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Starting converted W2K3 guest leads to "A specified parameter was not correct" error

I converted a physical W2K3 server to VI3 (ESX 3.5.0 123623 and VC 2.5 119598) successfully.

I was able to start the guest afterwards, but nothing happened. VI client said that the power on was successful but the machine doesn't came up and it was still shown as powered off.

Doing so the second and more times lead to an error message: "A specified parameter was not correct."

I checked the hardware settings of the guest and saw three serial ports configured. I deleted them and tried to start it again. Again, VI client said that the power on was successful but the machine doesn't came up and it was still shown as powered off and all following tries generated this error message again.

I connected to the web frontend and tried to start it from there but that didn't work, as well.

I checked the disk space on the SAN volume (there's a KB article stating that this error message pops up when there's not enough disk space left to store the swap file in VC 2.0), but there are plenty of gigs free.

.vmx:

#!/usr/bin/vmware

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

floppy0.present = "false"

nvram = "IN1CPTAPP005.nvram"

deploymentPlatform = "windows"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"

powerType.powerOff = "default"

powerType.powerOn = "default"

powerType.suspend = "default"

powerType.reset = "default"

displayName = "IN1CPTAPP005"

extendedConfigFile = "IN1CPTAPP005.vmxf"

numvcpus = "2"

scsi0.present = "true"

scsi0.sharedBus = "none"

memsize = "4096"

scsi0:0.present = "true"

scsi0:0.fileName = "IN1CPTAPP005.vmdk"

scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"

ide0:0.present = "true"

ide0:0.fileName = ""

ide0:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"

ethernet0.present = "true"

ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "false"

ethernet0.networkName = "internal129.230.149.x"

ethernet0.addressType = "vpx"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:50:56:a6:26:d6"

serial0.present = "false"

serial0.yieldOnMsrRead = "true"

serial0.fileName = "/dev/ttyS0"

serial1.present = "false"

serial1.yieldOnMsrRead = "true"

serial1.fileName = "/dev/ttyS1"

serial2.present = "false"

serial2.yieldOnMsrRead = "true"

serial2.fileName = "/dev/ttyS0"

guestOS = "winNetEnterprise"

uuid.bios = "50 26 c2 cf 94 ea 6f 50-dd 3a ff c3 eb e8 c0 ec"

sched.cpu.affinity = "all"

sched.mem.affinity = "all"

scsi0:0.redo = ""

uuid.location = "56 4d 45 3c ec 36 cc 28-4b 69 93 d7 e1 93 a5 b5"

sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/48fc3709-252c5c10-6258-0014c26377c1/IN1CPTAPP005/IN1CPTAPP005-11a5b48b.vswp"

hostCPUID.0 = "00000005756e65476c65746e49656e69"

guestCPUID.0 = "00000005756e65476c65746e49656e69"

userCPUID.0 = "00000005756e65476c65746e49656e69"

hostCPUID.1 = "00000f4800040800000064bdbfebfbff"

guestCPUID.1 = "00000f4800010800000020010febbbff"

userCPUID.1 = "00000f4800040800000064bdbfebfbff"

hostCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000120000000"

guestCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000120000000"

userCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000120000000"

evcCompatibilityMode = "FALSE"

ide0:0.startConnected = "false"

ide0:0.clientDevice = "true"

guestOSAltName = "Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit)"

.vmxf:

Any ideas?

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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jhilger
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Im not sure why you are having the problem but a quick fix is to create a new VM just how you want it with no disks, then attach the VMDK files from the VM that wont start. Fire it up and see if it works. It should come up just fine. If it does, you have a little clean up to do to get all the files in the same directory for the new VM and deleting the old VM. Just be careful not to delete your VMDK files!

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jhilger
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Im not sure why you are having the problem but a quick fix is to create a new VM just how you want it with no disks, then attach the VMDK files from the VM that wont start. Fire it up and see if it works. It should come up just fine. If it does, you have a little clean up to do to get all the files in the same directory for the new VM and deleting the old VM. Just be careful not to delete your VMDK files!

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AWo
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Yes, that would be the last thing I'm going to try.

Up for now I'm trying to get behind the reason and not "only" to use a workaround (which I have to use if there's no fix directly pointed to the problem, soon, of course).

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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