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1 2 Previous Next 23 Replies Last post: Aug 18, 2009 12:52 PM by Flavio Senos  

Failed to take snapshot of a source volume. posted: Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM

Click to view IT_Info's profile Enthusiast 58 posts since
Jul 18, 2007

I've used the converter to convert over 20 servers with no problem and now all of a sudden, on one machine, I am getting this error at 2%:

ERROR: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.
Possible causes include not having any NTFS volumes on Windows XP or Windows 2003 source systems,
and not having enough free disk space.

Anyone know what this is about? There is plenty of disk space available at the target.

Re: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.

1. Apr 1, 2008 12:04 PM in response to: IT_Info
Click to view kucharski's profile Master 982 posts since
Sep 13, 2004

Have you verified all the volumes on the physical server are all NTFS volumes and not FAT? Also, double check all volumes (Ex. C, D or E drives) on the physical server for free space. Also, are use performing a cold or Hot migration and what version are you currently using.

Thanks...

Michael

Re: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.

3. Apr 1, 2008 1:15 PM in response to: IT_Info
Click to view theanykey's profile Master 1,106 posts since
Jul 6, 2007
Please attach the vmware-converter-#.log which is located in the Source Physical Machine OS’s temp directory (C:\Windows\Temp\vmware-temp)

Re: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.

4. Apr 1, 2008 1:17 PM in response to: IT_Info
Click to view kucharski's profile Master 982 posts since
Sep 13, 2004

To determine a hot or cold migration with that with a cold migration you are booting off a pre-build iso image from vmware and booting the physical server from the server. With a hot migration an agent was installed to the physical server from the Converter station running the migration. If you are doing a hot migration with the server up and running I would perform a cold. Much better and it is preferred method.

Michael

Re: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.

7. Apr 1, 2008 2:22 PM in response to: IT_Info
Click to view kucharski's profile Master 982 posts since
Sep 13, 2004

http://www.vmware.com/download/eula.do After you click on the following link and login there should be a zip file, click on the zip and download it and extract it and burn the image to a install and then once completed, insert the cd in the physical server and walk through.

Michael

Re: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.

9. Apr 1, 2008 2:59 PM in response to: IT_Info
Click to view kucharski's profile Master 982 posts since
Sep 13, 2004

That is correct, it won't harm anything. Try this link. Sorry.

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

Then scroll down to VMware Converter 3.0.2 Update 1, and then click on the Download Now button and then login and accept the license agreement and you will see the zip link then.

Michael

Re: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.

11. Apr 1, 2008 5:18 PM in response to: IT_Info
Click to view theanykey's profile Master 1,106 posts since
Jul 6, 2007
I am very confused to why you were provided a link to a product you just posted logs for. Did I miss something?

What I need to see is not the vmware-client-#.log file but rather the log file for cloning named vmware-converter-#.log file. Should be located in your C:\windows\temp\vmware-temp\ directory from the machine you are trying to convert.

Re: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.

13. Apr 1, 2008 7:54 PM in response to: IT_Info
Click to view theanykey's profile Master 1,106 posts since
Jul 6, 2007
Creating snapshot using vss
Shapshot creation failed. driver=vss
Vsnap does not have admin rights
Snapshotting \\?\Volume{421f9a61-467b-11d8-984e-806d6172696f} using stcbasic.sys
stcbasic.sys not installed or snapshot creation failed. err=2

Converter will first try Volume Shadow Copy (vss). This is what is used for Windows 2003 and XP.
When that fails, converter assumes it is converting either Windows 2000 or NT4.
vss does not exist on 2000 or NT4 so we install and use stcbasic.sys which drives our "stcp2v30" service.
This requires a reboot.

I noted that you were using a domain administrator account. Can you uninstall, re-install with the local administrator, reboot, try again?

If it fails, make sure you got these services running:

  • net start vstor2-p2v30
  • net start ufad-p2v
  • net start stcp2v30

Is this a domain controller?

Re: Failed to take snapshot of a source volume.

14. Apr 2, 2008 7:49 AM in response to: IT_Info
Click to view kucharski's profile Master 982 posts since
Sep 13, 2004

So if you are using the VMware Converter product and you are unable to download the zip file, how did you download the actually software or did someone else download it for you instead?

Michael

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