Windows XP P2V fails conversion and then BSOD with 0x7B

[jonsnyderman]

I am converting a Dell Windows XP PC.  It is 32 bit.  It has the Dell maintenance partition and then the 150GB system drive.

When I convert it, I get FAILED: Unable to find the system volume, reconfiguration is not possible.   I think thats because of the extra Dell partition.  I have tried modifying the boot.ini on the source to accomodate the excluded partition and I have also done the conversion NOT excluding the partition.

If I try to start it manually, I get the BSOD and a 0x7B stop code.   I have tried preinstalling the buslogic driver on the source.  I am remembering to change the disk controller type before the conversion to buslogic.   I am confirming that the settings in the VM and the settings in the VMDK reflect these changes.  But I still get the BSOD.

Here is the VMDK as it stands now:

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
encoding="UTF-8"
CID=3d8bdcad
parentCID=ffffffff
isNativeSnapshot="no"
createType="vmfs"

# Extent description
RW 312464250 VMFS "SternF9-flat.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "4"
ddb.longContentID = "554798ccb467cecb168244a13d8bdcad"
ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 98 9b c0 76 49-d2 df 93 98 d4 21 0c d4"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "19450"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.thinProvisioned = "1"
ddb.adapterType = "buslogic"
ddb.geometry.biosCylinders = "19450"

ddb.geometry.biosSectors = "63"
ddb.geometry.biosHeads = "255"

I am hoping someone can assist asap as I have spent many too many hours on this so far.

Thank you

Jon Snyderman

[sparrowangelste]

try changing the controller to vmscsi or somehting else if that doesnt work..

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

after verifying the VM shows the Buslogic controller in the settings, run the Converter again for the VM, selecting the "Configure Machine" option rather than the Convert option, to see whether this fixes the configuration.

Andre

[jonsnyderman]

@ap, I am still getting: FAILED: Unable to find the system volume, reconfiguration is not possible.   What exactly was running the configure Machine supposed to do?  I didnt change anything, just next, next, next...     I got an error that the sysprep files were not found, but that shouldnt matter, right?

The settings show: SCSI controller 0: BusLogic Parallel

@sparrowangels, i tried preloading those drivers on the source, but otherwise, I am not sure where you are referring to.

Thank you.

[a_p_]

"Configure Machine" can be used to inject the missing drivers into the guest OS. To do this you may uncheck all options except for the reconfigure option (see e.g. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2002106) since you don't want to do a sysprep in this case.

To find out what may be causing the issue, please post the machines original "boot.ini" to check whether it contains "wrong" entries which need to be fixed.

André

[jonsnyderman]

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional new" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

I added the last line to try to deal with the Dell partition that I had excluded.  

Thanks Andre

[continuum]

do NOT use 2 options in boot.ini

for "configure machine" to work you only want one - the correct option

[a_p_]

When you remove the second entry, make sure you also fix the "default" value.

Maybe it's also sufficient to modify the boot.ini like this:

[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 new" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

André

[jonsnyderman]

So I followed both suggestions.    I ran one with the reorganized boot.ini and another with only a single entry in the boot.ini.   They both failed with the same error.  Then I ran the configure machine on both and that also failed.  

I really appreciate all your help with this.

[a_p_]

The Converter allows to create a support bundle. Please create this bundle and post (attach) it to your reply post.

André

[continuum]

do you have a BartPE LiveCD ?

[jonsnyderman]

@Andre: I have attached 4 support files.   Two are from the last two converstions with the different boot.ini's.  The other two are the respective configure steps.

@Continuum: I dont, but it is easily downloadable, isnt it?  What would the process be?

Thanks to both!

[Rosen Tomov]

I don't see boot.ini processing in logs, just BCD processing, there is some fake BCD on your disk.

Try to convert just OS volume. HTH

[continuum]

> @Continuum: I dont, but it is easily downloadable, isnt it?

