Oddities Using Disk2VHD to Virtualize

  
   Recently I was performing due diligence preparing for an upcoming server consolidation by means of virtualizing two existing servers, one from failing hardware. Since one server is coming from hardware that has started showing signs of impending doom I decided to start with that one. When I created the VHD, I chose to mark up HAL for Virtual PC to lessen the probability of BSOD while trying to boot the virtual machine of a 2003 server. When I tried to boot the machine on my Hyper-V test server, I would get the splash screen and then BSOD, unmountable volume. If I mounted the VHD using Disk Manager the Primary partition showed up as RAW, the secondary had all of its data there. Since this was from a failing server I assumed that the array may not have been read correctly by Disk2VHD. I used testdisk to try to repair the VHD. I ran it and it found errors, I saved the correction and ended up with a readable Primary Drive of the wrong size. The second partition was now RAW but the VHD would boot, the next issues was that it was in a "The HAL must be upgraded before integration services can be installed, a reboot is necessary" loop.

       So.. I made a VHD of the other server and tried to mount it with the same results. At this point I am starting to get a little worried that my Virtualization adventure could turn into a nightmare. After considering numerous other possible methods to get these servers from P2V, I decided I could try ghosting the individual partitions to blank VHDs that I created in Hyper-V and mounted with Disk Manager. I was quite surprised when Ghost actually read the Data from the RAW partitions and copied them to the blank VHDs. This still Left me with the HAL loop, unable to install integration services.

   I now had a real plan emerging, I would create the VHDs using Disk2VHD, being sure to leave the HAL fixup unchecked. I would then create blank VHDs and ghost the contents to them. Success !!!!! I now had 2 new virtualized servers. A little bit of configuration and I had working mirrors of their physical counterparts. I was once again fully comfortable that I could get this done for the customer.

    Finally the new server arrived I took it to my office, assembled the parts, Installed the Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V. I decided just for kicks to try and mount one of the VHDs that were freshly created without the HAL fixup checked. It booted like it had always lived there, no BSOD no HAL fixup loop, no need to ghost. Live and learn, never take anything for granted and it sure helps to have the same hardware to test something as what it will end up on.

     One of the main things that I learned is that Disk2VHD is an awesome tool for Virtualization and DR but depending on hardware you can end up with many varying results.