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SteveWag
Contributor
Contributor
‎11-05-2015 08:04 AM

/3gb boot.ini option?

I'm trying to P2V an old 2003 SP2 server with 4gb of ram. We have no other option than to P2V for various reasons...

The server is SQL and has the /3gb option set in the boot.ini, it physically has 4gb of ram.

I'm hitting this bug VMware KB: VMware vCenter Converter fails at 98% with the error: unable to create which ok I can take the option out but can I put it back after the P2V?

It links to another article VMware KB: Running Microsoft Windows 2003 32-bit guest operating systems with the /3GB switch in boo... but is for ESX 4 and we're on 5.5.

Can I just add the option back and no more need for the fix or is there another way to give the memory back after the P2V, apparently it already struggles with the amount of ram available.

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership
‎11-05-2015 09:01 AM

I never used the /3gb switch, but only /pae for Windows 2003 (32-bit Enterprise edition with up to 16GB memory assigned), and never had any issues with this. As you can see in the article you mentioned, the issue has already been resolved in a patch for version 4.1.

I'd say go for it. Btw. The lastest Converter versions offer an option to align the file system/partitions from 31.5kB (63 blocks) to 1MB (the default for newer operating systems).

André

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