[SOLVED] Windows Server - Can't format drives

S

soapee01

Renowned Member
Sep 7, 2016
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Proxmox 4.2-17 (on debian jessie)
I've manually added an mdadm raid1 array for additional storage (md1 in proxmox). I've also got a single hard drive (bak in proxmox).

I can only get two virtio drives to work in win2k12r2. The first is the primary drive (c:\ LVM), and the 2nd is on the drive labeled bak (used for windows backups).

2lcp5bs.jpg


Here's what I see in windows:
idfwgp.jpg


And the disk partitioner (right click a drive, select New Volume) won't show any of the drives. I've re-added, deleted, re-initialized, etc.
n683cz.jpg


I've even formatted with diskpart.exe. This will work, but does not survive a reboot.

Anyone have an idea on how to solve this?

[edit] I did add the latest virtio drivers. I originally used the stable ones at installation. Until I upgraded the drivers I could not add a 2nd hard drive, which is used for windows server backup.
 
Hi,

I tried it with the computer manage mmc and it worked,
but you have to update the view manually before all disk are available to format.
 
wolfgang: I did update the view (Tasks-> rescan storage, and Refresh), as well as hitting the buttons in the new volume wizard. They still do not show. This is weird.
 
I found the answer. I hope this helps somebody...

virtio1 (bak:101/vm-101-disk2.qcow2,size=500G) Was the first drive I added after the C:\ Drive. I did this on both machines. In order to get those to read, I had to upgrade the virtio drivers from stable to latest.

These virtual disks are dedicated for Windows Server Backups, and the backups had been configured.

Workaround: Delete all hard drives except virtio0 (the C:\ drive). Add the 800GB drive (a data drive), and format as you would expect. Then add a 500GB drive for windows server backups.

This works, but I don't know why....


EDIT: Windows Server Backup could not format the 500GB drive when the option "Back up to a hard disk that is dedicated for backups (recommended)" was selected. I could format the drive with an NTFS partition, assign it a drive letter, and select the "Back up to a volume" option instead.
 
Last edited:
Had this come up again, and found a better solution.

If you open the disk management tool in windows server (instead of the server manager) you can create new volumes.
 
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