Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent

[hamed_m80]

Hi everyone;

I'm having a problem with the new VMware Converter (3.0.0.39557) as I did have the same problem with the previous versions. I manage to setup the software successfully on the machine which i'd like to migrate into my virtual infrastructure and in the "Import Machine" wizard I also can successfully detect and connect to my Virtual Center or any of my ESX servers as the destination. But in either case, after the wizard finishes and the task starts, it will stop on 97% progress and show the following error: "Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent".

My source machine is a Compaq server with Windows 2003 enterprise OS and I have checked this with couple of other servers, and have had the same problem.

I have monitored the process through Virtual Infrastructure Client and noticed that the VM is created and after completion, it is destroyed. I also have tried the solution on http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=565746 but didn't help me.

Has anyone else experienced the same problem, and is there any solution to it?

Thanks

[tharrold]

I am experiencing the SAME problem, on multiple ESX farms.

I HAVE made this work, but on a farm that uses VC2.0.1 to manage ESX 2.5.3 servers.

It does NOT seem to work on my ESX 3.0.1 servers.

I have an open ticket with VMWare. I'll post any findings.

-tjh

[VMRoger]

Hi friends, i am having the same problem when the converter starting the task, quickly the progress indicator show 97% failed, you have any update from Vmware, i have VC 2.01 and ESX 3.

Thanks

[tharrold]

OK, on one farm, after rebooting both ESX nodes, the problem has gone away. We have been able to import 6 VMs with no issues.

Interesting: After rebooting each node, I saw 4-5 "ghost" VMs labelled "untitled(1)", etc. These appear to be the VMs that wouldn't import. They must have been somehow stuck/blocked, and the reboot allowed them to show up in the inventory pane.

I've passed this information on to VMWare tech support. Still waiting for an answer.

-tjh

[hamed_m80]

Well, I restarted both ESX servers, but no ghost or untitled VMs showed up. When running the converter again still received the same error at 97% and the created VM just destroyed again.

[Joseph_Nguyen]

Have you tried rebooting the server after the VMware Converter Agent is installed and then converting?

[hamed_m80]

yep, no luck

[emge]

I have the same problem. I made a testconversion from my DC (windows server 2003 enterprise) with the beta-version of converter. That was a good conversion. So I wanted a whole conversion. But first I had to switch to converter 3.0. And now I see the conversion made, but at 97% he delete all en give that error "Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent"

The conversion is from the local machine to a usb-drive.

I miss my beta-version!

[mccreeryjl]

We're having the same issue when converting a w2k machine. I've already converted two other ws03 machines without any problems. We can still convert ws03 machines without issue, just the w2k's are causing problems.

[mccreeryjl]

I uninstalled the agent, rebooted, reinstalled the agent and rebooted again. I opened the Converter software and deleted the previous Import Machine task and created a new task.

Previously, the task went from 1% to 5% to 97% before indicating that the task had failed. I am now about 14% into the conversion process - it never indicated anything other than 1, 5 or 97 before.

I don't know if this helps anyone else, but so far this has resolved our issue.

[J-J-M]

All - I had this problem today when trying to cold-convert a Win2k Server (SP2). Tried twice...rebooted the Host..tried again...failed. However, when I hot-converted (with Converter installed on a WinXP sp2 box)...SUCCESS!! Hope this helps.

[mccreeryjl]

I have had two conversions resolved by this process now: "I uninstalled the agent, rebooted, reinstalled the agent and rebooted again. I opened the Converter software and deleted the previous Import Machine task and created a new task."

The installer doesn't seem to work correctly on the first try, but does okay on the second try!?

[vishal_Khanna]

Dear Friend

I am also facing same problem with w2k3. Its giving error "unknown error reported by vmware converter agent"

Please advise if you have get soultion to this problem.

Best Regards

Vishal Khanna

[hamed_m80]

I just read in another post that this issue may be relayted to dynamic disks, and as I checked, my server is actually configured with dynamic disks. I am going to try the convertion on another server. I will update the thread as soon as I get a result.

