Trouble repairing a cloned WinXP

[jshrimp3]

I'm attempting to take an XP machine I have and move it to an ESX VM. I used the vCenter Converter Standalone to clone the machine, and then tried to do a Repair Installation of Windows XP to get it up and running. The clone worked successfully (as far as I know), but when I try to repair it it runs through most of the process, but when it has to reboot the machine it gives me "Error loading operating system." Is there something I'm missing? I downloaded and used the VMWare SCSI drivers, but other than that I haven't done anything special.

I also tried just installing XP from scratch (I'm new to ESX), and it worked with no problems, so does this mean that something went wrong during the cloning process, or what?

Thanks.

[AntonVZhbankov]

P2V was never guaranteed, some VMs works fine after P2V, some needs additional actions, some just don't.

---

MCSA, MCTS Hyper-V, VCP 3/4, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[jshrimp3]

As a followup, I've tried a P2V conversion with a different XP machine I have, and it seems that the VM will hardly boot at all. I repaired the installation, but then when I boot I just stare at a black screen, not even an "Error loading operating system" message.

[DSTAVERT]

Did you choose to install the VMware tools during conversion.

One issue that may come up in conversion is old hardware drivers are still looking for their hardware devices. One chore after conversion is not only installing VMware tools but un installing software and device drivers that are no longer needed.

I have often times done a two stage conversion. Convert to Workstation or Player and perform any necessary maintenance. Then run converter against that to the ESX(i) host.

[continuum · Accepted solution]

Sounds like you used Converter 4.0.1 - for XP I highly recommend to use Converter 3.0.3




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VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook

[jshrimp3]

I did use Converter 4.0.1. Is 3.0.3 more reliable for XP conversions? Why?

[continuum]

Converter 3.03 prevents misconfigured P2V tasks - where as 4.0.1 encourages misconfigured tasks.

The only option that works reliable for XP is clone into Buslogic Scsi-disks. In 3.0.3 this is the default.

4.0.1 seems to use Ide as default which usually fails




___________________________________

VMX-parameters- WS FAQ -[ MOAcd|http://sanbarrow.com/moa241.html] - VMDK-Handbook

[DannoXYZ]

Why are you doing a repair-install of XP? I've found that either Converter 4.0.1 or 3.0.3 works fine for WinXP. I've done hundreds of P2V migrations with both. Here's my workflow that works well:

1. install Converter on physical machine to be captured, I find this to be faster than remotely installing agent and running Converter from somewhere else

2. capture machine with Converter using mininum disk-size and click ON option on install VMwareTools

3. capture to Workstation format and store as series of VMDK on network-share some place. This lets you edit the VM's .vmx file and adjust settings if needed before actually running it on ESX. I usually store this on a backup-server.

4. run Converter on backup-server and convert Workstation image captured earlier and send it up to running ESX/ESXi server, adjust CPU, memory, set disk-controller to BusLogic, adjust disk-space as necessary, leave NIC disconnected

5. before powering on VM, edit settings and turn ON boot option to force entry in BIOS setup.

6. power on VM

7. in BIOS, disable ALL unnecessary hardware such as floppy-drives, serial/parallel-ports.

8. before saving & existing BIOS, hold finger over F8 key.

9. when VM reboots, tap F8 repeatedly to get into WinXP boot-menu, it is very important to boot into SAFE MODE the very 1st time

10. boot up into SAFE MODE, open DOS command-prompt and type the following: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 <enter>

11. type: devmgmt.msc <enter>, this brings up the DeviceManager

12. in DeviceManager window, pull down View -> Show Hidden Devices

13. expand each section and delete/uninstall all greyed-out devices. This removes the device-drivers of non-existent hardware that used to work on the physical box, but have no equivalents in the VM

14. reboot and let it boot up in regular mode (re-connect NIC), install VMwareTools and reboot once more and that should be it.

[jshrimp3]

Before trying ti repair XP I got an "Error loading operating system" error.

Anyway, using Converter 3.0.3 has been very successful. No doubt it could've worked with Converter 4, but 3 seems more idiot-proof, at least for XP.

[DannoXYZ]

Yeah, for WinXP, be sure to set SCSI controller to BusLogic.