Unable to determine Guest Operation System

[nonwu]

I am trying to import a physical Windows NT 4.0 server to a vmware server host, using vmware converter version 3.0.0 (build 39557). In the vmware converter import wizard, I select "physical computer", click next and select "This local machine" and when I click next, I get the error message "Unable to determine Guest Operating System" I have verified that the VMware Converter Service is running. Has anyone run into this issue with a Windows NT server?

Thanks!

nonwu

[esiebert7625]

What service pack are you running? Converter only supports NT4 SP6 or greater...

What platforms can Converter be installed on?

VMware Converter 3 can be installed on the following platforms: Windows XP Professional, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server and Windows NT SP6+ (IE5 or higher required)

[nonwu]

I am running service pack 6.

Thanks

nonwu

[esiebert7625]

What is your disk partition configuration? Do you just have one physical disk? Any raid? Multiple partitions? Also post your boot.ini.

[nonwu]

2 partitions, four disks, raid 5 and below is the boot.ini

\[boot loader]

timeout=3

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT

\[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows NT Server Version 4.00"

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows NT Server Version 4.00 \[VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos

Thanks

nonwu

[esiebert7625]

Your Winnt install shows as partition 2, what is your partition 1? Is your raid being done through hardware or throught the OS?

Check out this thread...

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=570425&#570425

[nonwu]

Thanks for your input. I have hardware raid.

The thread didn't provide any specific resolution for my problem.

Thanks

nonwu

[Gnoekie]

Hello everyone,

I'm having the same problem with a 32 bits XP Professional system.

When I try to convert this physical machine with VMware converter 3.0.0 build 39557. Also I have checked that the VMware service is running.

User account is administrator.

I have two disks (Not RAID) with both only 1 partition. (C and D)

Here is my boot.ini file:

\[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="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Does anyone know what to do?

Best regards, Hans

[esiebert7625]

I've used some file and registry monitoring utilities to see what Converter is doing when it tries and determines the Source OS. What I see is that it looks at the boot.ini. So make sure your boot.ini is in the root of C:\ and the user you are using to login to that server has access to it. It also makes registry calls to determine the OS. It reads the below values from the registry, check to see if you have all these and they are set correctly.

HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\ProductOptions\ProductType "WinNT'

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\CSDVersion "Service Pack 2"

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\CurrentType "Uniprocessor Free"

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\CurrentVersion "5.1"

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProductName "Microsoft Windows XP"

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRoot "C:\Windows"

[Gnoekie]

Thak you for your reply:

My boot.ini file is in the root of C:\

+

All these registry settings are the same except:

CurrentType = Multiprocessor Free

I think that's not the problem is it?

Here is a part of the log file where I think the problem is located:

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.906 'App' 3372 info] Impersonating user Hans in session 7170C607-A509-420D-8108-F3D3418C8587

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.906 'Vmsvc' 3372 info] VMServices Plugin initializing

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.906 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] Msg_Reset:

\[#1] \[msg.dictionary.load.statFailed] Unable to get information about file "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Converter\config.ini": Het systeem kan het opgegeven bestand niet vinden.

\[#1] \----

---

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.906 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] PREF Optional preferences file not found at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Converter\config.ini. Using default values.

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.906 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] Msg_Reset:

\[#1] \[msg.dictionary.load.statFailed] Unable to get information about file "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Converter\settings.ini": Het systeem kan het opgegeven bestand niet vinden.

\[#1] \----

---

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.906 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] PREF Optional preferences file not found at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Converter\settings.ini. Using default values.

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.921 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] Msg_Reset:

\[#1] \[msg.dictionary.load.statFailed] Unable to get information about file "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Converter\config.ini": Het systeem kan het opgegeven bestand niet vinden.

\[#1] \----

---

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.921 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] PREF Optional preferences file not found at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Converter\config.ini. Using default values.

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.937 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] Msg_Reset:

\[#1] \[msg.dictionary.load.statFailed] Unable to get information about file "C:\Documents and Settings\Hans\Application Data\VMware\config.ini": Het systeem kan het opgegeven bestand niet vinden.

\[#1] \----

---

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.937 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] PREF Optional preferences file not found at C:\Documents and Settings\Hans\Application Data\VMware\config.ini. Using default values.

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.953 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] Msg_Reset:

\[#1] \[msg.dictionary.load.statFailed] Unable to get information about file "C:\Documents and Settings\Hans\Application Data\VMware\preferences.ini": Het systeem kan het opgegeven bestand niet vinden.

\[#1] \----

---

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.953 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] PREF Failed to load user preferences.

