P2V conversion of a Windows 2008 R2 machine fails at 96% in VMware vCenter Converter Standalone

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• P2V conversion of a Windows 2008 R2 machine fails at 96%.
• You see the error:

Cannot find system volume

• After the P2V conversion fails, the virtual machine cannot be started.
• The Windows 2008 R2 system has a default 100 MB System Reserved partition.
• During the conversion, the 100 MB System Reserved partition is not detected on the source machine
• Running the bcedit command reports the error:
  
  The boot configuration data store could not be opened.
  The system cannot find the file specified.
  
  
  
• In the VMware vCenter Converter logs, you see entries similar to:
  
  <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> error vmware-converter-server[06020] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] [task,350] [LRO] Unexpected Exception: converter.fault.ReconfigurationNoSystemVolumeFault</time>
  

  <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> info vmware-converter-server[06020] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] [task,379] [task-1] -- ERROR -- Convert: converter.fault.ReconfigurationNoSystemVolumeFault</time>

  -> (converter.fault.ReconfigurationNoSystemVolumeFault) {
  -> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,

  -> description = "InternalError",

  -> msg = ""

  -> }
  
  Note: For more information on gathering VMware vCenter Server Converter logs, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware Converter (1010633)

Environment

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.3.x

Cause

This issue may occur when the 100 MB System Reserved partition is set to offline in Windows 2008 R2. The 100 MB System Reserved partition is the active partition and contains the Windows boot loader.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, set the 100 MB System Reserved partition to online.

To set the 100 MB System Reserved partition to online:

1. On the physical machine that is to be converted, click Start > Run, type cmd, and click OK. The Command Prompt window opens.
2. Run these commands:
   
   C:\>Diskpart
   C:\>Diskpart> List volume
   C:\>Diskpart> Select volume 1
   
   Note: This command assumes that this is a 100 MB system partition.
   
   C:\>Diskpart> Online volume
   C:\>Diskpart> exit
   
   
3. Run the VMware vCenter Converter operation against the system again.

Note: This is a known issue when using third-party disk/storage management software. For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2419286.

Note: The preceding link is correct as of April 30, 2015. If you find the link is broken provide a a feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

Additional Information

Collecting diagnostic information for VMware Converter