Trying to convert existing physical XP to a VM on a new host

[virgil_machine]

Thank you for your patience. I've learned a lot in this process.

However, I'm back to the point where CZ does not find my image.

I created the disk, attached it to an Ubuntu VM, and copied the image into it, then attached it to the VM that I want to load it into and booted thatVM from the CZ cd.

When I get to the point where it asks where I want to restore from, I select the new disk. It gives me 2 options for directories: the top level and the lost+found directory, but not the 2009-03-26-20-xp-img directory that CZ created when it created the image. It did not find the image. I then created a new disk, copied the contents of the image directory to the top level and tried again. Same problem CZ has given me every time--no image found. Each time, I went to CZ command line and verified that the 10 files I expected were in /home/partimag.

Then only thing I can think of now is that the image is somehow corrupted, so I'm going to go back and create a new one and try again. If that doesn't work, I'm stuck.

[Sasquatch]

You won't be stuck, you still have Acronis TrueImage, right?

[virgil_machine]

I'm stuck. As I've said, Acronis does not do the job--does not see the linux partition where all the space is, and does not see the network

[virgil_machine]

I got an answer on the VMware forum regarding my problem with Converter. Remember that my first attempt was to create an image with VMware Converter to import into Vbox. Someone with the same problem I had identified it as the dual boot, which is as I suspected. He removed the linux machine and Converter worked.

Is it possible that CZ doesn't recognize the image because it's a clone of a dual boot (actually triple-boot) machine?

I have 2 paths to pursue now, both involving removing Windows 7 and Ubuntu from the computer (which is better than being stuck):
1. Clone the remaining XP machine with CZ an proceed as I had been
2. Try VMware converter again

A third path would be to see if Acronis likes the XP-only setup better, but I'll try the other two first.

[vbox4me2]

That is very possible a reason for not working, CZ has quite a few options that you can't mix differently.

[Sasquatch]

I'm stuck. As I've said, Acronis does not do the job--does not see the linux partition where all the space is, and does not see the network

I've said it before, don't use the default search option, use the IP address of the server. I've never got issues using a Samba share from Acronis with default NAT of the VM. Or the physical network.

[virgil_machine]

I've said it before, don't use the default search option, use the IP address of the server. I've never got issues using a Samba share from Acronis with default NAT of the VM. Or the physical network.

I'm booting from the recovery cd. I have an option to select network in the left column. That doesn't work. The only place I can enter anything is the filename field. No matter how I try to enter an ip address I get "you do not have permissions..."

I have permissions set so ubuntu and xp can get to the server and vms on the server can get to it.

Do you have any other thoughts?

In any case, I need to clear the dual boot problem before I go forward with anything.

[Sasquatch]

There are some options available in the network settings of acronis. I will look into it in a moment. AFAIK, it should ask for user credentials upon connecting.

I've loaded Acronis in one of my VMs and this is what I set and got. I noted the server IP, but it was also visible in the browser. This is done with HIF settings, 'cause somehow NAT made my whole network go down. Could be VB 2.2 beta 2 that I run, or the Linux kernel 2.6.29.
First, open Options > Tools to set an IP address if there is no DHCP running.

Network settings

acronis-network.png (9.86 KiB) Viewed 7944 times

Now browse to the share and enter your username and password when prompted.

Username for the share

acronis-share.png (24.56 KiB) Viewed 7947 times

[virgil_machine]

OK, I found that. However, it sees only my wired connection, not wireless. Since it would take some effort to make it a wired connection, I'm going to hold off. However, I'm glad to know that I have that option. Thank you for your effort.

In the meantime, I have come into possession of an old computer with XP Home on it. I am going to experiment with that to see if I can get the process ironed out.

I plan to boot the XP Home machine, create a hardware profile with nothing in it, and shut it down. Then I'll remove the hard drive and physically attach it to the server where I am creating VMs. I'll create a new VM, and attach the XP Home drive to it. Then I'll boot the VM from the Acronis Recovery CD and clone the XP Home drive into it.

If that works, I'll do the same with machine I've been struggling with.

What do you think?

[Sasquatch]

It's quite a big work around, but it could actually work . Don't you have an option to move the PC closer to the server? If the server has two NICs and uses USB keyboard and mouse, you can use that to temporarily control the PC.

[virgil_machine]

Just an update:

First, thanks for pointing out that I had another very simple solution to my wireless problem. The computers are right next to each other, sharing a kvm switch. All I had to do was make the wired computer wireless and the wireless computer wired (very embarassing).

Now, I've tried creating the image with acronins on the server. The one time that worked, I hadn't fixed the hardware profile, so after I restored the new VM from the acronis image and boot it, it hangs. In safe mode I see it hanging on Mup.sys. So, I went back to the physical machine, created a second hardware profile, booted with that, and disabled everything I could in device manager (some didn't have the option to disable, and if I disable the keyboard/mouse I'm not able to do anything).

Then I shutdown and made a new image. Unfortunately the server likes to drop the wireless connection in the middle of this process, so it's worked 1 out of 4 times. I may have to jury rig another wired connection and see if that is better.

Now I have another, unrelated problem on the server that's keeping me occupied so it may be a while.

Thanks again for all your help and patience.

[Sasquatch]

If both have a wired interface, why not get a crosscable (or if one of them has gigabit, a normal cable will do too) and use the P2P connection?

[virgil_machine]

OK. I have both computers on wired connections.

I created a hardware profile in XP Home named VM, shutdown, rebooted, and used Device Manager to disable everything I could. Then I shut it down and backed it up with Acronis. I restored that image to the new VM on the server, and it hangs in the same place as with the regular profile...in loading Mup.sys

I found http://www.aitechsolutions.net/mupdotsysXPhang.html that says:
"The main reasons for this Windows XP or Win 2000 boot hang or alleged mup.sys issue are:
1.Hard disk failure or corruption
2.A corrupted registry or registry hive
3.New hardware has been installed but not did not completely "Register or re-Register" correctly
4.New hardware has been installed but it is faulty or failing
5.The new hardware's driver or windows itself has been compromised (Disk data corruption or by a virus) or (rare) needs to be updated
6.The power supply is marginal in output or failing (Common per user feedback)
7.BIOS\ESCD\Motherboard chipset driver conflict with a component, its driver, or its registry data
8.Existing hardware including the motherboard may have failed in a specific way but not catastrophically.
In my experience, I have never found that the mup.sys driver is actually the cause of the problem but replacing it with a known good uninfected version
won't hurt if just to exclude that possibility. Also, disabling the mup.sys driver by using the recovery console normally does not help either."

So, I suspect that it has something to do with some hardware on the server not being compatible...but I have a lot of research to do.

[vbox4me2]

If these methodes don't work its a kernal(acpi) issue, install XP or whatever as a new VM and 'nick' the kernal drivers when done, and use them for your not working VM.

[virgil_machine]

I found some info that the mouse may be an issue. Since I'm using a kvm switch, I thought that might be it. It's not. I still hang on Mup.sys.

I'm not sure what you mean about nicking drivers from another machine...how do I know what I want?