Can't boot VMDK

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wmeyer
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Can't boot VMDK

Post by wmeyer »

I am running VBox 6.1.34 and have a VMware VM which I want badly to run under VBox. The motivations are both familiarity, and the presence of other VBox VMs I do not want to replace with VMware.
Some months ago, I reported I could not accomplish this using the very useful CloneVDI tool. The tentative conclusion at the time was that asking CloneVDI to apply a new UUID was the root cause.
But now I have tried using CloneVDI with no change to the UUID. The resulting image would not boot.
I tried using VBoxManage to do the conversions, per https://tecadmin.net/vboxmanage-convert ... -vdi-disk/ The resulting image would not boot.
I tried copying the VMDK files to a new folder and setting up a new VBox to use them directly. The resulting image would not boot.

NOTE: I am quite confident this has nothing to do with CloneVDI, which is why I am not posting in connection with that tool.

Having used VBox since 2008, this is very frustrating. The target VM is running Windows10 64-bit. I have numerous VBox VMs with that same OS, and they work fine, but they were build from scratch as VDI images.
I am relatively inexperienced with VMDK, never having really needed it. If anyone can point me to a good and detailed article on the process and pitfalls, I would appreciate it.
fth0
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Re: Can't boot VMDK

Post by fth0 »

AFAIK, a typical mistake is to configure the wrong Storage Controller type. Check which storage controller was used in the VMware VM (e.g. SCSI, SATA, NVMe), and configure the same in the VirtualBox VM.
scottgus1
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Re: Can't boot VMDK

Post by scottgus1 »

In addition to fth0's thoughts, VMDK is only a disk file format. It's what is inside the disk file that's important. Which could explain why cloning to VDI doesn't help, because the contents aren't changing, only the packaging.

Virtualbox should be able to run the VMDK, if the OS inside is compatible with the change. How to migrate existing Windows installations to VirtualBox offers an example of an OS that needs tweaking. However, Windows 10 is OK with switching 'PCs' like this.

You'd need to make a compatible VM, as you've only brought the disk, not the whole PC (the VMware configuration). VMware has an Export function which will make an OVA file containing the disk contents and the configuration too. Import the OVA with Virtualbox's Import function.

What is the OS doing? Do you get any error messages?

Start the VM from full normal shutdown, not save-state. Run until you see the problem happen, then shut down the VM from within the VM's OS if possible. If not possible, close the Virtualbox window for the VM with the Power Off option set.

Right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip it, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.
wmeyer
Posts: 66
Joined: 14. May 2009, 18:42
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows 7

Re: Can't boot VMDK

Post by wmeyer »

fth0 wrote:AFAIK, a typical mistake is to configure the wrong Storage Controller type. Check which storage controller was used in the VMware VM (e.g. SCSI, SATA, NVMe), and configure the same in the VirtualBox VM.
Made sense that this would be an issue. I checked in VMware, and the drives were NVMe, so I tried again with VBox, and installed with the NVMe controller. When I tried to run the machine, it complained of a missing implementation, and referred to an extension pack. So I installed the extension pack and tried again. This time, I got the more normal error announcing that it could not boot from the drive.
wmeyer
Posts: 66
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Primary OS: MS Windows 7
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Re: Can't boot VMDK

Post by wmeyer »

scottgus1 wrote:In addition to fth0's thoughts, VMDK is only a disk file format. It's what is inside the disk file that's important. Which could explain why cloning to VDI doesn't help, because the contents aren't changing, only the packaging.

Virtualbox should be able to run the VMDK, if the OS inside is compatible with the change. How to migrate existing Windows installations to VirtualBox offers an example of an OS that needs tweaking. However, Windows 10 is OK with switching 'PCs' like this.

You'd need to make a compatible VM, as you've only brought the disk, not the whole PC (the VMware configuration). VMware has an Export function which will make an OVA file containing the disk contents and the configuration too. Import the OVA with Virtualbox's Import function.

What is the OS doing? Do you get any error messages?

Start the VM from full normal shutdown, not save-state. Run until you see the problem happen, then shut down the VM from within the VM's OS if possible. If not possible, close the Virtualbox window for the VM with the Power Off option set.

Right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose Show Log. Save the far left tab's log, zip it, and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.
I have never had any success with using OVAs. No idea why, and I usually am pressed for time, and unable to invest in the adventure.

I am not getting to the OS. I just tried again with copies of the VMDK files, and installed the VBox extension pack, which seems to be necessary in order to use the NVMe controller, which is what is in use in VMware.

Once again, I get a message about it being unable to boot, so I am not getting to the OS at all.
Attachments
VBoxSVC-log.zip
log of failed boot
(22 Bytes) Downloaded 9 times
fth0
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Re: Can't boot VMDK

Post by fth0 »

According to 5.1. Hard Disk Controllers, VirtualBox can only boot from the virtual NVMe controller when using (U)EFI.
wmeyer
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Re: Can't boot VMDK

Post by wmeyer »

fth0 wrote:According to 5.1. Hard Disk Controllers, VirtualBox can only boot from the virtual NVMe controller when using (U)EFI.
Yes, I see that. Not sure how it bears on my issues, if at all. My machine is a laptop which is booted in UEFI mode, as reported by Windows msinfo32.
scottgus1
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Re: Can't boot VMDK

Post by scottgus1 »

wmeyer wrote:My machine is a laptop
The laptop isn't the VM, though. The physical hardware has no relation to the virtual 'hardware' except for the physical CPU. Your VM can boot legacy or EFI regardless of the host PC's boot.

Might want to give a bit more thought to the suggestion to set the VM to EFI.
mpack
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Re: Can't boot VMDK

Post by mpack »

If you examine the VMDK/VDI with CloneVDI then it should be easy to ascertain whether the drive is using a GPT partition scheme, which should be a strong indication of whether the drive expects to be booted by an MBR or EFI BIOS.

Then, I would attach the drive to an IDE controller, as I don't remember it being claimed that VirtualBox's NVMe controller is compatible with the VMWare one.
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