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Jim5202
Contributor
Contributor
‎05-18-2010 06:29 AM

Win2k3 Server won't launch after converting to VM on ESXI 4

Have an ESXI 4.0 server with 1TB of free space and 16G RAM. Standalone Converter 4.0.1 build 161434 is installed on the Win2k3 Physical server. Going thru the wizard and selecting source (powered on machine, local machine), destination (VMWare infrastructure virtual machine) since that is where ESXI 4 server support is listed, the standalone client sees the IP addr of the esxi4 server and logging in as root. I can go the selection of the name, datastore, and machine type (7). I turn off non-essential services since there are databases running and webserver. I allow synchronization and the installation of vmware tools. Basically, checking everything but powering on the Target machine. It completes the conversion without error. However, when I power on the newly created VM server and go to a console, I get a black screen with a cursor in the upper left corner that doesnt move. The server doesnt boot. Got any ideas as to why the windows VM won't boot??

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3 Replies
DennieTidwell
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎05-18-2010 08:32 AM

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005208

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004588

The articles above and the links within are excellent starting places on this issue. W2K3 SP levels and scsiport and ntfskrnl driver issues are suspect based on your scenario. HAL CPU is also suspect. I have had similar issues on w2k that required driver and registry hacks to get scsi drivers loaded properly on boot.

Hope this helps - good luck.

Jim5202
Contributor
Contributor
‎05-20-2010 05:04 AM

Thanks for the reply. Did all that was sugggested in the docs without success. Finally started digging deeper into the known good VM servers originally created instead of P2V. Found that the disk controller was stated as LSI logic parallel. Going back and redoing the P2V the ultilty by default selects to keep the default controller. Manually selecting the LSI Logic controller, successfully creates the VM and it now boots on startup. Thanks for the help although it didnt fix the issue it got me looking in the right direction.

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DennieTidwell
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎05-21-2010 05:37 AM

Glad to assist. Please award points as customary.