Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures
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Along the same lines as the 2008 thread, I'm migrating a Windows 2003 R2 Server x86 server from bare metal HP DL380 G5 to a VM on XenServer 7.
I created an image of the system using Clonezilla, then manually built a VM on XS7 as other OS (Win 2003 was removed from the list of options), created the VDIs to match to the original system, and restored.
Unlike Windows Server 2008 R2, I'm not getting a BSOD - instead I see the XenServer BIOS information, HD boot - success: then nothing. There is a solid cursor (not blinking) and nothing. I have to use Force Shut Down to reboot, even the Send Ctrl + Alt + Del or * Force Reboot* does nothing.
I've booted from the Win 2003 R2 ISO, gone into Recovery Console (which reads the administrator password from the disk - so I know the VDI is readable) and ran
Fixboot - rebooted
Fixmbr - rebooted
bootcfg (added the recommended line, even though it's identical to the line already in the boot.ini file)none of these made any difference.
*Update - This problem was fixed. Running chkdsk /f multiple times (at least 4 in my case) fixed partition enough to allow fixmbr/fixboot to make the system work. A more detailed explanation is in the thread.
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I found a thread that mentioned that the user couldn't get a P2V to work in XS until they fully expanded the thin provisioned disk, then restored the image would boot.
I've made a copy of the boot drive and am using dd to expand the drive and will try to restore.
dd if=/dev/zero of=filename bs=$((1024*1024)) count=$((10*1024))This will create a 10 GB file.
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In the meantime, @Danp has been helping me surf the web and found
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1976542/cloned-hdd-ssd-boots-blinking-cursor-successfully-boot-windows-hirens.htmlThis person said they were able to get their system to boot if they booted to Hirem's Ultimate Boot CD, then choose to boot to the local disk.
WTF - that worked!
So how do I fix this damned issue?
The thread above goes on to say that they stopped using Clonezilla and moved to something else to make the image and they were able to boot - but what could Clonezilla do to a drive (VDI in this case) that would make it not fixed by using fixboot/fixmbr/bootcfg?
So I still need a fix for this boot problem.
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@Dashrender What is installed on that server out of curiousity?
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@wirestyle22 said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
@Dashrender What is installed on that server out of curiousity?
IIS application
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Why use the one article that says use CloneZilla when the thousand others successfully used VMware Converter which is a freeware, just requires a sign in to download and if you dont want to do that, get it from here :
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/VMware-Converter.shtml
I know most of us like to do things using CMD and open source tools, but if there is freeware from the top vendor in virtualization why not use that, CloneZilla was never meant to be P2V. Also you can convert the output VMDK file with Virtualbox vboxmanage tool to anything else, and it supports P2V locally or remote target.
I'm certain using Vmware Converter will yield different results than CloneZilla
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@msff-amman-Itofficer said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
Why use the one article that says use CloneZilla when the thousand others successfully used VMware Converter which is a freeware, just requires a sign in to download and if you dont want to do that, get it from here :
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/VMware-Converter.shtml
I know most of us like to do things using CMD and open source tools, but if there is freeware from the top vendor in virtualization why not use that, CloneZilla was never meant to be P2V. Also you can convert the output VMDK file with Virtualbox vboxmanage tool to anything else, and it supports P2V local or remote target.
VMware Converter is for moving to VMware ESXi, not XenServer. Has anyone tested it for going to another platform? I didn't even know that that was an option.
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@scottalanmiller said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
@msff-amman-Itofficer said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
Why use the one article that says use CloneZilla when the thousand others successfully used VMware Converter which is a freeware, just requires a sign in to download and if you dont want to do that, get it from here :
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/VMware-Converter.shtml
I know most of us like to do things using CMD and open source tools, but if there is freeware from the top vendor in virtualization why not use that, CloneZilla was never meant to be P2V. Also you can convert the output VMDK file with Virtualbox vboxmanage tool to anything else, and it supports P2V local or remote target.
VMware Converter is for moving to VMware ESXi, not XenServer. Has anyone tested it for going to another platform? I didn't even know that that was an option.
True its mostly targeted at that, I dont deal with XS alot, but It seems it does accept VMDK as seen here.
