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kjs00333
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

VMware converter - black screen on 2003ent startup

Hello,

I just did a P2V conversion on a physical Windows 2k3 R2 box and everything seemed to go fine with no errors and no warning messages. I reconfigured the VM and powered it on, but once powered on, it gives nothing but a black screen. I do not even see the VMware screen when its first powered on.

It just hangs there at a black screen with a little white dash line at the top, almost like it's frozen. All other VMs on this host are fine.

Has this ever happened to anyone, and does anyone know the fix for this?

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POCEH
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Try to start the VM in safe mode and share the result.

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kjs00333
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hello, thanks for your reply.

If you're referring to Windows Safe mode, that is not an option.  The moment I power on the VM, it is instant black screen with a little white dash at the top. It goes no further.

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POCEH
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

The VM should pass through BIOS screen in the begining... There must be option 'Boot in BIOS' and then you'll be able to exit from BIOS screen and run in safe mode.

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kjs00333
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, I can boot into the  bios, but once I exit the bios, it restarts and goes back to black screen immediately.

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POCEH
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

No responce to F8?

Could you upload log bundle to see how the conversion passed?

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kjs00333
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

No, there is no option to do F8. It's just a black screen.  I am doing the conversion one more time to make sure nothing glitched out and I will report back with the logs.

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POCEH
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

There is no message to hit F8, you should press it before Windows start.

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patanassov
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hello

Black screen may happen when the is no system volume (in Windows terms), i.e. the one that contains the boot loader. I suppose you haven't deselected volumes when starting the conversion?

Another possible reason is if the VM messes up the active partitions and tries to boot from the wrong one. Can you check whether your source machine has more than one active partition?

Anyway, waiting for the logs... Just a reminder - if you have converted "this local machine" the worker log is the interesting one, otherwise - it is the agent log.

Regards

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kjs00333
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I ended up doing the conversion again, but this time left the option checked to Reconfigure. It worked with no issues.

Thanks all !

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