Hmm - thats a matter of taste - you have to build it yourself.
See http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-14671

Once you got that working - use DriverInjectionGUI to fix the 7B bluescreen

[jonsnyderman]

@POCEH: It is a Dell with the Dell Maintenance partition.  The BCD doesnt really surprise me.   The dell partition is the first one and the system partition is the second one.    Thats why I was only taking the system partition and then changing the BOOT.INI on that partition from 2 to 1.   Converter DOES show the second partition as the system and active partition.

@Continuum:  That sounds like it may be a last ditch effort and maybe even more work than rebuilding the box.    Is this simpler than it sounds?

Thanks!

[continuum]

> That sounds like it may be a last ditch effort and maybe even more work  than rebuilding the box.    Is this simpler than it sounds?

Hmmm - if you follow the video and make sure you have the required files all in one directory you should be able to create one with a few clicks and maybe 15 minutes waiting.

[jonsnyderman]

OK and then, assuming no issues with building this, what would be the next step? Thank you!

[Rosen Tomov]

The Converter logic is: if there is BCD then process it, otherwise try to process boot.ini, and it works in most of the cases... not in your unfortunatly.

So if you try to convert not the disks but the volumes, excluding dell's one, IMO the conversion could succeed.

[jonsnyderman]

Thanks but that IS what I am doing isn’t it? I select only the second partition and the converter is using the volume based cloning option.

[continuum]

look inside that partition - do you have a file named bootmgr AND a file named ntldr ?
This files maybe hidden

[jonsnyderman]

The format says “39 MB FAT” and the status is “Healthy (EISA Configuration)”. The OS won’t let me read in to it. Is there a tool I can download and use?

[continuum]

not in that partition - in the XP partition

[jonsnyderman]

Question....

If I dont care about that partition and the second one is the active partition, cant I change the boot.ini to reflect the 1 instead of 2 and then simply delete that partition?   Would that clean this whole thing up without too much risk to the physical machine?

Thanks

[jonsnyderman]

I do have a bootmgr but I do NOT have the ntldr file.  NTDetect.com is also there.

[continuum]

you would not even get a BSOD 7b without ntldr - some pieces of the puzzle are missing here.

Get a LiveCD so that you can inspect the already existing VM

[jonsnyderman]

You are correct.  Sorry.  Explorer wasnt showing me ntldr even with the hidden files set to show.  But I used the old ATTRIB command and bootmgr and ntldr both exist.

C:\>attrib
A          C:\.rnd
A          C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
A  SHR     C:\boot.ini
A  SH      C:\boot.ini.vmw
A  SHR     C:\bootmgr
A          C:\CONFIG.SYS
A   HR     C:\dell.sdr
A  SH      C:\hiberfil.sys
A   H      C:\IO.SYS
A   H      C:\MSDOS.SYS
A  SHR     C:\NTDETECT.COM
A  SHR     C:\ntldr
A  SH      C:\pagefile.sys
A          C:\RemoteInstall.log
A          C:\tmuninst.ini

The boot.ini.vmw is just the copy I was messing with.  The boot.ini is the original.  I was renaming them before trying the conversions.

[jonsnyderman]

I hope I havent worn out my welcome.   I appreciate everyones suggestions here. 

I am not sure what my next step should be.  I can use LiveCD but it's $80.  I am not necessarily opposed to that but I would like to know what I will do with it once I have it downloaded to the host and am booting the VM to it.

I posted my C: contents as I thought that might uncover something.  I also thought about deleting the 1st partition from the existing machine and modifying the boot.ini to reflect that change.   I dont think that will to any damage to the physical machine, but...  And maybe I can accomplish the same thing with LiveCD, or maybe MOA? 

I really dont want to rebuild this machine if I can avoid it with reasonable effort.

Thanks again!

[continuum]

LiveCD for 80 bucks ???

