Trouble with V2V Citrix XenServer to VMware ESXi Conversion

[Alrikoh]

Hello everyone,

I have been trying to use StarWind V2v to convert Citrix XenServer VMs over to VMware ESXi.

I have exported the OVF with VHD from Citrix XenServer for my test VM.

I then ran the conversion, connected directly to my Vcenter, and converted the VHD to VMDK and attached it to a new VM. The process seemed to work great!

results.png (25.19 KiB) Viewed 3937 times

I went to start the VM, and it first went to BIOS, so I selected 'save and exit' and moved on. It presented the Windows logo, as if it was going to boot and went straight to the error screen:

error.png (65.88 KiB) Viewed 3937 times

It then endlessly reboots to the same window. It eventually will take me to the windows repair screen, but clicking 'start windows server 2016 normally' then kicks me back into the same endless cycle.

I have tried to check the box to enter/configure Windows recovery mode during the V2V conversion, as well as leaving the box unchecked.

Does anyone have some pro tips on getting a XenServer 7.1 LTSR CU2 Virtual Machine into VMware ESXi 6.7 with the converter? I feel like I might be missing something here, but I've tried multiple things and they seem to result in the final end product. This is simply a VM I'm testing with before I move forward with migrating about a dozen or so VMs so I can fully get off Citrix XenServer.

Thanks so much for any feedback!

[yaroslav (staff)]

Welcome to StarWind Forum. Please try enabling the compatibility mode. Also, please try converting the disk alone.
See the articles related to this issue https://appuals.com/system-thread-excep ... t-handled/ https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 3884d5749f.

[Alrikoh]

Yaroslav - thank you very much for your feedback.

Actually, after much trial and error between last night and this morning, I figured it out! The issue was with Xen Tools and the corresponding drivers existing on the VM, since I was going from Xen Server to VMware (Xen Tools is like VMware tools).

Here's what I did to get my test VM successfully migrated from XenServer to VMware - Hopefully this helps others because I've spent days on multiple tools trying to do this!

1. Uninstall Xen Tools
2. Stop and disable the remaining Xen Server Interface windows service
3. Open regedit and delete the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\XenTools folder (there's other Citrix folders, so you're probably going to want to be careful here if you have things like Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops or other components installed you're migrating)
4. Delete all xen.sys and xen*.sys drivers from C:\Windows\System32\drivers
5. Delete all the xen*.dll files in C:\Windows\System32
5. Uninstall and remove drivers for the Xen Server PV BUS device from device manager
6. Power down the VM and export the VM to local disk as an OVF/OVA with VHD
7. Create a new VM in VMWare (make sure it has no VHD and a VMXNET3 NIC - I say VMXNET3 because I'm going to install VMware tools later on)
7. Run Starwind V2V converter
8. Select source: local file -> VHD file exported
9. Destination: vcenter -> authenticate with domain creds
10. Convert the VHD to a ESXi growable (thin provisioned) server image/VMDK
11. Leave the 'enter windows recovery' unchecked
12. Add a USB 3.0 host controller to the VMware VM (you can do this in step 7 too)
13. Power on the new VM and BAM!
14. Install VMware tools
15. Reboot
16. VMNIC3 was active
17. Assign the same IP that the source VM had

After step 17 I could RDP in and domain authenticate. I'll be picking some less critical resources to move first, that are in production, and will be doing the same thing.

Alrikoh

[yaroslav (staff)]

Alrikoh,

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[talleychan]

Please enable compatibility mode if you haven't already. Please also try converting the disk on your own.
Take a look at the articles that are linked to this topic.

[yaroslav (staff)]

That often helps. See the solution above.