Problem converting a physical machine to a virtual machine

[mysza78]

I've been trying to convert 2 Windows XP Pro boxes to make them virtual. I've ran into 2 different issues:

1. With the first machine, I get an error right away trying to connect from VMware Converter saying "Unable to connect to the remote VMware Converter Agent. The remote host is accessible using Microsoft Network Services. It may be down or firewalled."

I verified I can ping the host, I can remotely connect to it, firewall is turned off and I disable simple file sharing. Any other ideas?

2. With the second box, I can pass that step. Next, I am asked if I want to automatically uninstall some files upon successful import and I say YES. It starts installing the agent and a few moments later I get an error saying "Unknown error generated from client (catchall)". Am I doing something wrong?

Please advise. I am attaching last few entries from the log.

Thank you,

Aga

[fejf]

You can try the standalone converter (needs to be installed on the physical machine you want to convert - download here: http://www.vmware.com/download/converter/ ) or the cold clone cd (VMware Converter Enterprise, coldclone.iso). The standalone converter doesn't need to connect to the phsyical machine via network and so you can exclude basic network problems (but you still need to be able to connect from the physical machine to the Virtual Center/ESX Server).

--

There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary and the rest. And those who understand gray-code.

[mysza78]

Thanks, Fejf! I will try to do it locally and will post my results here later on.

[IamTHEvilONE · Accepted solution]

Agreed. Try the stand-alone conversion by installing Converter directly on the Windows XP systems to the ESX host. Just make sure to uninstall any converter products on the system first.

Also, make sure to check the duplex settings on the NICs. We'd prefer it to match the rest of the network (ESX, Switches, etc) ...

Finally, make sure you can do a correct host name lookup from the source computer to the remote ESX host via NSLOOKUP (IP or HostName) just to make sure that the system can resolve it properly.

[mysza78]

Ok, I am still pretty new to that stuff so please excuse my trivial question but how do I verify the duplex settings on the NIC's? I am not sure what you mean by that.

[IamTHEvilONE]

It's in the actual properties of the hardware nic card. like from device manager or from the properties of the connection, and then configure the NIC.

I have attached the picture.

Usually, a basic NIC can be auto ... but Auto sometimes mucks up Converter. 100/Full would work better in these cases.

[mysza78]

Thank you all for your help. I was able to migrate to convert my physical machine to a vm.

[IamTHEvilONE]

what did you need to do to get around this?

just personal curiosity.