VMware Cloud Community
ejpb
Contributor
Contributor

windows 2008 restored vm, always start errors

Hello.

I am taking ESXi 5 backups with GhettoVCB and it works ok for Linux and Win 2003 but I'm having issues with Win 2008. This may be more of a Windows question but I figure many of you here also takes backups of Win 2008 Servers and it probably works ok for you...
For these the backup and restore scripts works ok but when I'm starting it I always get to Windows restore screen and can try to run StartRep.exe, BCDedit.exe, Bootrec /RebuildBcd etc. I have googled and tried many ways to get it to start properly but it always fails.

I have tried more than one Win 2008 VM and they all fail to start after a restore like this. Has anyone had something similar and know what the problem may be and what to try?

Reply
0 Kudos
2 Replies
emma234
Contributor
Contributor

Hi  ejpb  ,

Welcoem to communites.

From you post what is striking to my head is  something wrong with

either VGA or one of the device driver.

in vm bios could you please disable or in safe mode could you please excute one by one and then let us know after which file system getting restart.

"Life is never easy for those who dream"
Reply
0 Kudos
ejpb
Contributor
Contributor

Hello.

I maybe miswrote. It always goes into the System Recovery Options, where I get to choose keyboard input language and enter administrator password and then I am at the main screen, "Choose a recovery tool", where I can choose Command Prompt to try different operations. It sees the OS, "Windows Server 2008 R2 on (D:) Local Disk", but I can't get it to restart without coming back to this screen.

I tried Safe Mode but this also led there.

I tried Low Resolution video.

I tried the boot logging but I couldn't find the log (ntbtlog.txt wasnt in %windir%, c:, d:\windows)?

I tried "sfc /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=c:\ /OFFWINDIR=d:\Windows" which gave "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them." The weird part that I don't understand is that all windows 2008 on this ESXi5 get this error.

I tried now from another ESXi5 a windows 2008 and it worked! So it should be something in this particular ESXi5 instance, it seems. Could it be that the hardware compatibility messes something. The other runs on a HP but this is a Jetway HI05 motherboard with an Areca raid where I made a custom ESXi installation disc for the raid. ESXi5 runs fine on it and the restored sees the drive ok, so does the "I copied it" answer when starting it alter something that screws it up? I'm just guessing now.

Reply
0 Kudos