VMware P2V synchronization error. It thinks the volumes are file level.

[ahuang215]

Good Morning,

     I am trying to virtualize a server with the sync option (Vmware Converter) to finalize the changes at a later date. All the volumes show as block level, but when I try to start the job I get "Synchronization cannot be enabled if one or more volumes require file-level cloning".

I have gone as far as moving the disks to a single volume (within Vmware Converter), but I get the same error.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[patanassov]

Hello

It is likely some volume (e.g. the boot one) is nearly full. Converter automatically ensures at least some percentage on each volume is free (10% by default) and if not, increases the volume size. To override that, find 'minVolumeSizeExtraPercentage' tag in converter-worker.xml, set the value to '0', and restart vmware-converter-worker service. Then try again.

HTH,

Plamen

[ahuang215]

Hello Plamen,

    Thank you for the reply, unfortunately it did not work. I keep getting "Synchronization cannot be enabled if one or more volumes require file-level cloning. Disable synchronization or refrain from resizing the destination volumes. As an exception, synchronization is allowed when NTFS volumes are extended to a larger size in the destination."

A bit more background....

When I initially start the converter on the physical machine, 2 of the drives show up as "file-level" cloning. So I change the cluster size to "Keep source cluster size" (4KB) and move the drive to a different virtual disk. It then shows up as "Block Level".

I set the Sync options, but over and over again get the above error.

I would really like this to work or we need to incur 4-5 days of downtime on an important server.

[patanassov]

Hello ahuang,

Changing the cluster size is something quite rare and I didn't think about that.

A little reminder from the user guide:

Synchronization is available only for Windows source operating systems and managed destinations.

If you resize FAT volumes or shrink NTFS volumes, or change the cluster size on the destination volume,

you cannot use the synchronization option.

You cannot add or remove volumes on the source machine between two cloning tasks of a synchronizable

job because it might cause conversion to fail.

You are correct that block-level cloning is required for synchronizable jobs. Check again whether your conversions follow the above prerequisites.

If it still doesn't work, try excluding suspicious volumes (but don't exclude the system and active ones).

HTH,

Plamen

[glab75]

Were you ever able to figure this out.  I am still stuck on this issue and is driving me nuts. 

I'm using VSC v6.4.0 to perform a V2V of a HyperV VM runnning server 2019 datacenter. The source VM has a C:\ NTFS. The live conversion job fails to start with the following messasge 'Synchronization cannot be enabled if one or more volumes require file-level cloning'. I have read the v6.4.0 release notes which mentions a workaround for this (see below), but I can't find the workaround options in the VSC GUI. Please help

v6.4.0 release notes:
https://docs.vmware.com/en/vCenter-Converter-Standalone/6.4/rn/vmware-vcenter-converter-standalone-6...

Windows Sources

New - When starting a Windows P2V conversion with synchronization, an error message might be displayed

On the Options page of the vCenter Conversion wizard, if Data to copy in selected in the options list, some volumes might be displayed by default as Min size. When starting a volume-based conversion of a Windows source machine, vCenter Converter treats these volumes as resized and triggers file-level cloning. As a result the conversion operation might fail with the following error message: Synchronization cannot be enabled if one or more volumes require file-level cloning.

Workaround: Perform the following tasks.

In the vCenter Conversion wizard, on the Options page, click Data to copy.

Ensure that all volumes have Destination size set to Maintain size. (I don't see this option anywhere!!!)

[RoyalTranslator]

I know this is a bit late, but I had this same issue with vCenter Converter Standalone 6.4. I had to manually select the "Maintain Size" option in the data to copy section.

By default it looked like all the disks were set to maintain size, but I had changed them to thin provisioned which must have messed something up that the GUI didn't render. After clicking the dropdown in the Destination size column and selecting "Maintain size" this conversion job worked with the synchronize option checked.