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Rick51
Contributor
Contributor
‎11-09-2023 05:58 PM

vcenter converter stand alone trying to make vm of a existing installation on D drive

Greetings  Not sure were to post this so if not correct please boot it to the correct help group. 

I am attempting to make a vm from a old Windows installation installed on D drive. This hard drive was in an old computer to which I installed in my new computer. The new pc sees only the drive and is not configured in the boot menu Of course, I have my main Windows on C drive. 

The program completes, but when trying to create and start the vm , it errors saying can't find boot files. I have selected the entirety of D drive and also tried just the partition with Windows. 

All I need is to be able to run the old version of Windows in a VM, There is nothing else of value on the drive other than the normal restore partitions etc. any help or suggestion greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

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plamen_d
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
‎11-10-2023 10:18 AM

Hello

This is a bit strange case. You may try conversion of your machine (e.g. install Converter in it and convert 'this local machine') but then select only :anguished_face: drive and deselect reconfiguration. After the cloning completes, run c 'Configure machine' on the cloned VM. And cross fingers :slightly_smiling_face:

HTH,

Plamen

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Rick51
Contributor
Contributor
‎11-10-2023 04:47 PM

Thanks for the response. To clarify, do you mean select the entire d drive or just the Windows partition? I have not used Configure machine by itself, is there anything I need to do there? In fact this is the first time with this program, so any suggestions are appreciated. 

I have made vm's from a DVD before with other programs, but never a working drive.

 

Thanks

Rick

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Rick51
Contributor
Contributor
‎11-10-2023 04:50 PM

Oh and one other thing I forgot to mention, I cant boot to the D drive on my new machine so I am working off of Windows 11 .  The d drive did work ok in the old machine

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plamen_d
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
‎11-11-2023 08:43 AM

I am not sure this will work, but it is worth trying.
Clone the whole disk. If you have some other program to make an image of the whole disk and then a VM from it, even better. If not - try with Converter - all volumes in :anguished_face: and deselect reconfiguration.
Configure machine is nothing special from a user's point of view; just select the VM you have created.

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