Troubleshooting a virtual machine that fails during preparation when using vCenter Converter

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• The conversion process fails between 1% and 2%
• The conversion process fails within one to two minutes after finishing the Conversion wizard
• No virtual disk files are created on the destination
• The virtual disk files on the destination are smaller than expected
• No virtual machine is created in vCenter Server
• You receive any of these errors:
  • Unknown error returned by VMware Converter Agent
  • P2VError UFAD_SYSTEM_ERROR(Internal Error)
  • Failed to connect
  • Giving up trying to connect
  • Failed to establish Vim connection to hostname.domain.com.
    Vmacore::Exception: The requested name is valid, but no data of the requested type was found.
  • Image processing task has failed with MethodFault::Exception: sysimage.fault.IncompatibilityFault
  • Image processing task has failed with MethodFault::Exception: sysimage.fault.NfcConnectionFault
  • ERROR: Unable to open file %s
  • [NFC ERROR] NfcNewAuthdConnectionEx: Failed to connect to peer. Error: Host address lookup for server hostname.domain.coml failed: The requested name is valid and was found in the database, but it does not have the correct associated data being resolved for
  • Cannot open file, since the file is too big.
  • Underlying file system does not support that big files.
  • sysimage.fault.FileOpenError

Environment

VMware Converter 3.0.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Converter 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Converter 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Converter 4.2.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.3.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.x

Resolution

Validate that each troubleshooting step below is true for your environment. The steps will provide instructions or a link to a document, for validating the step and taking corrective action as necessary. The steps are ordered in the most appropriate sequence to isolate the issue and identify the proper resolution. Do not skip a step.

1. Verify that the destination has sufficient space on the file system to accommodate the new virtual machine. Check the free space on the destination before attempting to convert. In addition, the source server must have at least 200 MB of free space per volume for conversion to be successful. For help identifying free space for your virtual machine, see Verifying sufficient free disk space for an ESX/ESXi virtual machine (1003755).
   
   
2. Verify that the destination supports large files. If the conversion is to a standalone virtual machine and the destination is being accessed via UNC or SMB shares, consider these points:
   
   
   • The destination file system must support files larger than 2GB, like NTFS or ext3.
   • If quotas are implemented, ensure that there is enough free space remaining within the quota for the virtual machine. If you are unable to specify a UNC path as the destination, use a mapped drive letter instead.
     
     Note: Certain Linux/Samba server configurations may prevent Converter from detecting the correct destination file size limit. If the problem persists, use a Windows-based server file share.
     
     
   For more information, see Conversion fails when source or destination do not support large files (1008633).
   
   
3. If the destination is an ESX/ESXi host or vCenter Server, verify that the block size of the destination accommodates the file sizes required to convert the source. 
   
   
4. Confirm that you have the correct permissions on the destination to write files. If the destination is an ESX/ESXi host or vCenter Server, ensure that the account used also has permissions to create a virtual machine on in the destination container. For more information, see User with 'Create' privilege cannot create virtual machines (1004417).
   
   
5. Confirm that the networking between the source server, VMware Converter server, and the target destination do not have the required VMware Converter ports blocked. For more information, see Verifying and troubleshooting networking connections that may cause vCenter Converter to fail (1006607).

Note: If your problem still exists after trying the steps in this article, please file a support request with Broadcom Support team and note this KB Article ID in the problem description. For more information, see Contact Support.