VMware Cloud Community
MensanT
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

MS Exchange Server Disks conversion from IDE to SCSI Blue Screens

Good Day,

We are currently running a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition virtual machine on VMWare vSphere 5.1.0, with the following disks:

1. C:/ Capacity 50 GB, Free Space 22.5 GB (OS)

2. E:/ Capacity 600 GB, Free Space 291 GB (Exchange Database)

3. F:/ Capacity 360 GB, Free Space 146 GB (Log files)

All these disks are IDE and in an attempt to change them to SCSI, we did a clone of the running exchange and upon powering the server runs smoothly, while on IDE.

Since the running exchange is still in operation, the clone is allocated an IP Address outside the operational vlan and is able to boot and run smoothly, though some services, that presumably require the DNS fail to start.

In order to try and ensure a smooth conversion, we changed all the MS Exchange Server Services to Manual startup mode and followed the guidelines as provide by the link: VMware KB: Converting a virtual IDE disk to a virtual SCSI disk

The same steps had previously worked for our vm running Sage ACCPAC, but for Exchange, immediately after changing the the disks to SCSI and upon powering the machine it blue screens and returns the message that we either run a Startup Repair or start Windows normally.

Attempts to run a Startup Repair fail as there is no image to us for that and starting Windows normally returns to the same screen.

Anyone who has successfully converted a MS Exchange VM server disks from IDE to SCSI, kindly assist as even doing so with the live server powered off, still returns the same error messages.

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

Assuming the manual conversion is ok and the virtual controller you selected for re-adding is the LSI Logic SAS as mentioned by , you may still be missing the appropriate drivers in Windows. In order to inject the required driver, either temporarily add another virtual SCSI disk attached to an LSI Logic SAS controller before modifying the virtual disks, or covert the data disks first, make sure the VM powers on and loads the drivers and then convert the system disk in a second step.

André

PS: I removed your duplicate post in the Converter forum. Hope that's ok with you?

Message was edited by: a.p.

View solution in original post

5 Replies
tomtom901
Commander
Commander
Jump to solution

Which SCSI controller is automatically added to the VM? For 2008 it should be LSI Logic SAS.

a_p_
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

Assuming the manual conversion is ok and the virtual controller you selected for re-adding is the LSI Logic SAS as mentioned by , you may still be missing the appropriate drivers in Windows. In order to inject the required driver, either temporarily add another virtual SCSI disk attached to an LSI Logic SAS controller before modifying the virtual disks, or covert the data disks first, make sure the VM powers on and loads the drivers and then convert the system disk in a second step.

André

PS: I removed your duplicate post in the Converter forum. Hope that's ok with you?

Message was edited by: a.p.

tomtom901
Commander
Commander
Jump to solution

Windows 2008 should have these drivers onboard, but ofcourse it is possible that this installation did not.

MensanT
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

The SCSI Controller is a LSI Logic SAS and is added by default when I add the disks, but in the meantime, I'll try out the option suggested by a.p. to add an additional disk of SCSI type.

Reply
0 Kudos
MensanT
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Thanks guys, below is the procedure I followed:

1. Add a SCSI didk.

2. Power the server and make sure it boots successfully,

3. Shut it down and convert the Data and Logs drives.

4. Power up the vm and make sure it reboots successfully.

5. Shut down and convert the OS drvive, and power the server. As usual, it prompted for a restart and  afterwards all the drives were successfully converted.

Good to know there is always someone who has gone through a challenge.

Regards

Reply
0 Kudos