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:55.953 'App' 3372 info] \[,0] Using system libcrypto, version 90709F

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.062 'App' 3372 warning] \[,0] VMHS: Failed to load vmnetMgr.dll

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.062 'VmMisc' 3372 info] Max supported virtual machines: 1200

\[??] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.062 'App' 5956 info] \[,0] HOSTINFO 3814092663984 @ 2598920000Hz -> 0 @ 1000000Hz

\[??] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.062 'App' 5956 info] \[,0] HOSTINFO ((x * 3384518577) >> 43) + -1467568321

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.078 'App' 4876 info] \[vmImporter,133] Entering UFAD at QuerySourceInfo

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.078 'App' 4876 verbose] \[vmImporter,134] source:

\[#1] (sysimage.LiveSourceComputerSpec) {

\[#1] dynamicType = ,

\[#1] dynamicProperty = (vmodl.DynamicProperty) [],

\[#1] host = "",

\[#1] port = 0

\[#1] }

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.093 'App' 4876 verbose] \[ufaConnection,94] Creating local adapter...

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.093 'App' 4876 verbose] \[disposable,68] Registering disposable session object id=VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{0}

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.093 'App' 4876 verbose] \[disposable,79] Associating disposable session object id=VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{0} with session id=7170C607-A509-420D-8108-F3D3418C8587

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 4896 verbose] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,504] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{0}: Starting execution of an image processing task

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 4896 verbose] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,154] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{0}: SetState to running

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 4896 info] \[vmiQuerySourceInfoTask,79] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask initialized

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 4896 verbose] \[ufaConnection,94] Creating local adapter...

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 4896 warning] \[importSource,319] Unable to determine the guest OS from metadata: no metadata for sources of this type

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 4876 verbose] \[slaveConnection,189] Creating local connection to the co-located slave

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=0 size=1024 err=122

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=0 size=2048 err=122

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=0 size=4096 err=122

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=0 size=8192 err=122

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=10423 size=16384 err=0

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 3412 warning] \[attachedDiskWin32,478] Warning: no attached disks were detected.

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 3412 error] \[slave,334] No local disks were detected, so no local host config info.

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 4896 error] \[importSource,357] Unable to read OS info from system disk: vmodl.fault.SystemError

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 4896 error] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,552] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{0}: Image processing task has failed with MethodFault::Exception: sysimage.fault.UnableToDetermineGuestOs

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 4896 verbose] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,154] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{0}: SetState to error

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.265 'App' 4896 verbose] \[disposable,121] object explicitly disposed: VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{0}

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.265 'App' 4896 verbose] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,123] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{0} being destroyed

\[2007-03-19 23:44:59.109 'VmdbSvc' 3412 verbose] IVmdbPipe2Impl operation completed with error: De pipe is beëindigd.

\[2007-03-19 23:44:59.125 'App' 4896 verbose] CloseSession called for session id=7170C607-A509-420D-8108-F3D3418C8587

\[2007-03-19 23:44:59.125 'VmdbAdapter' 4896 verbose] Removed vmdb connection /db/connection/#1/

\[#2] \[2007-03-19 23:44:59.156 'App' 4896 info] Impersonating user Hans in session C8613C4D-9311-41AD-9D70-DBFC3B66C0F0

\[2007-03-19 23:48:02.156 'VmdbSvc' 3412 verbose] IVmdbPipe2Impl operation completed with error: De pipe is beëindigd.

\[2007-03-19 23:48:02.156 'App' 3412 verbose] CloseSession called for session id=C8613C4D-9311-41AD-9D70-DBFC3B66C0F0

\[2007-03-19 23:48:02.156 'VmdbAdapter' 3412 verbose] Removed vmdb connection /db/connection/#2/

\[2007-03-21 08:19:37.703 'Ufa' 4876 info] Plugin stopped

\[2007-03-21 08:19:40.578 'App' 4876 info] \[plugin,135] UfaClientPlugin WaitStop

\[2007-03-21 08:19:41.218 'App' 4876 info] \[plugin,155] UfaSlavePlugin WaitStop

\[2007-03-21 08:19:42.234 'App' 4876 info] \[plugin,203] SysMigrationPlugin WaitStop

\[2007-03-21 08:19:42.406 'App' 4876 info] \[plugin,134] SysReconfigPlugin WaitStop

\[2007-03-21 08:19:42.703 'App' 4876 info] \[plugin,142] VMImporterPlugin WaitStop

\[2007-03-21 08:19:47.046 'VmdbSvc' 4876 verbose] Shutting down VMDB service...

\[2007-03-21 08:19:47.062 'VmdbSvc' 4876 verbose] Unregistering callback...

\[2007-03-21 08:19:47.078 'VmdbSvc' 4876 verbose] ...done

\[??] \[2007-03-21 08:19:47.593 'App' 3576 info] \[serviceWin32,273] ufad-p2v service stopped

No local disks found? How is that possible????

