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teckel12
Contributor
Contributor

Mac system: Imported Windows 10 VM won't boot, trying to network boot only?

Exported working Windows 10 VM from VirtualBox without issue.  Imported existing virtual machine into VMware without issue.  When I try to start the newly imported VM, it's trying to network boot only it seems.  Eventually, it fails with the message:

PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.

Operating System not found

I'm trying to switch from VirtualBox because since the Big Sur update VirtualBox no longer runs v6.0, and v6.1 is so slow it's unusable.  But, I can't get the migration from VirtualBox to VMware to work.

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Only a guess. Try switching the VM's virtual firmware from BIOS to UEFI (or vice versa) to see whether this helps.

André

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

If the BIOS/UEFI swap doesn't work (menu Virtual Machine -> Settings -> Advanced -> Firmware type),

try to change the boot order (menu  Virtual Machine -> Settings -> Startup Disk)

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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teckel12
Contributor
Contributor

I can't find that option in any Settings page.  I Googled it and it says the option should be in the Advanced tab, but I have no firmware option.

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teckel12
Contributor
Contributor

I couldn't do the BIOS/UEFI swap, see above, and tried to select the hard drive with the same results, see attached.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

The firmware option is indeed in the Advanced tab, see

wila_0-1621079174459.png

 

Sounds like this might be a difference between VMware Fusion Professional and VMware Fusion Player.

My screenshot is from the professional version.

You can still switch manually by editing the VM's vmx file.

With the VM shut down, go to the Fusion Library screen, select the vm, hold down the option key and right click. Select "Open Config File in Editor". This will open the vmx file in TextEdit.

If your VM uses uefi it will have a line:

firmware = "efi"

If that line does not exist, it will use "Legacy BIOS" as it is called.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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teckel12
Contributor
Contributor

Adding that line did seem to work better.  It least appears to be trying to boot from the drive instead of the network.  But, it fails with the line:

 

 

EFI VMware Virtual SATA Hard Drive (0.0) ... No compatible bootloader found.

 

 

Keep in mind this was from 100% working VirtualBox Windows VM.  I exported with Open Virtualization Format 1.0, Included only NAT network adapter MAC addresses, Write Manifest file (the defaults).  Then, I imported an existing virtual machine into VMware.  I didn't do any fiddling around with switches or settings or anything.  I also tried using the migrate function (which also was a total fail).

 

After a week of messing around trying to use the import and migrate options, I did finally solve the problem and got things working.  I installed VMware vCenter Converter Standalone on the Windows guest OS that I wanted to migrate.  This process was MUCH faster and worked the first time with zero issues.  This may not always be the solution, but for me, it was vastly easier and faster.  I was up and running in like 15 minutes.

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

One other random thought. What kind of virtual controller (SCSI or SATA) does the boot disk reside on in both VirtualBox and Fusion. They must match. Could you have defined a SCSI boot disk in VirtualBox and your migrated Fusion VM thinks it has a SATA disk?

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
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teckel12
Contributor
Contributor

It did come over as SATA. But all is good, the solution is shown above.

By guess... There were two windows 10 boot partitions. As the previous 450GB partition was too small for the latest Windows, it creates another 500+GB boot partition at the end of thr drive (as there's no room at the front). My guess is that VMware is getting confused by this.

When I was using the converter standalone app, I didn't port over the unused 450GB partition. Even then, the boot partition is last on the image. But it does work using the converter standalone app. 

 

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