Server 2003 P2V Problem

[52tele]

I have multiple Windows 2003 Standard servers that I have virtualized. The problem I am having, is when I go to connect the NIC in ESXi 5, the systems freeze up. If I set the nic to start at boot, it freezes at the Windows splash screen.

The physical machines were originally HP DL380's, and I went and removed all of the HP management tools from the server, and checked to make sure no HP services were still running. I also checked to see if there were any hidden devices in Device Manager, and didn't see any.

Has anyone come across this problem before, or any ideas of what may be causing this?

Thanks.

[POCEH]

You can try to remove all NICs from VM, then add NIC when Windows starts. HTH

[iw123]

Can you boot into safe mode with the NICs attached? 

[52tele]

I have removed the nics from windows, and reinstalled. Once it reboots, it lock up. I tried booting into safe mode, and it seems to work with the nic enabled at boot. Can't seem to figure out what is causing the lockup when in normal mode.

[patanassov]

I think what POCEH suggests it to remove the NICs from the VM before starting it, not from inside Windows. Have you tried that?

Regards,

Plamen

[52tele]

Sorry, yes, I have tried removing the nic from the VM settings, and when I do that it boots fine. Once I re-add the nic, it freezes again. If there are no nics available, everything works ok.

[continuum]

which type of nic do you add ?

make sure it is E1000

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

[52tele]

The only NIC options I show available are the VMXNET2, and flexible. I do not see the E1000. Do I need to add that manually to the config file?

[continuum]

unregister the VM
edit the vmx-file and reregister the VM

[52tele]

Ok, I will try that. Thanks for all of your help on this. Hopefully get somewhere with it today.

[52tele]

Ok, I added the line ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000" to the config file, and tried to add the e1000 drivers. It tells me that there is no compatible device attached. It shows the nic as VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter in Device Manager. I downloaded the e1000 drivers from Intel, because I didn't see the drivers in the VMware Tools CD when I went to install VMware Tools. Should they be there?

Thanks.

[arminmacx]

Download Redmdev from http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-15187 and remove any attached NIC from your VM and boot the VM after boot attached the ISO you downloaded and run the scripts as it says from where you downloaded the ISO.

Important part is when this tool remove the hidden drive that even not showed in device manger you should go to the Plug & Play iin your device manager and remove any HP driver in it.

i had a problem like this but little difference, My server boot up but it take 45 min to boot and after that when user try to connect to server it takes while when they can logged in and my services ar toooooo slow.

i remove all hidden drive with this tool and remove 2 HP driver from Plug & Play to solve it.

best Regards

--Armin--

[52tele]

So I got it to show the e1000 nic under the VM panel, and when windows boots and installs the Intel driver, it immediately freezes when it installs the drivers. If I shut down the VM, it freezes at the windows splash screen until I uncheck connect at boot for the nic.

Will try the script tomorrow, and see if that helps. I thought I removed all of the grey items under Device Manager, but maybe there was something I missed.

Again, I appreciate all of the help you guys are offering.

[arminmacx]

you dont need to download any driver, VMtools do it all for you if you install external driver it maybe became issue like you said but try what i tell you to do i think you it will be fix it.

let me know what happend after you test it.

Best Regards

--Armin--