Migration of physical Windows XP to virtual

[slapshot]

Hi everybody,

following this wiki http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migration_of_servers_to_Proxmox_VE I was able to migrate a physical windows xp to a qemu raw hard disk. Now, I used both methods but I have the same issue. These methods was point 2. and 3. (even if for point 2. I used trk 3.4 build 372 which I used to rather than clonezilla) but I have the problem that when I try to start win xp under proxmox console Windows seems to boot showing me if start normally, safe mode with prompt etc.. but any choice shows me classical blue screen (too fast to read) and always reboot.

I think the migration was succesful because I'm able to mount qemu raw file and browsing all ntfs file system. Mergeide.reg was installed into physical XP and boot.ini seems ok.

Any hint to verify ?

Thank you

 

[m.ardito]

Hi everybody,
I think the migration was succesful because I'm able to mount qemu raw file and browsing all ntfs file system. Mergeide.reg was installed into physical XP and boot.ini seems ok.

Any hint to verify ?

Thank you

did you apply the mergeide settings as mentioned on that page: missing this always gives you "

STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF741B84C,0xC0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000) INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE "

blue screen and sudden reboot...

Marco

 

[slapshot]

yes, I applied it to physical win xp before migration. Is it enough to import it into windows registry or there is need other operations ?

 

[m.ardito]

yes, for what is related to virtual disk compatibility... it must be something else,
you should also check that the boot.ini is pointing to the right partition (maybe physical xp had some small service partition in front of the main "c:\" one)...

else, you can try:
* to catch some details of that blue screen error, which can give hints
* post here (in the right forum depending which pve version you are trying with) details about your vm (eg: your <VMID>.conf, pveversion, etc) and anything about the hardware the physical xp is running on, so that others can give you hints and suggestions...

Marco

 

[hotwired007]

what have you confiured your hard disk to use? IDE/SCSI/Virtio? I haven't had much luck using anything other than IDE when migrating any machines from physical to virtual.

 

[slapshot]

yes, for what is related to virtual disk compatibility... it must be something else,
you should also check that the boot.ini is pointing to the right partition (maybe physical xp had some small service partition in front of the main "c:\" one)...

else, you can try:
* to catch some details of that blue screen error, which can give hints
* post here (in the right forum depending which pve version you are trying with) details about your vm (eg: your <VMID>.conf, pveversion, etc) and anything about the hardware the physical xp is running on, so that others can give you hints and suggestions...

Marco

well, pc has 2 hard disk. C:\ is the one I'm trying to clone. No hidden partition. Here is its boot.ini

[boot loader]timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

I could not see well the details of blue screen, just a CHKDSK /F. I tried to load a windows emergency console and running chkdsk /p ((f was not recognized) but unsuccesful.

Anyway, starting vm windows xp seems to load something because the progress bar can arrive to its end, then the blue screen. Sometimes, I saw also the windows splash screen just for a while so I tought it can be related to video card ?

I will post asap vm.conf and some hardware details.

Thank you

 

[slapshot]

* post here (in the right forum depending which pve version you are trying with) details about your vm (eg: your <VMID>.conf, pveversion, etc) and anything about the hardware the physical xp is running on, so that others can give you hints and suggestions...

Marco

Here is some hardware details:

Scheda Madre :    Non specificato K7S41GXChipset :    SiS 741GX
Processore :    AMD Sempron @ 1200MHz
Memoria Fisica :    512MB (1 x 512 DDR-SDRAM )
Scheda Video :    SiS 661FX_760_741_M661FX_M760_M741
Hard Disk :    Maxtor 6E040L0 (41GB)
Hard Disk :    MAXTOR STM3160815A (160GB)
DVD-Rom Drive :    HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4521B

 

[slapshot]

Here is 103.conf:

boot: dcn
bootdisk: ide0
cores: 1
ide0: storage2:103/vm-103-disk-2.raw
ide2: none,media=cdrom
memory: 512
name: XP_Cangiano
net0: rtl8139=2E:B2:59:11:78:32,bridge=vmbr0
ostype: wxp
sockets: 1

Many thanks.

 

[m.ardito]

...i'can't see anything strange, but who knows... maybe others will see or suggest something

if anything fails, you can
* try a different kernel / kvm version (a 1.9 stable pve maybe?)
* try the fsarchiver approach (i migrated all my windows servers with that) instead: it works at filesystem level.
* try to attach the virtual xp raw disk to a dummy linux machine (eg, any livecd) and mount the disk, checking that everything is ok.
* install a new virtual xp fro mscratch > backup from the physical > restore on the virtual

...buona fortuna...

Marco

 

[slapshot]

...i'can't see anything strange, but who knows... maybe others will see or suggest something

if anything fails, you can
* try a different kernel / kvm version (a 1.9 stable pve maybe?)
* try the fsarchiver approach (i migrated all my windows servers with that) instead: it works at filesystem level.

This last one will be my next attempt

* try to attach the virtual xp raw disk to a dummy linux machine (eg, any livecd) and mount the disk, checking that everything is ok.

Yes, done ! It is ok. I checked it with Proxmox debian mounting loop it. I was able to browse all ntfs file system :O Will try also with a live.

