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digitalex
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NT VM upgrade to Win2003 BSOD issue

We are currently trying to upgrade a NT Virtual Machine to a WIndows 2003 Enterprise but it blue screen's with STOP error. During the upgrade it said the storage device is not compatible, how is this possible with VM. Has anyone else had this problem? I am hoping to upgrade this NT PDC in our test environment to Windows 2003 AD but have not had any success. I know I have done this before but not sure why it is not working anymore. Any advice would be appreciated.

My current setup for info: Virtual Center 2.1 ESX 3.5 up1 on 3x HP DL460c G1 16gb EVA4100_1 20 Windows 2003 Ent VM's
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RParker
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OK, I was wrong. But here is some helpful info:

I still say that you should build 1 more Windows 2003 Server fresh install, and add that to your upgraded AD, then make that NEW server the primary for everything, remove that old server, because I am telling you, you WILL have problems upgrading a machine from NT to Windows 2003, there are old registry entries that will come back to haunt you, and building a new server is still the best solution, and the AD that is finalized should have no lingering after affects of NT 4.0 anywhere remotely affiliated. The objects themselves won't retain any old info, but that box will, and when you start dealing with .NET and programs at some point you will get problems connecting due to legacy entries which will persist long after that upgrade. A fresh server is the way to go.

So NT 4.0 -> Windows 2003 upgrade (To prevent AD migration tool). Install a NEW Windows 2003 Server make that the Primary and move ALL the services to the NEW machine, remove all upgraded and older existing servers from the AD once everything is on the NEW server. Yes this is a long process, yes this is a major pain, but going foward and to minimize issues, this is the best way to do it.

And my memory of this migration may be a little hazy (because NT 4.0 was 13 years ago, it's been a while) but Windows 2003 is so much better, it's best to keep that old info and drivers, and registry from contaminating your AD forrest. It may not be today, tomorrow, or next week, but your AD will throw an error you won't figure out... and then you will be stuck. It's best to keep NT 4.0 as far from the current machines as possible.

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RParker
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NT / Windows 2000 use bus logic. Windows 2003 uses LSI driver. Change the controller driver for Windows 2003, see if that helps.

I can tell you that its better to create a NEW VM with Windows 2003, add this NEW VM as a Forrest or Domain Controller. Then decommission the NT machine, and upgrade the AD to 2003 (not NT compatibility) and make sure ALL your AD machines are Windows 2003. Upgrading NT will inherit old settings and legacy programs you will be fighing problems for months to come. It's best to just let NT be until you get your NEW AD going with Windows 2003, and then move the NT off. While your NT PDC is up, you can migrate everything over, and you should be good.

digitalex
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Found the fix here after more research.

As for the inline upgrade. I want to upgrade the PDC to AD. Add another AD server to replicate all roles and then shutdown the box that we had done the upgrade on. I do not think we have the time nor the resources to do a full migration of 300+ machines. Escpecially without purchasing additional software like Quest software to ease the migration.

My current setup for info: Virtual Center 2.1 ESX 3.5 up1 on 3x HP DL460c G1 16gb EVA4100_1 20 Windows 2003 Ent VM's
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RParker
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The migration is integrated no special tools required. Install a NEW Windows 2003 Server, fully patch up, and ensure all settings are correct. Add it the existing domain.

Once Windows 2003 becomes a part of the domain, as a AD controller, you are running an NT 4.0 Domain. Windows 2003 will automatically grab and synchronize itself with the ENTIRE domain (it does this all by iitself). It will take an hour or two, but let it do it overnight just to be sure. Then set the Windows 2003 machine as the Primary in the domain and transfer all the RID/AD functions to Windows 2003 AD machine, and make it the FULL owner of everything in the AD.

Now you run dcpromo on the NT 4.0 box and the BDC (if you have one) and remove themselves from the domain, doing this will remove the DNS/AD entries for these machines, and at this point you have 1 machine (Windows 2003) as your AD, but rather than upgrading, you this should be a FRESH install. And since it will inherit by default ALL the objects, groups, users, etc.. from the domain you can safely remove NT from the equation, and upgrade your AD to Window 2003 Forrest (running forest prep). Also hopefully you are using Windows 2003 R2 SP2 for this.

Then you should be good. This is the best way to migrate, no special tools, no special licenses, no time you have to upgrade a new machine anyway (which takes the same time to build a new one)

Doing an upgrade from NT to Windows 2003 (even if MS says it will work) is ugly, and you WILL encounter problems later. I promise you. A fresh install and migration is the best way to avoid the issues.

Even if you did the upgrade already, make ANOTHER Windows 2003 machine and add it as a AD controller.

