P2V Win 7 vm fails to start after working for 1 day

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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paljlo
Posts: 3
Joined: 30. Oct 2021, 03:10

P2V Win 7 vm fails to start after working for 1 day

Post by paljlo »

Hi, I created a Windows 7 Pro VM using Vmware standalone converter and vBoxManage to convert the vmdk file to vdi format.

I was able to start the VM under VirtualBox 6.1.28 r147628 (Qt5.6.2) which is running on a 10 core Windows 7 PC, install the Vbox additions, change the Windows 7 VM product key and activate the Win 7 VM.
I closed down the VM and restarted it to change the screen resolution.

Today when starting the VM, it takes 1 to 2 minutes to show a black screen (the same screen size when it worked) after showing the Windows logo when booting up. If I leave it the screen doesn't change.

If I start the VM in safe mode with networking, it starts up and loads. The Windows event log doesn't show any entries for the previous failed boot.

The Windows 7 guest VM has 4 CPUs and 8GB memory, while the WIndows 7 Host has 10 CPUs and 64GB rmemory.

I'm assuming that there is one or more drivers not loading. Would the best course of action be to try and disable as many non core Windows drivers in safe mode and restart.

I have uploaded the the log files and the vBox settings from a failed guest load. If desired, I can upload the logs from a successfull load of the guest VM in Safe Mode.
Attachments
X99E10GWS_VM.zip
vBox settings file
(2.08 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
VBoxHardening.zip
VboxHarding file from failed load
(24.2 KiB) Downloaded 5 times
VBox.zip
vbox log file from failed load
(40.21 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: P2V Win 7 vm fails to start after working for 1 day

Post by mpack »

I see you have a Win7 host. Please note that Win7 is not a supported host OS for VirtualBox 6.1.x. That does not mean it's guaranteed to fail, it does mean that the devs will not care about fixing it.

You should reduce VM cores to 2. Only increase if you see the cores maxing out. Otherwise idle cores slow down a VM, they do not speed it up.

I don't like the fact that the guest is using an LsiLogic SCSI controller. That's an unusual choice for a VirtualBox VM, and not what the template uses.

Despite my comments, I see nothing wrong in the VM. It boots to the Guest Additions load in 1 min 3 secs, not hugely fast by modern standards but ok - and your VM could be on a mechanical drive.

We then have this:
00:01:40.524841 NAT: Guest address guess changed from 10.0.2.15 to 169.254.156.219 by gratuitous arp
00:01:50.441674 VMMDev: vmmDevHeartbeatFlatlinedTimer: Guest seems to be unresponsive. Last heartbeat received 4 seconds ago
00:01:58.909205 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxGuest: BugCheck! P0=0xf4 P1=0x3 P2=0xfffffa800a660670 P3=0xfffffa800a660950 P4=0xfffff8000435fb90
As you can see, it is the guest having problems, not VirtualBox on the host.

Where did this VM come from? The choice of LsiLogic makes me think this is VMWare stuff, in which case the VMWare tools may still be installed and causing problems. That would be the case if, for some reason, you chose VMWare Converter to do the P2V. That is not a tool I would use to create a VirtualBox VM. I would have used Disk2VHD, though I would have converted the VHD to VDI before using it seriously.
paljlo
Posts: 3
Joined: 30. Oct 2021, 03:10

Re: P2V Win 7 vm fails to start after working for 1 day

Post by paljlo »

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I know that no support is available for vBox as a host on Win 7. I've been trying various Linux distributions fro my main PC but just haven't found one I'm comfortable with. Over the next few months I will need to move over as I can't see myself ever using Win 10 or 11 as my main PC.

The conversion was done with VMware converter and I originally specified SATA as my controller but this VM wouldn't even boot. I then tried the VMware default which is SAS LSILogic, and the guest VM did boot and allow me to activate Windows and install vbox guest additions. No VMware software was installed with the conversion. The guest VM subsequently failed when trying to use the guest VM the next day..

I will try a conversion with Disk2VHD over the next couple of days
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: P2V Win 7 vm fails to start after working for 1 day

Post by mpack »

paljlo wrote:No VMware software was installed with the conversion.
Unless things have changed (i.e. unless you are now given a choice), VMWare Converter always installs the VMWare Guest Tools. That's part of what makes it a VMWare Converter, not a VM Converter.
paljlo
Posts: 3
Joined: 30. Oct 2021, 03:10

Re: P2V Win 7 vm fails to start after working for 1 day

Post by paljlo »

The version of VMware converter (6.2.0 build 8466193) has an option to install VMware Tools on the destination virtual machine as shown in the attached image.

I now have the guest Win 7 VM created with Disk2vhd as you suggested and it is now working. I had to use a PIIX4 storage controller as it wouldn't boot with a SATA storage controller. I don't know if this will make a performance hit, though I do know that it boots rather slowly but runs reasonably well. The original PC had lost of different storage controllers installed (Asmedia USB 3, external RAID units etc), so I will go through it delete these drivers to see if it makes a difference.

Thank you for you advice in pointing me to DIsk2vhd.
Attachments
VMware Converter  post conversion options
VMware Converter post conversion options
VMware_Converter_Options.jpg (20.02 KiB) Viewed 4433 times
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