Yeah, I believe that machine only supported Windows 7 for bootcamp. That could be part of the problem.
But Raw disk mode is a real pain to get working right, especially for windows. Linux is better, but that's like saying shingles is better than measles.
Did you do the steps here: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2097401
You'll see that KB article is 8 years old...this isn't something that's widely done anymore.
If at all possible, you'll be vastly better off just formatting the drive APFS and doing a standard virtual machine with windows installed in the VMDK files. Otherwise, you'll need to go down the raw disk rabbit hole (it's a lot more complicated than just formatting the drive and attaching it to the virtual machine).
FWIW, since that machine doesn't get security fixes anymore, it's probably time to start planning an upgrade as soon as you can. Note that there's no bootcamp type of ability on the ARM based macs (and they only run Windows 11 ARM in any case).
