So, following the wiki, I converted one of my Windows 7 machine to a virtual machine. Bam, all up and running.

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_Manual_6#Physical_to_Virtual_Machine_Conversion_Process

 

So now I grab my second one, follow all the exact same procedures. Start the VM and connect to VNC and pop, see a BSOD flash up, windows reboots and asking if I want to boot to Windows or Launch repair. I keep telling it to launch windows, just get a quick flash of the BSOD and back to square one. I doubt a repair would help anything.

 

Any ideas on what to look at? Really weird that one works fine and the second one doesn't.

Next time hit F8 so you get the full menu and select the option to not restart on error. Then at least you can get the BSOD error and troubleshoot from there. My bet is a 7B because the virtio drivers didn't get fully loaded.

Yep, 7B error...

Edit the xml to change the primary drive controller to ide instead of virtio, and see if it boots.

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_Manual_6#Step_4:_Edit_the_XML_for_your_virtual_machine_.28Windows_Guests_Only.29

If it does, try force installing the viostor drivers while you have it up in IDE mode. The wiki wants you to temporarily add a second disk image attached to a virtio controller so windows will automatically install the drivers when you deal with the question marks in the device manager, but it was easier for me just to force them in manually.

Ya, that was the first thing I did, as per the wiki, was to edit that and change it to IDE.   

Ya, that was the first thing I did, as per the wiki, was to edit that and change it to IDE.   

So you are getting a 7B with IDE currently in the xml? Are you sure you didn't accidentally revert to the virtio by changing a setting the in vm after editing the xml?

What motherboard is in the problematic source machine?

<disk type='file' device='cdrom'>

      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>

      <source file='/mnt/user/msiso/virtio-win-0.1.102.iso'/>

      <backingStore/>

      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>

      <readonly/>

      <boot order='2'/>

      <alias name='ide0-0-0'/>

      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>

    </disk>

    <disk type='file' device='disk'>

      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>

      <source file='/mnt/cache/vm/Surf/vdisk1.img'/>

      <backingStore/>

      <target dev='hdb' bus='ide'/>

      <boot order='1'/>

      <alias name='ide0-0-1'/>

      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/>

    </disk>

    <disk type='file' device='disk'>

      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>

      <source file='/mnt/cache/vm/Surf/vdisk2.img'/>

      <backingStore/>

      <target dev='hdc' bus='virtio'/>

      <alias name='virtio-disk2'/>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/>

    </disk>

HP Desktop with Intel CPU - I think Core2Duo

HP Desktop with Intel CPU - I think Core2Duo

Did you attempt to force install the viostor driver onto the physical machine before you made the image?

That's what I am contemplating trying now

This isn't easy - booted the drive back up in original machine, log into windows, go into the balloon directory and go to install virtio drives. And fails. "Driver is not intended for this platform".

 

 

Well now... Google, here I come...

 

 

EDIT - sometimes I am to fast... realized, I was trying to install 64 bit version on 32 bit OS. Tried 32 bit version and voila. Got the error about it not being able to start, but it is installed now.

 

Now, to re-image and test.

This isn't easy - booted the drive back up in original machine, log into windows, go into the balloon directory

The balloon driver isn't needed to boot, only the viostor. The other drivers can be done later. I assume you force installed all 4 listed in the wiki, including the viostor?

The problem with the wiki (as far as I'm concerned anyway) - the last time I looked - was it said to install the AMD64 drivers which will not work if you have a 32bit Windows VM.

Well, that worked. I pre-loaded all four of the drivers, shut down windows, imaged and booted it, without editing the XML to IDE, and box booted fine. Now just getting some updates and device manager sorting itself out, but up and running.

 

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

The problem with the wiki (as far as I'm concerned anyway) - the last time I looked - was it said to install the AMD64 drivers which will not work if you have a 32bit Windows VM.

 

Hmm, never tried to do a 32-bit Windows install and never really planned on supporting that for VMs, but since it works with the implementation we have, I guess all I need to do is update the wiki as such.  Will do.