All good LiveCDs I know are free ;-)

I dont know a Converter-version that can successfully patch NT 5.* which uses a NT6 loader as you have in this case.

Try to build the MOA CD and call me on skype if you run into problems.
We can get this done with DriverInjectionGUI

[jonsnyderman]

LiveCD.com ???  :smileyhappy:  All I found.   I will build the MOA.  That looks pretty simple.   Then I am booting the broken VM to it, right?

[continuum]

I just tested the build process again - it took about 15 minutes including downloads from MS.
When done connect the vmscsi.flp and the MOA-iso to your VM and boot from CD.

Then start DriverInjectionGUI and install the vmscsi driver from floppy

[jonsnyderman]

I am almost there.  went through the process without issue.  Process was not difficult.   Now I have a black blank screen on boot up.  No errors, just blank. 

Then I rebooted again

Now I have a white on black Windows Boot Manager error.    File is ntldr and status is 0xc0000225.

[continuum]

ok - now boot from the attached floppy image.

if you rename it to whatever.flp it is easier to attach it

[jonsnyderman]

OK, I got a signon and can sign on to the PC (except for a Windows Activation problem).   But rebooting brings same results.    Was that supposed to fix it or was there another step?    

I did send you a skype invite also.  Thank you!

[continuum]

booting from floppy would serve as a permanent workaround - it is almost as fast as regular boots - just set the time out to a lower value in the floppy

[jonsnyderman]

Following is the rest of the conversation via Skype.   We felt it may be helpfull to others.    Ulli was an amazing resource and went above in beyond in assisting.  Please consider him for any recovery contract work you may have.  O am confident that you will not be disappointed.

Jon Snyderman: Ouch on the permanent workaround!
Ulli Hankeln: zou still can use fixmbr or things like that to get rid of of the bootmgr
Ulli Hankeln: zour VM does not boot from disk correctly as it still use the bootmgr - if you reset the partitionbootsector it will boot from ntldr again
Ulli Hankeln: z = y :smileywink:
Jon Snyderman: You think that a simple fixmbr will work?
Ulli Hankeln: I would install Grub4Dos and use tat - but there are several ways to do that
read the manual to fixmbr - I have not used it in a while
whats wrong with the floppy ?
Jon Snyderman: Just doesnt always seem to work and if it's anyone but me, it will look not right.
Jon Snyderman: I have the startup set to start on floppy, then CD, then HD.  But sometimes, I need to mount the floppy and then ctl-alt-del.
Jon Snyderman: Now that it's booting, can you explain what the core issue at this point?
Ulli Hankeln: google a bit - your task is:
reset partitionbootsector that loads bootmgr to load ntldr again
Ulli Hankeln: thats why converter does not know what to do
Ulli Hankeln: your system boots like Vista but is a XP
Jon Snyderman: So bootmgr is not finding ntldr?
Ulli Hankeln: No
Ulli Hankeln: MBR loads partitinbootsector - that loads bootmgr - that looks up BCD - and BCD no longer exists or does not fit anymore
Ulli Hankeln: so bootmgr fails and complains
Ulli Hankeln: you need:
MBR - partitionbootsector - ntldr - boot.ini - ntdetect.com Windows
Jon Snyderman: Im sorry.  BCD was the only part of that I didnt understand.  Feeling a little green right now.
Jon Snyderman: i have all those components but the pointers are messed up?
Ulli Hankeln: BCD is the modern equivalent to boot.ini
just way more tricky to handle
Jon Snyderman: OK, that makes more sense!
Ulli Hankeln: your C: uses a bootsector that searches bootmgr
you need a bootsector for C: that searches and boots ntldr
Ulli Hankeln: the dloppy has its own ntldr and boot.ini - so all the mess is bypassed
Jon Snyderman: I am going to do some googling to see if fixmbr will redirect it properly.  I am guessing not based on your explanation.   Thank you so much.  You have really gone way above and beyond!

Thanks again Ulli!