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@scottalanmiller
I have used vmware converter on stubborn p2v, then exported from esxi to ova and imported to XS. -
@scottalanmiller said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
@msff-amman-Itofficer said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
Why use the one article that says use CloneZilla when the thousand others successfully used VMware Converter which is a freeware, just requires a sign in to download and if you dont want to do that, get it from here :
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/VMware-Converter.shtml
I know most of us like to do things using CMD and open source tools, but if there is freeware from the top vendor in virtualization why not use that, CloneZilla was never meant to be P2V. Also you can convert the output VMDK file with Virtualbox vboxmanage tool to anything else, and it supports P2V local or remote target.
VMware Converter is for moving to VMware ESXi, not XenServer. Has anyone tested it for going to another platform? I didn't even know that that was an option.
This ^.
But to answer @scottalanmiller question - in the search for a solution to this problem, I have run across many pages that talk about a multi-staged approach to migrating to XS. And that is something I am trying to avoid.
People said the same thing to me in my 2008 P2V thread. Why are you using Clonezilla? Why not use XYZ and my answer then was that each time I read about using those tools, they always ended with - you might have to run some type of repair to get it to work. Well I was already in the repair mode on my Clonezilla based P2V, so why start over with a new tool just to end up in the same spot? But of course after 3 days of nearly no progress, I did break down and do as JB suggested had worked for him in the past - I created a Windows backup, which I then restored into XS, only to find myself at exactly the same trouble spot - BSOD 0x0000007B - something's wrong with your boot hardware. I did solve that by editing the registry and disabling the HP RAID drivers and enabling the ATAPI and IDE drivers.
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@momurda said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
@scottalanmiller
I have used vmware converter on stubborn p2v, then exported from esxi to ova and imported to XS.yeah this is the process I've read about over and over - sadly I don't have enough storage on my current ESXi host to accommodate a conversion there.
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Have you tried doing the same sort of process you did with your 2k8 server the other day? Are you able to load the registry at all?
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@Dashrender said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
I found a thread that mentioned that the user couldn't get a P2V to work in XS until they fully expanded the thin provisioned disk, then restored the image would boot.
I've made a copy of the boot drive and am using dd to expand the drive and will try to restore.
dd if=/dev/zero of=filename bs=$((1024*1024)) count=$((10*1024))This will create a 10 GB file.
OK I filled the disk 100% (I assume this fully expanded it - suppose I could get into the XS console and go looking at the VDI files to make sure it actually reports the correct size).
Restored using Clonezilla - black screen
Trying fixboot, etc.
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@momurda said in Windows Server 2003 P2V adventures:
Have you tried doing the same sort of process you did with your 2k8 server the other day? Are you able to load the registry at all?
Yes I did - I found that my 2003 server was (I think) missing one of the IDE drivers, so I put it in c:\windows\system32\drivers but that didn't help. I checked the registry, all looked well there.
The fact that it booted when using the boot sector from the Hirem CD implies to me that the boot sector in the VDI isn't properly pointing to the ntldr, so it's not booting. Somehow the boot to local media option of Hirem's CD gets past the hurtle and allows the system to boot.
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This is a failed boot with no ISO attached.
https://i.imgur.com/BEHPACs.png -
This is what a failed boot with a bootable ISO attached looks like
https://i.imgur.com/VcnoXLw.png -
Fixboot - reboot
https://i.imgur.com/x0z5FIb.png
Fixmbr - reboot
https://i.imgur.com/q7uKPry.png
bootcfg /rebuild
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Oh i just noticed. Did this physical server have more than 1 cpu or 1 cpu core? Your vm is setup as only 1 vcpu. This could be a problem.
If it only had the one cpu... a bit incredible it can read just fine but wont boot. Long shot, but do you have a win2k3 cd/dvd? can you load that and try a Repair Installation? Like the days of yore with xp, that option worked wonders for me fixing things like this.edit: server not vm
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Not sure if your solve the issue yet, but since you mentioned it boots fine using Hiren
Can you try this :
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/super-grub2-disk/
Can you boot the VM from it, if so then you can install it as boot loader.
