VMWare to Proxmox issue

zhuanyi

So I used to have a dedicated server which some VMWare instance running various Windows editions (2008 and 7) for testing. I recently acquired a server from Hetzner auction and set up Proxmox so I happily copied all the vmdks over to this machine and then happily cancelled my old dedi.

However as I start to power on the VMs all the Windows machines BSODed, and I did some quick Googling and realized that in order for Windows to work, I need to set up the HDDs of the VMs using IDE mode rather than SATA and use the VirtIO driver before copying the vmdk files over.

I know it was my own stupidity but I am just wondering if there is anyway I can somehow get it to work without having the create a VMWare dedi again and then boot up each vmdk one by one, change the driver and copy it back to my new dedi? I.e., is there any way I can directly modify the vmdk to make my Windows vms boot up in Proxmox?

Appreciate all the help!

AshleyUk

You can change the HD mode in Proxmox to boot as IDE per a drive, then add a second small drive with Virtio Mode. Install the drivers for this drive into the OS.

Then boot the server with the primary drive as Virtio and you should have no issues.

AnthonySmith

^this but I have had a similar experience a few years ago and this did not quite work on some of them.

I had to mount the vmdk, splice the ide drivers in from another fresh native windows on proxmox install, set the config to ide and boot it, this almost always works, I think there was another step but it was 5 years ago and I have forgotten now.

Hopefully between the 2 you will get it sorted.

netomx

@AshleyUk said:
You can change the HD mode in Proxmox to boot as IDE per a drive, then add a second small drive with Virtio Mode. Install the drivers for this drive into the OS.

Then boot the server with the primary drive as Virtio and you should have no issues.

This

zhuanyi

Thanks, I will give a shot over the weekend.

Another question, is it possible to have Proxmox to read my VM configuration automatically rather than me creating a VM first and attaching the vmdk as a disk file? I have several VMs and I don't remember the configurations for each one of them (number of CPU/RAM/disk size etc). However right now when I am creating VM I have to specify all those first before attaching the vmdk file.

Falzo

@zhuanyi said:

if I am not mistaken, those settings are not part or stored inside that vmdk file...

zhuanyi

@Falzo said:

@zhuanyi said:

if I am not mistaken, those settings are not part or stored inside that vmdk file...

I also copied the other files over from the original datastore in the VMWare server (thank god I did), wondering if there is anyway I can figure out the specs there.

Falzo

@zhuanyi said:

watch out for a .vmx file per VM, if I remember correctly should be plain text holding some information...

proxmox stores stores similar conf files per VM under /etc/pve/... but I don't know of any converter or migration tool, so you'll need to create the VMs manually anyways.

mikho

I've used vmware converter to migrate servers between hosts and I think it can handle "raw" files.

Perhaps that could work for you?

dedicados

netomx said: @AshleyUk said: You can change the HD mode in Proxmox to boot as IDE per a drive, then add a second small drive with Virtio Mode. Install the drivers for this drive into the OS.

Then boot the server with the primary drive as Virtio and you should have no issues.

This

That

zhuanyi

Hey guys, sorry for the delay in getting back to everyone, had some pretty hectic days at work recently. I eventually managed to figure out the issue today thanks to everyone's inputs, and just for the benefit of everyone, this was the article that helped me:

http://www.dowdandassociates.com/blog/content/howto-repair-windows-7-install-after-replacing-motherboard/

To be exact, this was the command I used to install the virtio driver:

dism /image:c:\ /add-driver /Driver:X:\ /recurse

you have to mount the iso from here:

https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/latest-virtio/virtio-win.iso

And save the file to:

/var/lib/vz/template/iso

if you are not sure what was the drive for the ISO mounted, you can use this to check:

wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, description

Basically the general thoughts is correct, you enter into recovery and load the virtio driver and install the driver to the original Windows installations.

Thanks for everyone's help, this indeed solve a big headache from my end.

zhuanyi

@Falzo said:

@zhuanyi said:

watch out for a .vmx file per VM, if I remember correctly should be plain text holding some information...

proxmox stores stores similar conf files per VM under /etc/pve/... but I don't know of any converter or migration tool, so you'll need to create the VMs manually anyways.

