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V2V conversion stalls at acpitabl.dat

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David Wilkinson

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Nov 30, 2009, 1:14:05 PM11/30/09
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For some time I have been running WHS under Virtual Server 2005 on a x86 XP host
running on an old Pentium 4 computer (Dell 8300). Despite the underpowered host,
it runs fine (though I have not stressed it very hard).

Recently I have dual booted the host machine to run Windows 7 Ultimate (using
BootIt NG), and I am trying to get the virtual WHS running under Windows 7.

When I finally managed to get Virtual Server running under Windows 7 (not easy),
I was disturbed to find that my WHS would not boot.

It hangs at the "Windows Home Server" screen with the progress bar going back
and forth. This happens either with the original VMC file or with a new one
pointed at the VHD (which is a large SCSI drive with two partitions C and D for
WHS).

After figuring out how to start a virtual machine in safe mode, I found it
stalls at acpitabl.dat.

After some searching I found that this is a not uncommon problem with P2V
conversions, but

1. Why is this happening to me with the same physical host and the same
virtualization technology? (I have shared virtual machines between dual booted
hosts before without any problems).

2. What should I do about it?

--
David Wilkinson
Visual C++ MVP

--
David Wilkinson
Visual C++ MVP

Robert Comer

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Nov 30, 2009, 1:34:33 PM11/30/09
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You might try reinstalling the WHS server, otherwise it sounds like a
difference in Windows 7 that is not allowing VS to run the same... (as
you know, it's not a supported scenario, either running WHS on Virtual
Server, or running Virtual Server on Windows 7)

--
Bob Comer

David Wilkinson

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Dec 2, 2009, 9:38:30 AM12/2/09
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Robert Comer wrote:
> You might try reinstalling the WHS server, otherwise it sounds like a
> difference in Windows 7 that is not allowing VS to run the same... (as
> you know, it's not a supported scenario, either running WHS on Virtual
> Server, or running Virtual Server on Windows 7)

Robert:

Thanks. Unfortunately WHS does not have a server repair facility, only a server
reinstall. But I will try it on a copy. Or install a whole new version.

If this fails I will try a different guest OS. The clever people who taught me
how to install Virtual Server on Windows 7 have presumably gotten it to actually
work with some guests...

Robert Comer

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Dec 2, 2009, 9:47:31 AM12/2/09
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>Thanks. Unfortunately WHS does not have a server repair facility, only a server
>reinstall. But I will try it on a copy. Or install a whole new version.

Yep. I've had to do the reinstall server once, but I usually just
wipe and start over.

--
Bob Comer

David Wilkinson

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Dec 2, 2009, 1:45:00 PM12/2/09
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Robert Comer wrote:
>> Thanks. Unfortunately WHS does not have a server repair facility, only a server
>> reinstall. But I will try it on a copy. Or install a whole new version.
>
> Yep. I've had to do the reinstall server once, but I usually just
> wipe and start over.

Robert:

You don't have anything to say about the fact that it stalls at acpitabl.dat?
Might this indicate that the hal.dll is wrong version?

Robert Comer

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Dec 2, 2009, 1:52:07 PM12/2/09
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>You don't have anything to say about the fact that it stalls at acpitabl.dat?

I haven't run into the problem with a Virtual Server VM.

>Might this indicate that the hal.dll is wrong version?

I very much doubt it as it's all Virtual Server. (same "hardware")

--
Bob Comer

David Wilkinson

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Dec 4, 2009, 9:36:58 PM12/4/09
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Robert Comer wrote:
> You might try reinstalling the WHS server, otherwise it sounds like a
> difference in Windows 7 that is not allowing VS to run the same... (as
> you know, it's not a supported scenario, either running WHS on Virtual
> Server, or running Virtual Server on Windows 7)

OK, so I downloaded the Win2003 pre-built virtual machine from Microsoft, and
was able to start it just fine in Virtual Server on Windows 7. I have not really
done anything on it yet (wasn't planning to), but I am able to surf the net
(using the physical NIC of the Windows 7 host). Therefore, in my book, it works.

So it seems that, at least so far, it is not Virtual Server on Windows 7 that is
the problem.

One thing that is different is that my WHS is on a virtaul SCSI disk rather than
a virtual IDE disk. Could this be the problem?

(It is actually a variable size SCSI disk whose capacity is bigger than the host
disk that it lives on, but this was never a problem on the XP host.)

Maybe I need to reinstall WHS on the SCSI disk (I would really rather not...).

Robert Comer

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Dec 5, 2009, 1:41:33 AM12/5/09
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>Therefore, in my book, it works.

Agreed.

> One thing that is different is that my WHS is on a virtual SCSI disk


> rather than a virtual IDE disk. Could this be the problem?

It shouldn't be, but it could be where there's an incompatibility with Win7.

A good test would be to create a new VM with a SCSI disk and install WHS into
it. I'd try it myself, but I don't have Virtual Server working in Win7. (I
tried it back in the beta but I haven't bothered to since RTM)

> Maybe I need to reinstall WHS on the SCSI disk (I would really rather
> not...).

Just try a new test VM to see, it'll tell if it's even possible, or maybe why
it fails.

It's too bad Windows VPC doesn't support SCSI disks, it's limitation in IDE
disk size makes it totally unusable for what you want. :(

--
Bob Comer

Robert Comer

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Dec 5, 2009, 3:05:21 AM12/5/09
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Well David, I had an allergy attack tonight so I had some time to kill
so I got Virtual Server up and running on my main Win7 machine. <g>

The install is starting now so I'll let you know.

I started with only 1 SCSI drive and it's bigger than the available
space in the partition.

I'll post back with results later on...

--
Bob Comer

Robert Comer

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Dec 5, 2009, 3:45:30 AM12/5/09
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Well, got my answer pretty quick and verified it with another OS (XP
in this case), the SCSI shunt driver is inoperative, once the VM gets
past the BIOS boot phase and gets to the OS load of drivers, it dies.

Gotta figure out how to get that going for there to be any hope...

--
Bob Comer

David Wilkinson

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Dec 5, 2009, 5:40:10 AM12/5/09
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Robert Comer wrote:
> Well, got my answer pretty quick and verified it with another OS (XP
> in this case), the SCSI shunt driver is inoperative, once the VM gets
> past the BIOS boot phase and gets to the OS load of drivers, it dies.
>
> Gotta figure out how to get that going for there to be any hope...

Robert:

Thanks a bunch! But now I'm really out of my depth (before I was just on the
edge). Is there any possibility this could be made to work?

Does this not happen with a Vista host? I just did a quick search but did not
find anything.

Robert Comer

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Dec 5, 2009, 8:02:01 AM12/5/09
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> Thanks a bunch! But now I'm really out of my depth (before I was just on
> the edge). Is there any possibility this could be made to work?

I just don't know, it's a tough one. My guess is not unless it's something
else that is getting in the way and whatever that is if it can be disabled.

> Does this not happen with a Vista host? I just did a quick search but
> did not find anything.

I doubt it happens, but I'll let you know. SCSI isn't that common on desktop
Virtual Server installs -- unless you need large disks...

--
Bob Comer

Robert Comer

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Dec 5, 2009, 7:52:45 AM12/5/09
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>Does this not happen with a Vista host? I just did a quick search but did not
>find anything.

Just checked, Virtual Server doesn't have that problem on Vista.

Also, it doesn't matter the size of the SCSI disk or if it's fixed or
dynamic on Windows 7, it always fails.

--
Bob Comer

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