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benjamin000
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

VMware Converter KVM to VMware

Hello

I am doing some testing to convert some KVM machines ( Debian 9 ) and I receive the following error when the final stages are reached.

FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion: 'GrubInstaller::InstallGrub: /usr/lib/vmware-converter/installGrub.sh failed with return code: 127, and message: FATAL: kernel too old Error running vmware-updateGrub.sh through chroot into /mnt/p2v-src-root Command:

chroot "/mnt/p2v-src-root" /vmware-updateGrub.sh

It is surprising that the error related to 'kernel too old' as it is a latest kernel on Debian 9.

I am running the latest VMware Convert 6.2.0 on Windows.

Destination machine - vSphere 6.7 U1

I note from research that older versions of VMware Converter uses GRUB1 and GRUB2 is needed however this seems only applicable to older version of VMware Converter.

The source machine is NOT using LVM and has one partition located in /

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards Ben McGuire
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benjamin000
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I managed to find this which may be the solution.

VMware P2V Conversion: GrubInstaller Error During Conversion of Debian Linux Host | Mantraaz

Ill test out and report back.

Regards Ben McGuire
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patanassov
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hello

Debian 9 is not supported by Converter, so it is expected to fail.

A few notes on the article mentioned:

- it describes a way to do manual reconfig, which is basically correct.

- it omits to mention that you should also call mkinitramfs after grub2-install. You should ensure that the new inirtd image supports disk and network controllers suitable for VMware virtual hardware.

- it recommends altering fstab by replacing with the new volume UUID. This is also fine, though Converter uses block device mounts.

- it blames grub version. In that case Converter recognizes the correct grub version but fails to install grub due to the source machine having kernel 4.19 (Converter helper has a kernel that is too old for that).

In addition you may also use these posts as reference for manual reconfig:
Re: Conversion fails with the error:FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion:'root is not fou...

Re: converting Linux server OpenSUSE 13.2 with kernel 3.16.7-29-desktop error : installGrub.sh fai...

HTH,

Plamen

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benjamin000
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hello

Thank you for the advice and guides. Still working through it and now you have provided more details which were excluded in the guide it may finally work. Ill let you know once I try your tips.

Regards Ben McGuire
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Wolken
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

If you have to convert Windows VMs, you can use P2V option available in StarWind converter: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/blog/starwind-v2v-converter-now-with-physical-to-virtual-p2v-conver...

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POCEH
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Wolken​, your message looks like advertising! moreover this case is not for Windows but for Linux.

Please stop spamming threads.;

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