Server 2008 Backup Restore Into ESXi VM

[Atlanta_User_Gr]

Prior to the 8/12 bug, I was able to create a Windows Server 2008 VM on an ESXi host and restore a 2008 backup image into it. This was done by creating a backup from a physical Windows 2008 server, with the files being stored on a shared network folder. I then booted up the VM on the ESXi host with a 2008 server CD in the drive. Instead of installing 2008 server, I directed it to restore from a backup, directing it to the files on the shared network folder. I was able to do this several times with a couple of different servers. Since 8/12, I have patched the ESXi host (this is a test server) and was able to boot up another VM, but was no longer able to create a new VM and restore a Windows 2008 server. Each time I try, I get a message saying "The Windows Complete PC Restore operation failed. Error details: The disk that is set as active in BIOS is too small to recover the original system disk. Replace the disk with a larger one and retry the restore operation. (0x80042407)."

I tried increasing the disk space allocated to the VM to twice the space originally allocated and was still unsuccsessful. I rebuilt the ESXi server using the newer patched version released by VMware on 8/13 and was unsuccessful. I can do a fresh install of the Server 2008 OS onto the VM, but am no longer able to do a complete PC Restore.

The ironic thing is that I installed VMware Server on another server and was able to complete a PC Restore from the same backup files into a VMware Server VM. This VM works just fine, but I still cannot complete into ESXi.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[nick_couchman]

Could you turn on logging for the VM and enable debugging and see if the vmware.log file has anything to offer?

[Atlanta_User_Gr]

I am unsure on how to turn on logging or enabling debugging. The Help file indicates that I must go to Options in the Virtual Machine Properties tab. I see no Properties tab. Could this be due to the fact that I am using the free ESXi version and utilizing VMware Infrastructure Client and not VirtualCenter?

[nick_couchman]

Right-click on the VM -> Edit Settings -> Options Tab. The option to turn on debugging is in there.

You can do this with the VI Client w/o VirtualCenter.

[Atlanta_User_Gr]

Although I'm not sure what we did differently, we were able to get the restore full PC in Windows Server 2008 to work. Thank you for your advice.

[cs_vmware]

I have the same error message.

How did you fix this?

When I use the Windows 2008 complete restore, I can restore a backup of a 2008 VM to a new VM.

But, if I try to restore a backup of a 2008 physical server to a new VM, I get the same error about the disk being too small. I think this is a bug somewhere.

My physical server uses dynamic disks, maybe that has some affect on the problem?

Can anyone help please?

Thanks.