[hamed_m80]

It worked. I tested it on another machine configured with basic disks. It first gave me an error, but was just because of the number of com ports. After fixing that, The conversion continued and I am know waiting for it to finish.

Know anyone can suggest a solution for machines configrured with dynamic disks?

[SPARCC]

As far as I can tell, I have confirmed the issue to be related to Dynamic disk formats. I too was unable to convert two servers with the vmware converter 3.0 . I also noticed a reference to Dynamic disks in another post, so I went back to the original two servers and noticed that the disks I was trying to convert were Dynamic. So I did a litle test. I started a conversion on another server which had basic format and sure enough, the conversion worked perfectly. I tried another server with basic format and it worked perfectly. VMware needs to fix this immediately.

Thanks for the post,

[GTMK]

No, the problem does not seems to be restricted to dynamic disks. My import also fails when I select only the basic disk.

Georg.

[ekipinfoF5]

Hi,

same error on basics disks I tried to hot clone on w2k3 server.

I tried to resize the partitions, is that can be a source of problem ?

curiously, I get lots of error message on the physical machine like "[i]windows was unable to save all the data for the file...\vmware converter\... the data has been lost..[/i].etc"

here is the messages in the system event logs of the target:

Event Type: Warning

Event Source: vstor2-p2v30

Event Category: (2)

Event ID: 57

Date: 16/02/2007

Time: 06:48:45

User: N/A

Computer: W2K3-XXXX

Description:

The description for Event ID ( 57 ) in Source ( vstor2-p2v30 ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: \Device\v.[/i]

Event Type: Warning

Event Source: Ntfs

Event Category: None

Event ID: 50

Date: 16/02/2007

Time: 06:24:29

User: N/A

Computer: W2K3-XXXX

Description:

\{Delayed Write Failed} Windows was unable to save all the data for the file . The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.[/i]

do we avoid hot cloning ?

I tried the method of cold cloning here :http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=72198&tstart=0

on another server and it's working. but I can't stop my w2k3.

What vmware propose to fix this ?

[EOrtiz]

Hello People...

I have the same problem when I try to convert a Win2k Server with 3 Basic Disk and 1 Dynamic

Apparently VM converter dont work with Dynamic Disk

I try without the Dynamic disk and its work with 3.X Convertor

[Daniel_K]

try http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=72198&tstart=0

[vmrulz]

Has anyone found a solution to this issue that doesn't involve resorting to booting from CD and others that defeat the purpose of being able to do a hot clone?

The client log on my converter server show this output at failure.. probably the same output all of us have. Has anyone called in an SR with VMware?

\[2007-02-20 10:58:24.856 'App' 2140 verbose] \[imageProcessingTaskWrapper,1201] Disposing task wrapper for task VmiImportTask::task\{5}

\[2007-02-20 10:58:24.887 'P2V' 2140 error] \[task,295] Task failed: P2VError UNKNOWN_METHOD_FAULT(sysimage.fault.CloneFault)

\[2007-02-20 10:58:24.887 'P2V' 2140 verbose] \[task,339] Transition from InProgress to Failure requested

\[2007-02-20 10:58:24.887 'P2V' 2140 verbose] \[task,388] Transition succeeded

Thanks

[vmrulz]

I opened SR 370130 with VMware to add fuel to fire.. I opened it as a minor severity so hopefully they will get back to me this century.. :smileyhappy:

[erachner]

An update --

At least in my own case, the problem appears to be caused by bad clusters on my hard disk. One of the bad clusters on my disk is at the specific location reported in Converter's agent log ("Error 23 reading 20480 bytes starting from 3153686528 from the source volume").

I was able to determine this by using Event Viewer to check the results of chkdsk/autochk in my system's Application log. It's listed under "WinLogon".

