Importer fails, no error

[damian67]

Im running Parallels 3.0, build 5160, with XP Sp2 NTFS image. I tried 3 times to convert it and it fails at the very end with a failure notice, but no details. It seems like my image is within the supported versions. I shut down the image, and the conversion process takes about 15 min, then fails. I chose none of the disk options.

[wkharris]

Not that this is going to help you.... but I just took a Windows Vista Parallels image at 5160 and used the Importer and it worked without a charm! In fact to my surprise I did not even have to deal with the whole - re-activation scenaro when it booted using VMWare! Gotta a love a product that works and is solid! I finally gave up on the "other" solution - great bells and whistles - in fact I wish some would find there way over her to Fusion but..... A staple product is my biggest need.

[damian67]

Thanks, makes me feel better that its perhaps its my image, somehow.If anyone from the Fusion team can send me some pointers to what to look for, that would be helpful.

[mudaltsov]

Hi Damian,

It sounds like the importer gets through the disk conversion step, but then fails when it's attempting to prepare the imported VM to run in Fusion.

The importer writes its progress to several log files, which may be able to help determine the problem.

Could you please send me a copy of the .pvs file you were trying to import, and the following logs:

everything from "~/Library/Logs/VMware Importer/"

and any vmware*.log files from "~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper/naos-1.0.vmwarevm/" (if they exist).

To get inside the .vmwarevm bundle, right-click and choose "Show Package Contents".

It would be easier if you create a single archive with all the files. You can either attach the file in a reply to this thread, or send me a private message.

Michael Udaltsov

VMware Fusion & Importer team

[damian67]

No log files exist. Please PM an email address to send the .pvs file to.

thanks,

[jim_gill]

The two logs are small, it's probably easiest to attach them as a reply to this post.

The logs that will help are in your <username>/Library folder:

~/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper/naos-1.0.vmwarevm/vmware.log

~/Library/Logs/VMware Importer/import.log

[damian67]

Here you go. Seems like it can't open/create a log file within naos-1.0.vmwarevm

[mudaltsov]

I don't see any files attached here, but I'm assuming they're the ones you sent me by email.

The error about opening the naos-1.0.vmwarevm/vmware.log file can only happen if there's some problem running the "helper VM" that prepares the converted virtual disk to run in Fusion.

Could you please try the following:

1. Make sure you're not running Fusion or Importer, then run Activity Monitor.

2. See if there are any "vmware-vmx" processes running (make sure to switch to "All Processes" in the dropdown). It's possible that the helper VM failed to stop, and it still running, which is preventing you from successfully importing the VM.

3. If "vmware-vmx" processes are still running, they can be terminated directly from Activity Monitor, or by restarting your computer. Again, make sure you're not running Fusion, or you may accidentally terminate one of your VMs.

4. If it still exists, remove "/Users/damian/Documents/Virtual Machines/winxp.1.vmwarevm" to make sure you're not trying to overwrite an opened VM when importing.

5. Remove "/Users/damian/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper" - this is the helper VM, which will get re-created when you run importer again.

6. Run Importer and try importing the VM again.

Importing the VM again should generate new log files:

/Users/damian/Library/Logs/VMware Importer/import.log

/Users/damian/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper/naos-1.0.vmwarevm/vmware.log

If the import still fails, please attach those two log files.

[damian67]

For some reason, I cannot upload any files. I attach them, but they do not show up in the message. It was the .log file and .PVS file.

Anyway, I went through all your steps, found no other VMWare processes, nor open VM image from the conversion process. I deleted the helper directory and reran the import.

Same result. I will email you the log file since I cant upload them here for some reason.

Here are last few lines from the /Library/Logs/VMware Importer/import.log

Nov 12 22:07:37.555: app| DISKLIB-LIB : Opened "/Users/damian/Documents/Virtual Machines/winxp.1.vmwarevm/winxp.1.vmdk" (flags 0x8). 0x2db274

Nov 12 22:10:25.428: app| DISKLIB-LIB :numIOs = 50000 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0

Nov 12 22:14:59.796: app| DISKLIB-LIB :numIOs = 100000 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0

Nov 12 22:19:47.025: app| DISKLIB-LIB :numIOs = 150000 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0

Nov 12 22:23:31.391: app| DISKLIB-LIB :numIOs = 200000 numMergedIOs = 0 numSplitIOs = 0

Nov 12 22:24:26.595: app| About to fork helper VM...

Nov 12 22:24:26.619: app| Helper still running, will wait five seconds...

Nov 12 22:24:31.620: app| Helper completed.

Nov 12 22:24:31.621: app| Reconfig_ReadHelperLog: cannot open logfile /Users/damian/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper/naos-1.0.vmwarevm/vmware.log

[mudaltsov]

I just noticed that your import.log is reporting the following:

pathVMwareVmx is /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx

That location corresponds to what Fusion 1.0 (and possibly 1.1 betas) used, but it changed in the 1.1 release.

It may be the case that the old 1.0 vmware-vmx file is still on your system, and Importer is trying to use it instead of 1.1.

When you installed 1.1, did you do an uninstall first, or just an upgrade?

[damian67]

I had 1.0, did the upgrade to 1.1 RC and then upgraded again to GA version of 1.1 today. Should I do an uninstall and reinstall?

[mudaltsov · Accepted solution]

Try uninstalling and reinstalling, though the Importer should be able to work even with an older vmware-vmx file.

I'm testing your 1.0 -> RC -> 1.1 upgrade scenario right now on my own machine as well, to see if anything breaks.

[damian67]

Success!!! (with the conversion)

Uninstalling and reinstalling Fusion, the process completes.

Sadly, my XP install which runs fun in Parallels, bluescreens on boot up in Fusion.

After a number of hard resets for the image, I am finally able to log into the XP image and install VMWare tools, but it keeps bluescreening on me....I will have to do some more troubleshooting.

[mudaltsov]

Glad to hear that the importer works, and I'm sorry that you're having trouble with blue screens.

XP is definitely one of the most used operating systems, and we hope to eliminate any issues with importing it.

Let us know if you find out what causes the blue screens.

I suggest starting with the Windows Event logs. There may be some Parallels programs or services that are still trying to run, but fail in Fusion.

[damian67]

It seems to be an issue with BlackIce firewall which my employer packages with the Cisco VPN software.

I also noticed I could not deinstall the Parallels tools, giving me an error stating that it cannot be deinstalled in Virtualized instance....I manually disabled the 2 Parallels services.

I think at this point it will be easier to start with a clean copy of XP.

[mudaltsov]

Yes, unfortunately it's impossible to uninstall the Parallels Tools in Fusion. It has to be done while running the original VM in Parallels Desktop.

However, our testing seems to show that the Parallels Tools do not affect the imported VMs, since they don't run in non-Parallels VMs.

Importing a VM changes the network configuration, which is probably why you are running into issues with the firewall/VPN. The only thing I can recommend besides creating a clean VM is to reinstall the firewall/VPN software. However, in my own experience, some VPN software just doesn't work well when the (virtual) network hardware changes.