* install a new virtual xp fro mscratch > backup from the physical > restore on the virtual

Next further attempt

...buona fortuna...

Grazie

 

[slapshot]

Ok, I was able to capture a screenshot of Win Xp boot error. It seems tied to mergeide.reg, at least this is what I can read on the wiki: http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migration_of_servers_to_Proxmox_VE#inaccessible_boot_device but I'm pretty sure I installed into the phisycal machine the registry key using the file linked on the wiki page. Here is the screenshot:


Trying to repare with a windows xp cd this installation could work ?

Thanks

 

[m.ardito]

Trying to repare with a windows xp cd this installation could work ?
Thanks

well, it should just be sufficient to let windows know how to use virtual ide disks, so i think yes, that step could solve (i always did that to install custom scsi/sata drivers, never ide, though...), but never did. mergeide always did the trick.

also, you could check the registry and see if all those changes are effectively in place, or try to re-import the reg file (check on MS websites if thare are new mergeide versions).

hth, Marco

 

[slapshot]

well, it should just be sufficient to let windows know how to use virtual ide disks, so i think yes, that step could solve (i always did that to install custom scsi/sata drivers, never ide, though...), but never did. mergeide always did the trick.

also, you could check the registry and see if all those changes are effectively in place, or try to re-import the reg file (check on MS websites if thare are new mergeide versions).

hth, Marco

Thank you Marco. Just checked for new Mergeide version on M$ website. I will use that for my next attempt. Further, I will double check again the existence of intelide.sys, atapi.sys ecc.. such as suggested here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314082/en-us on my phisycal machine (eventually replacing it) and will try again the cloning.

 

[Stewge]

Can you boot into safe-mode or still have the original XP machine?

I've found that creating a new hardware-profile before transferring the machine helps to get Windows to redetect all the hardware again. It's possible some particular bit of hardware is stopping it from booting.

Also have you tried using Selfmage instead? I found it worked ok to migrate some physical windows machines. Other than that, another option is to use Windows Backup to do a full backup, create a new VM with a clean Windows install, then restore the backup. While you may get a migrated machine to boot, there's usually a lot of little things left over from the original machine generating errors in the background.

 

[slapshot]

Can you boot into safe-mode or still have the original XP machine?

I've found that creating a new hardware-profile before transferring the machine helps to get Windows to redetect all the hardware again. It's possible some particular bit of hardware is stopping it from booting.

Also have you tried using Selfmage instead? I found it worked ok to migrate some physical windows machines. Other than that, another option is to use Windows Backup to do a full backup, create a new VM with a clean Windows install, then restore the backup. While you may get a migrated machine to boot, there's usually a lot of little things left over from the original machine generating errors in the background.

Hi, I cannot boot nor in safe mode.

Just tried with Selfimage following Proxmox wiki. All ok with no errors but the system hang at boot from IDE Hard Disk. Gparted can show me a /dev/sda1 ntfs partition of 160 gb but with errors. Fdisk is confused or there is some other kind of partition errors I cannot understand. Here is its output:

 fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 172.9 GB, 172872433664 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 21017 cylinders, total 337641472 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6572706d


This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.


   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1       543519333  1823983271   640231969+  50  OnTrack DM
/dev/sda2   ?  1701847107  3470934196   884543545   2b  Unknown
/dev/sda3   ?   168624138   168624138           0   61  SpeedStor
/dev/sda4      2642608128  2642657453       24663    0  Empty


Partition table entries are not in disk order

I can try again with dd and your new information about New Hardware Profile. Did you just copy the first one or did you put it on first ?
Did you delete the original one or just lowered at second level ?

Thank you

 

[Stewge]

That Fdisk output looks strange. Like the selfimage didn't pickup the partition table.

For the hardware profile I created a new one in safe mode, deleted all devices out of it, then ran the mergeide.reg. There's probably a better way but it worked.

If not, I would suggest the windows backup method (it can be installed off the windows CD if it's not there already). I've never had problems with this method as it bypasses all the hardware mucking around.

 

[slapshot]

yeah yeah yeah !! Finally I got the the clonation working ! Here is method and workaround used:

1. Checked the presence in c:\windows\system32\drivers of all *.sys drivers listed on the m$ page linked above in one of my previous post (I mean, intelide.sys, atapi.sys etc..)
2. Created a new Mergeide.reg with notepad and copy and paste from the m$ link above and installed in the registry
3. Rebooted the PM
4. Created in Windows a new Profile, a simple copy of the previous one (and not rebooted to use it into Windows)
5. Booted the PM with TRK (really a useful great distro http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.p...R_YOUR_COMPUTER&front_id=12&lang=en&locale=en)
6. Used dd method from the wiki Proxmox page read here: http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migrati...s_physical_machine_to_a_VM_raw_file_using_SSH
7. Rebooted the windows VM and selected the new profile just created

I actually don't know what is worked from previous attempts, maybe new profile or new mergeide.reg or intelide.sys presence in windows drivers directory or all these things but finally it works !!

..... and the VM are working really faster than PM !

Thanks everybody for your help !