\- Eric

[erachner]

Yeehaw --

My problem is solved. The issue was, as suspected, bad clusters on the system hard drive. Although Windows' built-in chkdisk/autochk utilities were no use, I was able to get the disk sorted out by running Spinrite.

Following that, the conversion went successfully on the first shot.

\- Eric

[VMRoger]

Hi eric, you problem was resolved but what operating system have ??? and the disk utility from operating system (scandisk or chkdsk) not work ??? or chkdsk detect this error but don't was solved??? you know other disk application to repair error disk ??? Because the licensing of Spinrite are 90 $...

Thanks

[bretti]

What does Spinrite do? I've never heard of that program before... Sounds like Chkdsk on steroids? What does it do more than Chkdsk.

[Ramon]

... i'm almost hesitant to mention this, however i was suffering the same problem, and how i fixed it was to remove the RO flag on boot.ini file of the disk i was converting, re save the file, and then the problem went away?? it was late, and i can't apply any logic to why this would fix the problem, suffice to say it got me over the hump.

\-- ramon

[erachner]

Hi folks,

I'm having the same problem, trying to convert a system locally using build 39557. (The scenario is as plain vanilla as can be: I'm running Converter with the regular Admin account on a system with no EFS, no dynamic disks, no RAID, etc.)

Like clockwork, at 6 minutes and 30-40 seconds, the progress meter jumps from 6% to 97% and says FAILED. The error text is, "Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent"

Checking the agent logs, the first sign of trouble is when it says the following:

\[#2] \[2007-02-20 22:18:49.006 'App' 2904 error] \[blockLevelVolumeCloningTaskImpl,353] Error 23 reading 20480 bytes starting from 3153686528 from the source volume

\[#2] \[2007-02-20 22:18:49.006 'App' 2904 error] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,536] BlockLevelVolumeCloning::task\{6}: Image processing task has failed with PlatformError fault: 23

Things I've tried so far:

\- Removed/rebooted/reinstalled the Converter (no joy)

\- chkdisk /f (no joy)

\- autochk with bad cluster remapping (remapped some bad clusters, but still no joy)

Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks,

\- Eric

[Pepp]

Hi Everyone!

I have exactly the same Problem.[/b]

\- I have tried all given advices from this Forum, but they did not apply.

\- I tried to convert a "simply" Windows 2003 Server without dynamic disks, no Raid (Only a Single IDE C:\ Drive).

\- I tried to deinstall Anti-Virus

\- Tried to install the converter local on the Server-System.

\- Tried to store the converted Machine on an additional attached local Disk.

\- I tried ALL possible combinations of parameters except Step 3 Customization.

\- I rebootet the Server several times.

\- The Server is absolutely free of load (only used as a "Licence-Server") and is a nearly untouched just installed System.

Nothing helped.

Any ideas are welcome.

I am really dissapointed at this point. I think i will stop now evaporating tonns of hours by evaluating a non-working server-migration till VM-Ware will provide us with WORKING Software.

Thank you so long...

Peter Eppich

Btw, some ideas what this could mean?

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.770 'App' 2000 verbose] \[snapshotVolumeFactory,149] Creating snapshot using vss

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.770 'App' 2000 warning] \[snapshotVolumeFactory,120] Shapshot creation failed. driver=vss

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.770 'App' 2000 verbose] \[snapshotVolumeFactory,149] Creating snapshot using vsnap

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.770 'App' 2000 verbose] \[snapshotVolumeVSNAPWin32,124] Vsnap does not have admin rights

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.770 'App' 2000 verbose] \[snapshotVolumeVSNAPWin32,127] Snapshotting
?\Volume\{8d90a6fd-a51c-11d9-889a-806d6172696f} using stcbasic.sys

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.786 'App' 2000 error] \[snapshotVolumeVSNAPWin32,137] stcbasic.sys not installed or snapshot creation failed. err=2

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.817 'App' 1540 error] \[cloneTask,210] Cloning failed!

