P2V - Windows 7 to ESX 6.5

[davidmatthewson]

I'd welcome some advice as to how best to debug this issue. I have a working (old) PC with a W7 Pro installation on it and wish to P2V it to (i) junk the old h/w & (ii) then u/g to W10.

The source machine is a 'normal' desktop PC with a 1Tb Sata HD. The conversion runs fine and completes in about 60 minutes. When I power up the VM it boots but then fails at 'Starting Windows' screen. Windows then offers to repair it, but can't. IN some ways this does not surprise me as I imagine the h/w and the emulation of the h/w do not match. I've seen mention of a 'Windows re-deploy' type function in the convertor forum but see no signs of it in the GUI. Is this a possible solution to the problem &/or how best to determine what is failing?

The log ends with:

• 8/14 17:13:21.785 2ddc Facility ???INFO: P2V::getSectorsNext: countClusters - 30242160, dwCountBytes - 30242160
  8/14 17:16:30.899 2ddc Facility ???INFO: CPPConverting::ConvertImage: Success
  8/14 17:16:30.914 2ddc Facility ???INFO: CPPConverting::Convert: SUCCESSFULLY
  8/14 17:26:15.541 3134 Facility ???WARNING: WrapperESXI::disconnect: m_proxy->Logout fail - 12
  8/14 17:26:15.541 3134 Facility ???ERROR: getErrorFromSOAP: soap_sprint_fault - SOAP 1.1 fault "":ServerFaultCode [no subcode]
  "The session is not authenticated."
  Detail:

Thanks

[yaroslav (staff)]

Hi, could you please share the full log with me? You can find it in C:\Program Files\StarWind Software\StarWind V2V Converter (there should be a log folder).

[davidmatthewson]

Pls find attached the full logs as a zip.

I did, in the end, get this to work by using a 3rd party product. To recap, whilst the conversion to ESX seemed to work, the resultant W7 VM would not boot. BSOD suggested missing drivers, as did the W7 boot process failing at the 'starting windows' screen.

To get it working I booted the VM from a Macrium recovery ISO which had their 'redeploy' product installed. This then scanned the W7 install and patched it with the correct drivers needed for ESX. It then booted OK. So what I don't understand it how the SW Convertor would/should/could patch the VM to have the correct drivers?

Macrium can be found here http://reflect.macrium.com/help/v5/how_ ... rdware.htm if you don't know it.

Looking fwd to your comments etc.

Thanks.

[davidmatthewson]

Hi Yaraslav

Just to add to this thread...

1) I retried the conversion with identical results - viz: converted ok but fails to boot. Use Macrium Redeploy to patch HD drives, it boots fine.

2) I then used VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Client, version=6.2.0, build=8466193 against the same target PC and it took about an hour to convert to ESX and then.. booted cleanly.

2020-08-15 20_08_44-Photos.png (51 KiB) Viewed 20082 times

So I wonder why the VM product works but SW doesn't?

Happy to provide more logs, info etc if that might help.

David

[yaroslav (staff)]

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing the logs and info. We are investigating the issue. I would be really thankful if you could log a call with us so that we could investigate this question deeply together with our R&D team. Please use this thread as a reference.

[davidmatthewson]

OK - next week then - many thanks.

[yaroslav (staff)]

Thank you!

[yaroslav (staff)]

I have discussed this case with my colleague.
What you can do is do a P2V to HDD conversion of a disk (not a VM) with active mode enabled. Then, just re-create a VM and use that disk.

[davidmatthewson]

OK, thanks . Not 100% sure I follow that. If I create a disk - not a VM - from the target I can indeed mount that in a new VM but I don't see how that would boot from it if it doesn't boot when I convert the entire thing to a VM. Can you clarify pls? [I'm happy to try this in any case and report back.]

I also guess that leaves the underlying issue - why SW convertor doesn't work when the VM one does.. ;}

Thanks.

[yaroslav (staff)]

You can just attach that disk to the VM later and boot from it later.
You can enable active mode while P2V-converting a disk and that should fix the boot issue.

[davidmatthewson]

OK thanks - I'll try that - much appreciated.

[yaroslav (staff)]

David,

You are always welcome.
Please let me know if it works (or not).

[davidmatthewson]

Will do!

[anton (staff)]

How's your progress?