Windows VM "Inaccessible boot device" Error After P2V Conversion

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting to migrate a physical Windows production server to a VMware cluster using VMware vCenter Converter Standalone (a Physical-to-Virtual or P2V migration), the converted virtual machine (VM) fails to boot.
• Upon powering on the newly created VM, Windows enters an automatic repair loop and reports a Blue Screen error with the stop code: "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE".
• This failure persists even after changing the virtual storage controller from LSI Logic SAS to VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) in the VM settings, and booting into Safe Mode also results in the same error.

Cause

• The P2V conversion process failed to correctly inject the necessary virtual storage controller drivers into the converted Windows operating system image.
• Windows requires the specific driver for the assigned virtual storage controller (e.g., LSI Logic SAS or PVSCSI) to be present and active in the registry before it can access the system disk during the boot sequence. Since the original physical machine used different hardware, the required virtual drivers are missing, preventing the OS from locating the boot device.

Resolution

• Option 1: Manual Driver Injection via Recovery Environment
  • Manually inject and enable the required virtual SCSI controller driver (e.g., LSI Logic SAS or PVSCSI) into the offline Windows operating system image using the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) or bootable installation media. The necessary drivers are located on the mounted VMware Tools ISO.
  • Reference: For detailed steps on configuring disks and manually injecting the driver, please refer to the relevant Broadcom Knowledge Base article:
    Configuring disks to use VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters
    
    
    
• Option 2: Advanced OS-Level Troubleshooting
  • If Option 1 If the boot failure persists, the issue may require deeper analysis of the Windows OS configuration, the registry, or file system corruption. Contact Microsoft Support for advanced operating system-level troubleshooting and driver compatibility analysis.