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lee3521
Contributor
Contributor

Failure to create VM from Server 2003 R2

I am trying desperately to convert an old Server 2003 R2 32-bit system to a VM.  The OS is currently installed on an old Dell PowerEdge server (bare metal install not currently a VM) which is aged out and starting to cause problems.  The server had two drives configured with RAID-1.  I have tried the conversion numerous times using VMware vCenter Converter 6.2, but all attempts fail with the error message: FAILED: Unable to find the system volume, reconfiguration is not possible.  Can anyone tell me how to diagnose this?  I have attached the log files as well.

I have read many of this posts on this subject, however, I am fairly new to VMs.

Thanks

Lee Coleman

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Lalegre
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

What i do in these cases of having raid configurated, i break the RAID and then do the conversion.

Also as you can see on the User Guide, raid configuration are not supported

pastedImage_0.png

https://docs.vmware.com/en/vCenter-Converter-Standalone/6.2/convsa_62_guide.pdf

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POCEH
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Due-to RAID configuration on your machine - volumes are not recognized and can't be converted, see log:

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4b-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\  corresponds to \Device\Harddisk0\DP(1)0x7e00-0x2730c00+1 device name.

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [GetDriveLetterOrMountPoint] Mount point for volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4b-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\ is H:

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] Unable to get the list of partitions for volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4b-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 warning vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] PopulateVolumeProperties indicated that volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4b-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\ does not have a recognized file system. Skipping volume ...

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4c-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\  corresponds to \Device\Harddisk0\DP(2)0x2738a00-0x1acc46d200+2 device name.

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [GetDriveLetterOrMountPoint] Mount point for volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4c-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\ is C:

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] Unable to get the list of partitions for volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4c-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 warning vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] PopulateVolumeProperties indicated that volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4c-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\ does not have a recognized file system. Skipping volume ...

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4d-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\  corresponds to \Device\Harddisk0\DP(3)0x1aceba5c00-0x738c9f600+3 device name.

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [GetDriveLetterOrMountPoint] Mount point for volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4d-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\ is 😧

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] Unable to get the list of partitions for volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4d-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 warning vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] PopulateVolumeProperties indicated that volume \\?\Volume{f9050b4d-06e4-11e4-80bc-806e6f6e6963}\ does not have a recognized file system. Skipping volume ...

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] volume \\?\Volume{0842d847-160c-11dd-9fed-a003a9c7d21a}\  corresponds to \Device\CdRom0 device name.

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Filtered the device with name \\?\Volume{0842d847-160c-11dd-9fed-a003a9c7d21a}\

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] volume \\?\Volume{8b3233ce-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\  corresponds to \Device\CdRom1 device name.

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Filtered the device with name \\?\Volume{8b3233ce-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\

2018-08-13T15:27:59.185-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] volume \\?\Volume{8b3233d0-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\  corresponds to \Device\Harddisk1\DP(1)0-0+6 device name.

2018-08-13T15:27:59.200-04:00 error vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [GetVolumeProperties] Windisk_GetVolumeCapacity failed for \\?\Volume{8b3233d0-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\ with error code 21

2018-08-13T15:27:59.200-04:00 warning vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] PopulateVolumeProperties failed for \\?\Volume{8b3233d0-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\ with: Requested information is not available. Skipping volume ...

2018-08-13T15:27:59.200-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] volume \\?\Volume{8b3233d2-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\  corresponds to \Device\Harddisk2\DP(1)0-0+7 device name.

2018-08-13T15:27:59.216-04:00 info vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [GetDriveLetterOrMountPoint] Mount point for volume \\?\Volume{8b3233d2-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\ is G:

2018-08-13T15:27:59.232-04:00 error vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Unable to determine free space on volume "\\?\Volume{8b3233d2-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\"

2018-08-13T15:27:59.279-04:00 warning vmware-converter-agent[11952] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] [PopulateVolumeProperties] PopulateVolumeProperties indicated that volume \\?\Volume{8b3233d2-1a78-11df-91fb-001ec942b802}\ does not have a recognized file system. Skipping volume ...

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

> The OS is currently installed on an old Dell PowerEdge server  which is aged out and starting to cause problems.
Dont try further attempts with Converter 6.2
Instead try to boot the machine into an older Linux LiveCD and concentrate on the essential next step: create a full diskimage before the system dies.
To create a full disk image you can use dd with a command similar to this one:
dd if=/dev/sda of=/some-remote-path/dell-image-flat.vmdk bs=1M conv=notrunc
or better use ddrescue with a command like
ddrescue /dev/sda /some-remote-path/dell-image-flat.vmdk /some-remote-path/dell-image-flat-copy.log
If this approach is able to detect your Raid1 correctly all other problems can be solved later.


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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lee3521
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks to everyone for your help with this!  I will definitely image this machine in the next couple of days.  At that point, I will do away with the RAID configuration and restore the backup image to a single drive.  I will then attempt to run the converter on that single drive.

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