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khughes
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I agree with rparker on the fresh install and promote rather than p2v. It would be much easier and much cleaner if you built out a fresh Win2003 server with all the current patches, then just ran DCPROMO and brought it into the domain and transfered everything to it. After a day or two making sure everything is ok, you can demote your pdc/bdc out of the domain. If you want/can you can then raise the functionality level once you are running AD soley on win2003 instead of a mixed nt/2000/2003 domain.

Best practices for virtualizing a domain controller is to fresh build a new VM and dcpromo.

  • Kyle

-- Kyle "RParker wrote: I guess I was wrong, everything CAN be virtualized "
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digitalex
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I dont understand what you mean by adding a Windows 2003 AD domain controller to a NT domain. Is that even possible? What I think you are referring to is WIndows 2000 AD to Windows 2003 AD migration and not NT Domain migration. The only way to get NT and 2003 to communicate is to create a Trust-Relationship.

My current setup for info: Virtual Center 2.1 ESX 3.5 up1 on 3x HP DL460c G1 16gb EVA4100_1 20 Windows 2003 Ent VM's
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khughes
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Even if you have to go that route of upgrading from NT to 2000 then to 2003, it would still be a cleaner way of doing it than p2v'ing it. What I think we're basically both saying is try not to p2v your domain controllers. Even though it can work, there is a chance that it could corrupt your directory.

  • Kyle

-- Kyle "RParker wrote: I guess I was wrong, everything CAN be virtualized "
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digitalex
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OH, I never asked to do P2V of the domain. I was asking about an upgrade of a NT BDC that I had as VM backup. I restored it to my test environment for normal DR testing and wanted to test uprading it to 2003 AD after I did a promote to PDC. So far I have successfully upgraded it to 2003 AD. Now I want to create a fresh new 2003 Domain Controller and let it replicate, migrate all the roles to it and then decommission the old box that I upgraded from NT with.

My current setup for info: Virtual Center 2.1 ESX 3.5 up1 on 3x HP DL460c G1 16gb EVA4100_1 20 Windows 2003 Ent VM's
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RParker
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dont understand what you mean by adding a Windows 2003 AD domain controller to a NT domain. Is that even possible?

Sure why wouldn't it be? There has to be an upgrade path from NT to 2003, but not go back the other way.. Adding the 2003 to the existing domain and making it a DC in your AD automatically creates the trust.

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Texiwill
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Hello,

Moved to the VI: Virtual Machine and Guest OS forum.


Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

SearchVMware Blog: http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/virtualization-pro/

Blue Gears Blogs - http://www.itworld.com/ and http://www.networkworld.com/community/haletky

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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digitalex
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What you are implying is that you can create a cross trust. You cannot add a windows 2003 machine as a DC in a NT domain.

My current setup for info: Virtual Center 2.1 ESX 3.5 up1 on 3x HP DL460c G1 16gb EVA4100_1 20 Windows 2003 Ent VM's
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RParker
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OK, I was wrong. But here is some helpful info:

I still say that you should build 1 more Windows 2003 Server fresh install, and add that to your upgraded AD, then make that NEW server the primary for everything, remove that old server, because I am telling you, you WILL have problems upgrading a machine from NT to Windows 2003, there are old registry entries that will come back to haunt you, and building a new server is still the best solution, and the AD that is finalized should have no lingering after affects of NT 4.0 anywhere remotely affiliated. The objects themselves won't retain any old info, but that box will, and when you start dealing with .NET and programs at some point you will get problems connecting due to legacy entries which will persist long after that upgrade. A fresh server is the way to go.

So NT 4.0 -> Windows 2003 upgrade (To prevent AD migration tool). Install a NEW Windows 2003 Server make that the Primary and move ALL the services to the NEW machine, remove all upgraded and older existing servers from the AD once everything is on the NEW server. Yes this is a long process, yes this is a major pain, but going foward and to minimize issues, this is the best way to do it.

And my memory of this migration may be a little hazy (because NT 4.0 was 13 years ago, it's been a while) but Windows 2003 is so much better, it's best to keep that old info and drivers, and registry from contaminating your AD forrest. It may not be today, tomorrow, or next week, but your AD will throw an error you won't figure out... and then you will be stuck. It's best to keep NT 4.0 as far from the current machines as possible.

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digitalex
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Yes! You are correct that is what I was planning to do. Upgrade the VM, then install a fresh Windows 2003 and add it as a DC. Once replication is complete, DCPROMO the old NT box out of the domain. That link was exactly what I was trying to find before that I read but lost the link to. :smileygrin:

My current setup for info: Virtual Center 2.1 ESX 3.5 up1 on 3x HP DL460c G1 16gb EVA4100_1 20 Windows 2003 Ent VM's
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