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.817 'App' 1540 error] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,552] CloneTask::task\{99}: Image processing task has failed with MethodFault::Exception: vim.fault.NotFound

\[#32] \[2007-02-21 12:52:52.817 'App' 1540 verbose] \[imageProcessingTaskImpl,154] CloneTask::task\{99}: SetState to error

[aleph0]

Find out another procedure using Acronis:

\- convert the physical machine to virtual

\- boot with Acronis Disc iso image

\- convert the logical partitions on Dynamic disk to Primary partition with Acronis

\- set active

\- reboot disconnecting Acronis

all work fine

cheers

hth

mf

[hnguyenxs]

Hi Everyone,

Got the same problem on 2 W2K SP4 machines. This is how I finally successfully convert both machines:

1/ Make sure that you physically log on the machine, not remote TS in.

2/ Uninstall the Converter, then reinstall it.

3/ Run chkdsk /f

4/ Reboot the machine.

5/ Login physically.

6/ Run Converter.

So far it works on both failed machines.

HN

[nofuss]

unfortunately this did not work for me.

[hamed_m80]

Here is a related thread for those having trouble with dynamic disks;

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=584189򎧽[/u]

VMWare has confirmed the problem a bug (bug ID 148447)

[Pilbeam]

Hi,

I was imaging a Dell PowerEdge server and found the same issue here.

The resolution was [/b]not[b][/b] to include the recovery partion when selecting the disks to image.

S

[aleph0]

Hi all,

I'm facing a problem with convert physical HP BL35p with NO SCSI disc on board.

I'm able to convert these servers with VMware Converter 3.0 but when I try to power on virtual machine it do not want to.

so I've solved in this way:

\- add a new virtual disc on the machine

\- boot the machine from a live CD OS (bartPe)

\- recreate the partition as primary on the newly added virtual disc

\- clone the exixting logical partitions to the newly created primary.

\- with diskpart set as active the right partition end then do a fixmbr on that disk

\- reboot and disconnect live CD.

Now all works fine

cheers

mf

[PhilLein]

I'll add one more twist to this. I am getting the same; Unknown Error in VMWare Converter Agent problem when I try to convert to any of my new blades. HOWEVER, I have an HP 760 that I CAN do the conversion to of the same machine with no problems.

Go figure....

[PhilLein]

OK, I found the log file for the convert in %windir%\temp\ . The problem was DNS. The blade I was trying to push to was not registered in DNS but the other server was. So I solved MY problem... Hopefully this will help others.

[FritzFreund]

Ok, I am having kind of the same issue. But, I think it is not a specific error. This error seems to be a catch all. I did find this error in the system logs of the server I am trying to hot convert.

The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service depends on the DHCP Client service which failed to start because of the following error:

The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

I have not yet tryed to enable DHCP because it is a live server. When I can get on the system at night I will give it a try and let you all know.

[fentos1]

My 2 cents worth!

I had this problem last night - 97% failed - Error 2 reading 65536 bytes starting from 20565532672 from the source volume.

I didn't feel it was a disk error as the machine been imported is a VM - checked the event log and noticed event id 24 - There was insufficient disk space on volume C: to persist the shadow copy of volume C:. Diff area file growth failed.

So free space will do this also.

Disk was 20gb - 1.83 free - but I was also trying to extend volume to 25gb in conversion - I've kicked it off again with maintaining disk size to see if it was the growth of disk that upset the shadow copy.

[fentos1]

running converter again without resizing the disk worked for me.

[Laura_Genetti]

I had the same problem as fentos1 (error 2 ......) and solved by freeing up some space in the drive. Thanks fentos1!

[cranky]

OK, I had "Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent" come up as Converter attempted to take a Snapshot of the first volume. Only error in the log was "vim.fault.NotFound". Firewall was already opened, file permissions liberalized, and antivirus disabled. I went into Services and turned on Volume Shadow Copy, Remote Registry, Distributed Link Tracking, and others I had turned off for performance reasons. Now my conversion is going smoothly. Hope this helps someone.