72c360e2623.vmem

-rrr-- 1 root root 11 2007-02-22 09:57 564d07ac-82c3-1da7-5a22-d72c360e2623.vmem.WRITELOCK

-rw------- 1 root root 8664 2007-02-22 09:57 nvram

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2063007744 2007-02-22 09:58 sky01-s001.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2141913088 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s002.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2071724032 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s003.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2123628544 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s004.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2141519872 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s005.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2128609280 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s006.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2091057152 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s007.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2143420416 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s008.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2145452032 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s009.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2146238464 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s010.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2142175232 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s011.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2048196608 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s012.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 1583349760 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s013.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 327680 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s014.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2032730112 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s015.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 1726152704 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s016.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 327680 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s017.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 327680 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s018.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 327680 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s019.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 64159744 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s020.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2140209152 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s021.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2137391104 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s022.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2136735744 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s023.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2146500608 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s024.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2146762752 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s025.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2146762752 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s026.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2146762752 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s027.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2146762752 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s028.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 2146762752 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s029.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 1842544640 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s030.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 327680 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s031.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 327680 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s032.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 327680 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s033.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 327680 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s034.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 131072 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01-s035.vmdk

-rw-rr 1 root cary 1673 2007-02-22 10:07 sky01.vmdk

-rrr-- 1 root root 11 2007-02-22 09:57 sky01.vmdk.WRITELOCK

-rw------- 1 root root 0 2007-02-22 07:59 sky01.vmsd

-rw-rr 1 root cary 1073 2007-02-22 10:00 sky01.vmx

-rw-rr 1 root root 26591 2007-02-22 09:46 vmware-0.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 26916 2007-02-22 09:42 vmware-1.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 26819 2007-02-22 09:16 vmware-2.log

-rw-rr 1 root root 25086 2007-02-22 10:07 vmware.log

root@skycab-vm01:/var/vm/sky01#

Cheers Cary

[carybielenberg]

Am currently installing the converter tool to the server & creating image to local USB HDD I will see how that goes

Cary

[admin]

What does your boot.ini look like inside your new VM?

[carybielenberg]

Dumb question! how do I check?

Cary

[carybielenberg]

Have recopied the server both remotely & with local install of the software both give me the black screen of death (I guess it is not death if there is no life b4 hand)

Really at a loss:-(

Cary

[admin]

Attach your nonbootable .vmdk to a working Windows VM as a second disk. Then power on your Windows VM and look at the second drive C:\boot.ini.

[carybielenberg]

Other than ftp'ing the files over to the server & changing the permissions, checking file sizes etc all I have to do is from the client is to point to the server (change the raid controller in the servername.vxx file to lsilogic) & start the server? I would have thought I would still see the Vmware bios screen if it was trying to boot, but I don't even get that!

Cary