I checked the vmx file as well, unfortunately I don't think it contains a lot more than the CPU info (no info about RAM and disk size, etc), here is an example of what I am seeing, it is a pretty long file so please let me know if I am missing something:

cat MyVM.vmx
.encoding = "UTF-8"
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "8"
nvram = "MyVM.nvram"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
svga.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"
hpet0.present = "TRUE"
displayName = "xxxxxxxxx"
extendedConfigFile = "MyVM.vmxf"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
svga.vramSize = "134217728"
numvcpus = "4"
cpuid.coresPerSocket = "2"
memSize = "3072"
sched.cpu.units = "mhz"
powerType.powerOff = "soft"
powerType.suspend = "hard"
powerType.reset = "soft"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsisas1068"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
mks.enable3d = "TRUE"
ide1:0.startConnected = "FALSE"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
ide1:0.fileName = "/vmfs/volumes/xxxx.iso"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
floppy0.clientDevice = "TRUE"
floppy0.fileName = "vmware-null-remote-floppy"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet0.networkName = "VM Network"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"
scsi0:0.fileName = "MyVM.vmdk"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
guestOS = xxxxxx"
toolScripts.afterPowerOn = "TRUE"
toolScripts.afterResume = "TRUE"
toolScripts.beforeSuspend = "TRUE"
toolScripts.beforePowerOff = "TRUE"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 6b 3c b3 7e 7b f0-c8 f8 d4 91 87 31 e0 1a"
uuid.location = "56 4d 6b 3c b3 7e 7b f0-c8 f8 d4 91 87 31 e0 1a"
vc.uuid = "52 8b 64 8b 52 f3 3b 53-23 ac 02 42 70 e3 74 41"
chipset.onlineStandby = "FALSE"
sched.cpu.min = "0"
sched.cpu.shares = "normal"
sched.mem.min = "0"
sched.mem.minSize = "0"
sched.mem.shares = "normal"
sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/xxxxc/MyVM/MyVM-5b908cf4.vswp"
replay.supported = "FALSE"
replay.filename = ""
scsi0:0.redo = ""
pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "160"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "32"
vmci0.pciSlotNumber = "33"
scsi0.sasWWID = "50 05 05 6c b3 7e 7b f0"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:31:e0:1a"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
vmci0.id = "-1094197192"
hostCPUID.0 = "0000000568747541444d416369746e65"
hostCPUID.1 = "00100f420004080000802009178bfbff"
hostCPUID.80000001 = "00100f421000055f000037ffefd3fbff"
guestCPUID.0 = "0000000568747541444d416369746e65"
guestCPUID.1 = "00100f420002080080802001178bfbff"
guestCPUID.80000001 = "00100f421000055f000003e9ebd3fbff"
userCPUID.0 = "0000000568747541444d416369746e65"
userCPUID.1 = "00100f420004080080802001178bfbff"
userCPUID.80000001 = "00100f421000055f000003e9ebd3fbff"
evcCompatibilityMode = "FALSE"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "134217728"
cleanShutdown = "TRUE"
softPowerOff = "FALSE"
ide1:0.allowGuestConnectionControl = "TRUE"
toolsInstallManager.lastInstallError = "0"
tools.syncTime = "TRUE"
tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"
toolsInstallManager.updateCounter = "9"
migrate.hostlog = "./MyVM-xxxx.hlog"
monitor.phys_bits_used = "40"

Falzo

@zhuanyi said:
no info about RAM and disk size, etc

Hmm, this part:

numvcpus = "4"

cpuid.coresPerSocket = "2"

memSize = "3072"

I'd say equals 2x2 sockets/cores setting in proxmox and 3 GB of RAM, no?

Maybe you just skipped this because next line says

sched.cpu.units = "mhz"

;-)

Disk infos are probably omitted or not needed in there because there is the diskimage itself. Proxmox also does store this value more for informational reasons, just to have something to display...

If I recall correctly one can edit this value later in conf file of proxmox but it doesn't change anything at all.

zhuanyi

Falzo said: Hmm, this part:

numvcpus = "4"

cpuid.coresPerSocket = "2"

memSize = "3072"

I'd say equals 2x2 sockets/cores setting in proxmox and 3 GB of RAM, no?

Maybe you just skipped this because next line says

sched.cpu.units = "mhz"

;-)

Disk infos are probably omitte

Ahhh...dumb me Thanks!