Can't convert Server 2008 R2 Machine getting error: The VSS snapshots cannot be stored because there is not enough space on the source volumes or because the source machine does not have any NTFS volumes. Error code: 2147754783 (0x8004231F).

[KarlVagm]

I have a couple of Server 08 R2 machines where the P to V conversion fails.  I did some digging and the problem appears to be related to the 100mb System Reserved Partition that has 0% free space available.  Conversion fails with the below error.

The VSS snapshots cannot be stored because there is not enough space on the source volumes or because the source machine does not have any NTFS volumes. Error code:
2147754783 (0x8004231F).

Has anyone had this issue and came up with a solution or work around?

Thanks in advance

[POCEH]

Deselect this partition in "Data to copy" and do the convertion.

HTH

[KarlVagm]

No good.  That partition holds boot and OS information so the system won't boot without it.

[POCEH]

Please upload log bundle to check the situation.

[KarlVagm · Accepted solution]

Got it figured out.  My Appassure snapshots were also failing with a similar error so this is what I did to resolve it.  My servers now converted with no issues.

1. Open Disk Manager.
2. Look at the SRP partition, and see if it is 100% full.
   • If so, proceed to Step 3.
   • If not, check if there are any drives that do not have more than 300MB free (minimum requirement to use VSS).
3. Right-click a drive, select Properties, and then select the Shadow Copy tab.
4. Ensure all Shadow Copies are disabled, and set to no limit on all drives.
5. Go to the SRP partition, and assign it drive letter B:.
6. Open the B: drive via Disk Manager, and then search for the System Volume Information folder. Note: If needed, change the folder options so that you can view hidden files, folders, and drives.
7. Right-click the System Volume Information folder, and select Properties.
8. On the Security tab, click Edit, and then add the Everyone group with full control to the folder.
9. Open the System Volume Information folder (you should see log files that are full), open a command prompt running as an Administrator, and then type the following commands to unload the filter driver.
   • B:
   • B:\>FLTMC UNLOAD AAFSFLT
10. Navigate to the System Volume Information folder, and type the following commands:
    • B:\>CD System Volume Information
    • B:\System Volume Information>DEL AALOG_* (this will delete all the log files and then recreate a new one)
    • B:\System Volume Information>CD\
    • B:\>FLTMC LOAD AAFSFLT
11. Close the command prompt window.
12. In Windows, right-click the System Reserve folder, and remove the Everyone Group.
13. In the Disk Manager, remove the B: drive (and click Yes when the window prompts with a warning).

[pkdavidson]

Just to add in my two cents:  I recently had this issue on my Win7 laptop that had the 100MB SRP (system repair partition?)

I had recently added in a 500GB SDD and wanted to virtualize my laptop before re-installing the OS.

I kept getting the error msg in the OP even though I had 100s of GBs empty space on both my SDD and secondary spinning drive.

However, my SDD had the 100MB SRP with ~95% used space. (oddly enough, I can only account for 45MB of used space so not clear where the other 40MB are being consumed but that's beside the point.)

I tried to correct this issue by using the techniques posted here as the solution as well as a number of other suggestions from other posts.

Nothing was working for me.  My virtual converter continually failed at 1% and about 30-90 secs into the process.

Fortunately it wasn't out at the 95% mark like some folks report.

My solution was fairly simple.  I figured the issue was that the 100MB drive didn't have enough free space for the VC to do it's thing.

I have no idea why it needs space on each drive, why it can't just consume other disks' space or why it couldn't just use some of the 24GB of RAM.

My solution:

1. obtain a partition manager software that allows you to resize and move partition boundaries.  I wanted to increase the free space in the 100MB SRP

2. I used  the free software Macroit Disk Partition Expert v3.8.0 - www.macroit.com  (I have no, zero, nunca affiliation with this company and while it certainly appears to be a junk & virus free package, you use it at your own risk.)

3. I reduced my C: partition by 1GB at the back end

4. Moved the 1GB of free space to the front of the C partition

5. Resized my SRP to now be 1100MB in size. 

6. NOTE: I did steps 3-5 in one step.  You setup the partition changes you want and then Apply them.  Works like just about any other part manager I've ever used.

               This required a reboot or two.  The reboots were handled by the software.  Only took a few minutes but this is on an 850 EVO  Pro drive & an I7 CPU with 8 cores in an HP Zbook with 24GB of RAM)

               Since I was going to reformat and rebuild my OS (drive C) disk anyway, I didn't bother with backups, etc... 

               Most folks probably want a backup before ever messing with a partition.

7. VmWare cvCenter Converter Standalone now ran fine.  I used Ver: 5.5.3 build-218.  I ran with

   I ran it with the SRP, the C: partition and an HP Tools partition (G:) added into the virtual box.

   I used the stand alone converter installed to my laptop and was virtualizing the laptop.

   I gave the VM 2GB RAM and 2 cores and let VC chose minimum sizes for the virtualized hard drives.  I think I added about 10GB of extra space to the minimum size for C

It took about 3 hours to virtualize (I think, don't really  know since I let it run overnight) and at the end, the folder where the VM was written to is consuming ~133GB of disk space.

My original partition sizes: SRP = 1GB, C: = 80GB, G: = 2GB

Other solutions that look like they might work:

Combine the SRP and your C drive into one partition.  Google the process but you basically remove the SRP and then use an OS Repair DVD to get the boot partition put into the C partition (like prior windows versions always did)

Bottom line, in my case, I only need to increase the size of the SRP to have sufficient free space but not sure how much is "sufficient."

I'd have to think that 1GB is overkill for a 100MB SRP.  I'd think doubling the 100Mb to 200MB would be sufficient but I was ready to move on by this point.

Hope this helps someone else save a few hours of fumbling.

[Alan_Hancock]

To add a couple more cents, I had this problem too, on a Samsung EVO 850 as well.

I had cloned it with the Samsung software and I now suspect that was the cause of our common problem.

Expanding the partition by 100Mb (to 200Mb) was enouth to sort the issue.

My thanks to pkdavidson!