[esiebert7625]

I'm not sure why it is giving you that error. Some advice I can give you to help you solve it is to use some utilities to see exactly what Converter is doing when it tries to read your source OS and why it is failing. I used these on a working copy of Converter and was able to see exactly what files and registry settings it was accessing. The process that does the actual conversion is called vmware-ufad.exe. The other process Converter.exe is the main program. So if you monitor the vmware-ufad.exe process when you press the import button you will see what it is doing. The tool to use for this is called Process Monitor. You can set a filter to only monitor the vmware-ufad.exe process. Hopefully you will see exactly what it is trying to read on the file system and registry and see if there are any failures. You can also use Filemon and Regmon or Process Explorer, but I've found Process Monitor to be adequate.

Process Monitor:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/processmonitor.mspx

Process Explorer:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx

FileMon:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/FileAndDisk/Filemon.mspx

RegMon:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/Regmon.mspx

[evdcs]

I'm experiencing the same problem during a cold clone of a Dell PowerEdge 1750 with PERC4Di RAID controller on Win2000 Server (SP4).

I believe the important error is "Warning: no attached disks were detected." - you may need to load a storage controller driver (F6) if you're doing a cold-clone operation. If it's a live-Windows clone operation, it may be having trouble with the storage driver in Windows, making a cold-clone a more interesting possibility.

-David

[solarice]

If you are running win2k or 2003 SBS and the system drive is soft mirrored then you must break the mirror in order for VMconvertor to recognize the OS. Once P2V is complete you make simply reset the mirror.

I have not tried on soft Raid 5 but my guess would be SOL on that one.

[xe]

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 4876 verbose] \[slaveConnection,189] Creating local connection to the co-located slave

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=0 size=1024 err=122

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.140 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=0 size=2048 err=122

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=0 size=4096 err=122

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=0 size=8192 err=122

\[#1] \[2007-03-19 23:43:56.156 'App' 3412 verbose] \[attachedDiskWin32,150] QueryDosDevice: ret=10423 size=16384 err=0

We can get this error if the source is Windows 2003. There is a bug in the QueryDosDevice code in Windows which returns an error value (122). Applying Service Pack 1 or higher should fix this.

There is also another issue on Windows 2000. Make sure SP4 is installed for Windows 2000.

[jfullerton]

I am experiencing the same problem with converting a Windows NT machine. When I checked my registry setting the HKLM\system\ControlSet001\Control\ProductOptions\ProductType value was set to "LanmanNT" and the system does not allow this value to be changed.

[jfullerton]

You could try using the newest version of VMWare converter. Version 3.0.1 was made available yesterday. The download location is shown below:

http://www.vmware.com/download/converter/

[Sebastian_Frati]

Just so you know, I had the exact same problem with the 3.0.1 Build. I couldn't find the problem or the source.

Just to try I tested the 3.0.0 version and it worked!

Regards

[admin]

Try this for the unable to determine Guest OS

Open a DOS command-line window.

Run dcomcnfg from the command line.

Select the Default Properties tab.

Set impersonation level to Impersonate (it should be set to Identify by default).

Close the dcomcnfg panel.

Verify that reconfiguration now succeeds.

[jfullerton]

This did not have any effect on my conversion attempts. I still got the "unable to determine guest operating system" error message.

[rob_nixon]

I'm seeing this same error message when attempting to import an ESX2.x virtual machine via Virtual Center 2.x, converting it to an ESX3.x virtual machine on an ESX3 host server. Just finished downloading converter 3.0.1, and that did not make any difference. The same thing happens with source VMs using windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server.

My original goal was to copy this gold master VM from the ESX2 server to the ESX3 server in a different physical data center.

Any ideas?

[Smeagol]

This error is a nightmare. As mentioned vmware migrator 2.0 works a lot better! Why cant 3.01 of converter do the same!?

Things to check also are rights to the source file system, you need RW. Also migrator complained at an AMD64 winnt install and said it couldnt figure it out, but lets you migrate anyway.

3.01 seems like a backwards step.

I had to run 2.0 in a vm on my desktop and use that to migrate from a vmware server fileset to esx3. Lucky I hadnt emptied my recycle bin of the 2.0 version!

