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Speedbmp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Windows NT 4 convert

I have one NT 4 system that converts fine no errors or anything but what happens is it gets to the blue screen, on ESX, or vmware workstation it will just sit there forever. no error's or anything. i think it might have something to do with the video card of the old server. the old video card is a Trident (chip type 9680)

Stephen

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30 Replies
admin
Immortal
Immortal

Typically there is a .sys driver file listed on the blue screen. That could be a hardware-specific driver. You will need to mount the NT machine's boot disk to another virtual machine and go look inside the WINNT\system32 directories to remove that file.

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Speedbmp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Normally i would agree with you. i have booted to vga mode also and no go.

here is what it says

\-----

(big blue screen not the blue screen of death)

Microsoft (R) Windows NT (TM) Version 4.0 (Build 1381: Service Pack 6).

1 System Processor \[128 MB Memory]

\----


thats it.

now the system boots on the normal hardware just fine.

The CPU is using 100% of the CPU that it is given.

any ideas?

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Try running the Converter - configure again. Make sure you supplied the proper SP file when it requested it.

Which SP version is this? Was it by chance the Terminal Services edition?

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Speedbmp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

nope this is standard NT 4, no Terminal.

also it does not ask me for any files when i convert, i have done both hot and cold converts.

Stephen

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

What SP is it? Is the original machine running a uniprocessor or multiprocessor? It would ask for an SP file if the machine were multiprocessor.

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Speedbmp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

SP6a single processor.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

OK, yes then Converter will not ask for anything. Could it be an EISA or hidden partition?

Have you tried booting up in safe mode?

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Speedbmp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Nope it's a Pentium 1, no EISA, no Hidden Partition. and if you mean boot in to VGA mode yes i get to the same spot.

Stephen

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tom_e_reynolds
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

What is the hard drive size, boot partition, system partition, and type in the old NT 4 box?

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tom_e_reynolds
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Also, since you have the old NT4 box, maybe you could create an ERD, and try to load from that?

Maybe you would need to load a clean build of NT 4 into a VM first, then create the ERD, then use that ERD disk on the copied machine in the VM.

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tom_e_reynolds
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Enthusiast

Sorry for the multi-posts. Its been years since I had to troubleshoot NT4.

Maybe you could try to boot from the NT 4 cd into the copied VM, and try to do a installation repair?

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

Just FYI, everything you are doing now, is the same thing I ran across, finally I gave up. I spent probably 2 full days on this machine because I am tired of supporting this single NT 4 box, but alas, I have no choice, because it just would not convert.

I spent hours just trying to get it to plain vanilla, but my problem was that it wouldn't even copy. I ran into so many issues, I just finally resolved that I would be in NT4 hell.... we have 1 box, supporting 1 client, and luckily it's only twice a year, but its a HUGE Netfinity machine that I want to desperately get rid of (because we don't have space to put it). I really wanted to make it a VM.

But feel free to keep trying, but I am just giving you a heads up.. this may NEVER work. Not to say I am the brightest bulb on the tree, but I must have consulted 15 different people on this issue and I just had to give it up, it was wasting our time. Some things just aren't meant for VM Smiley Happy

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tom_e_reynolds
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I think maybe you could run NT Backup with the system state option on the old NT4 box. (I think you'll need to backup to tape, as a file option didn't exist yet)

Then load a new copy of NT4 in a VM, and then restore with the NTBackup tape. That really should work , as its the MS way of moving a server to new hardware.

If you are really crafty, here is a link (untested) that may give you the ability to create a virtual tape drive that would write to a file. As I said, its untested by me.

http://www.free-pc.hu/unic/system/description/cdrtape.zip.html

This one will install as a tape driver but just maps all tape activity to

another device by its drive letter.

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Speedbmp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ok here is what i did. and well i got something to show for it also Smiley Happy

i installed a clean nt4, patched it to sp6a, and IE6, and downloaded patches.

i used backup exec to do a full backup of the server and backed it up to disk. and then i did a restore to the clean NT4 server and restored the registry. and i got a blue screen of death Smiley Happy

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Just for kicks, what happens if you copy the ntoskernel.exe and hal.dll from a working matching Windows NT4SP6 VM to this VM?

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Speedbmp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ok i tried that i copied from a VM NT-4 box and this is the error i got. it looks like the same error

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

What was the size of the NT4 C drive and did you resize that?

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Speedbmp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

i have resized it and also not resized it. the original drive is 4 gig drive the "C" is a FAT it is 1.2 gig, and the "D" drive is 3.3 NTFS.

Stephen

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tom_e_reynolds
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I remember this error many years ago when trying to build sysprep images for Compaq Deskpro computers. The problem was that some of my Deskpros had slightly different disk controllers, and so it was impossible to sysprep and copy the images to different PCs with different controllers.

There was a MS article somewhere on how to edit the sysprep file and add the "other controller" files into the base image, so that when sysprep loaded, it could use the right controller system files.

The same logic could help us here. Try to find out exactly what controller file you are using on the old NT box, and compare that to what options you have in the new VM NT Box.

The only two options that come to mind is the IDE vs. Scsi option in VMWare. There must be more optins somewhere.

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