[Smeagol]

In my instance Im trying to read a vmware server 1.03 single disk off an SMB share. As you can see there is very little info as to what the problem is other than not finding what its after on the disk. Im going to try the process monitor as suggested above.

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.434 'App' 5952 warning] \[attachedComputerWin32,579] \[GetVolumesForComputer] Windisk_GetVolumeDiskExtents failed with error 1

\[??] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.552 'App' 2352 info] \[stub,42] Info\[Windisk_GetVolumeDeviceNumber]: IOCTL_GET_STORAGE_DEVICE_NUMBER for volume
?\Volume\{2b53e51d-a3be-11db-bc53-806e6f6e6963}\ is not supported .... Trying NT method.

\[??] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.553 'App' 2352 info] \[stub,42] Error\[Windisk_GetVolumeDeviceNumber]:Failed to get
?\Volume\{2b53e51d-a3be-11db-bc53-806e6f6e6963}\ Volume's disk number

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.553 'App' 5952 warning] \[attachedComputerWin32,579] \[GetVolumesForComputer] Windisk_GetVolumeDiskExtents failed with error 1

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.554 'App' 5952 verbose] \[diskSet,196] 1 volumes found

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.555 'App' 5952 verbose] \[diskSet,364] Volume: idx=0 sysId=7 active=Y

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.556 'App' 5952 verbose] \[diskSet,203] 1 potential active volumes found

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.557 'App' 5952 info] \[extendedOsInfo,161] Getting extended OS info by parsing boot.ini and/or analyzing the registry failed

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.557 'App' 5952 verbose] \[disposable,69] Registering disposable session object id=localFile=

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.558 'App' 5952 verbose] \[disposable,80] Associating disposable session object id=localFile= with session id=DC2B840A-B27A-4617-9B96-8FCEBA378895

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.558 'App' 5952 error] \[extendedOsInfo,273] Error

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.559 'App' 5952 verbose] \[disposable,122] object explicitly disposed: localFile=

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.559 'App' 5952 info] \[extendedOsInfo,171] msdos.sys is non-existent or inaccessible

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.560 'App' 5952 error] \[extendedOsInfo,184] FAILED parsing NTFS or Win9x_DOS partition

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.561 'App' 5952 info] \[extendedOsInfo,161] Getting extended OS info by parsing boot.ini and/or analyzing the registry failed

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.561 'App' 5952 verbose] \[disposable,69] Registering disposable session object id=localFile=

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.562 'App' 5952 verbose] \[disposable,80] Associating disposable session object id=localFile= with session id=DC2B840A-B27A-4617-9B96-8FCEBA378895

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.562 'App' 5952 error] \[extendedOsInfo,273] Error

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.563 'App' 5952 verbose] \[disposable,122] object explicitly disposed: localFile=

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.563 'App' 5952 info] \[extendedOsInfo,171] msdos.sys is non-existent or inaccessible

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.564 'App' 5952 error] \[extendedOsInfo,184] FAILED parsing NTFS or Win9x_DOS partition

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.564 'App' 5952 verbose] \[disposable,122] object explicitly disposed: computer=\{8d56326b536472341b75b4f61b479869dbeb1967}

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.564 'App' 5952 verbose] \[diskSet,119] Cleaning up computer's child objects

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.565 'App' 5952 verbose] \[diskSet,135] Unregistring volume id=attVol=\{computer=,1}

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.565 'App' 5952 verbose] \[diskSet,145] Unregistring disk id=disk=\{9ba2498e79b590fd75d62d8b65fa945c367c0fea}

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.566 'App' 2552 error] \[client,164] Rethrowing MethodFault sysimage.fault.OsVersionNotFound:

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.566 'App' 3676 error] \[importSource,357] Unable to read OS info from system disk: sysimage.fault.OsVersionNotFound

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.567 'App' 3676 error] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,552] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{2}: Image processing task has failed with MethodFault::Exception: sysimage.fault.UnableToDetermineGuestOs

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.567 'App' 3676 verbose] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,154] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{2}: SetState to error

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.606 'App' 3676 verbose] \[disposable,122] object explicitly disposed: VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{2}

\[#3] \[2007-06-03 11:22:17.607 'App' 3676 verbose] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,123] VmiQuerySourceInfoTask::task\{2} being destroyed

null

[atbnet]

This is a known issue with perc raid controllers 3 and 4 and Windows NT which does not understand the scsi command "read capacity". It returns "Incorrect function" when handling this scsi pass-through request sent by Converter code to retrieve the disk capacity.

Andy, VMware Certified Professional (VCP),

If you found this information useful please award points using the buttons at the top of the page accordingly.