Crunching down to size

Hi Folks --

Here's another Real-To-Virtual question, but with a slight twist. The real is a
232GB drive, and VirtualPC doesn't like the VHD that I created using Acronis at all.
If I try to create a new machine with it, and boot, I get:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing
or corrupt:
\windows\inf\biosinfo.inf

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup
using the original Setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

I'm not at all sure how to do that, and think it's likely a misleading error
message? Anyway, if I then try using this VHD as a secondary in a different
functional VM, it spins into a terminal chkdsk loop on startup.

It seems I most likely need to try cutting the VHD down to something less than
128MB, right? Is there anyway to do that?

Oh, and if I try to run the Virtual Disk Wizard on it, to attempt to change it to a
fixed size (was hoping for smaller, of course), I'm told there isn't enough space to
create that file. Even though there is, of course.

Thanks... Karl
--
..NET: It's About Trust!
http://vfred.mvps.org

Karl E. Peterson wrote:
> Hi Folks --
>
> Here's another Real-To-Virtual question, but with a slight twist. The real is a
> 232GB drive, and VirtualPC doesn't like the VHD that I created using Acronis at
> all.

(The actual VHD itself is 82GB, fwiw. The disk was only about 1/3 full.)
--
..NET: It's About Trust!
http://vfred.mvps.org

Ronald Phillips wrote:
> On Nov 12, 5:48 pm, "Karl E. Peterson" <k...@exmvps.org> wrote:
>> Karl E. Peterson wrote:
>> > Hi Folks --
>>
>> > Here's another Real-To-Virtual question, but with a slight twist. The real is a
>> > 232GB drive, and VirtualPC doesn't like the VHD that I created using Acronis at
>> > all.
>>
>> (The actual VHD itself is 82GB, fwiw. The disk was only about 1/3 full.)
>
> If you are restoring a physical machine to a VM using Acronis then you
> need to either:
>
> 1. Use Acronis Universal Restore to reinstall HAL\IDE\Other drivers.

Hmmm, all I did was use Acronis True Image Echo Workstation to create a backup, then
convert that backup to a VHD. Their SKUs have always somewhat perplexed me. Is the
Universal Restore actually built into True Image Workstation?

> or
> 2. Include the drivers into the image and run Sysprep before taking
> the image.
>
> Acronis automagically resizes the partition if going from a larger VM
> to a smaller.

Didn't seem to. But that might have something to do with how I did it. Is there a
FAQ or outline of the steps or something out there somewhere?

> You should also run chkdsk before creating the image.

Probably would've been wise, yeah.
--
..NET: It's About Trust!
http://vfred.mvps.org

On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:54:18 -0800, "Karl E. Peterson"
<> wrote:

>Ronald Phillips wrote:
>> On Nov 12, 5:48 pm, "Karl E. Peterson" <k...@exmvps.org> wrote:
>>> Karl E. Peterson wrote:
>>> > Hi Folks --
>>>
>>> > Here's another Real-To-Virtual question, but with a slight twist. The real is a
>>> > 232GB drive, and VirtualPC doesn't like the VHD that I created using Acronis at
>>> > all.
>>>
>>> (The actual VHD itself is 82GB, fwiw. The disk was only about 1/3 full.)
>>
>> If you are restoring a physical machine to a VM using Acronis then you
>> need to either:
>>
>> 1. Use Acronis Universal Restore to reinstall HAL\IDE\Other drivers.
>
>Hmmm, all I did was use Acronis True Image Echo Workstation to create a backup, then
>convert that backup to a VHD. Their SKUs have always somewhat perplexed me. Is the
>Universal Restore actually built into True Image Workstation?

Universal restore is an extra option. When I last looked the base
price was 67 EUR and when one added Universal restore it went up to 81
EUR. So if you did not buy it you don't have it.

>> or
>> 2. Include the drivers into the image and run Sysprep before taking
>> the image.
>>
>> Acronis automagically resizes the partition if going from a larger VM
>> to a smaller.
>
>Didn't seem to. But that might have something to do with how I did it. Is there a
>FAQ or outline of the steps or something out there somewhere?

The resizing takes place when you use Acronis to restore the backup to
a new disk. It works like this:
1) You backup to a file
2) You add a new drive (empty) to the PC
3) You restore from the file to the new empty drive
4) Now Acronis uses the new drive by resizing the target partition to
fit on the drive
5) You shut down the PC and take out the old drive and configure the
new drive as the first drive
6) You start up the PC from the new drive.

If you are doing a P2V transfer then you have to make sure that the
backup file is available to the virtual machine. I would do it as
follows:

1) Backup the physical PC to a file as above
2) Create a new virtual drive using the wizard, make it maximum size
(dynamically expanding)
3) Attach this drive to a guest you already have.
4) Start up this guest and connect to the drive on the host where you
have the backup file via Windows network sharing
5) Use Acronis inside the guest to restore from the backup file to the
empty disk that you added in step 3
6) Shut down the guest and detach the new drive from it
7) Create a new guest and point it to the new drive
8) Start up the new guest
VOILA!

If you syspreped the source before making the backup then you now need
to activate the guest Windows before you can log on, so you need to
have the activation key and a working Internet access grom the new
guest.

>> You should also run chkdsk before creating the image.
>
>Probably would've been wise, yeah.
If the source PC ran fine then this is probably not important.

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:14:14 +0100, Bo Berglund
<> wrote:

>The resizing takes place when you use Acronis to restore the backup to
>a new disk. It works like this:
>1) You backup to a file
Actually in a physical scenario you probably would not backup to a
file, but directly clone the old drive to the new empty drive that you
have already added to the PC.
Of course this will not work when you do P2V....


--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:48:01 -0800, "Karl E. Peterson"
<> wrote:

>Karl E. Peterson wrote:
>> Hi Folks --
>>
>> Here's another Real-To-Virtual question, but with a slight twist. The real is a
>> 232GB drive, and VirtualPC doesn't like the VHD that I created using Acronis at
>> all.
>
>(The actual VHD itself is 82GB, fwiw. The disk was only about 1/3 full.)

actual amount of space used doesn't matter, what matters is the max
limit (size) of the drive is less than 127gb.
Try the VHD resizer program.

--
Cheers,
Steve Jain, Virtual Machine MVP
http://vpc.essjae.com/
http://smudj.wordpress.com/

Bo Berglund wrote:
>>> 1. Use Acronis Universal Restore to reinstall HAL\IDE\Other drivers.
>>
>>Hmmm, all I did was use Acronis True Image Echo Workstation to create a backup,
>>then convert that backup to a VHD. Their SKUs have always somewhat perplexed me.
>>Is the Universal Restore actually built into True Image Workstation?
>
> Universal restore is an extra option. When I last looked the base
> price was 67 EUR and when one added Universal restore it went up to 81
> EUR. So if you did not buy it you don't have it.

Yeah, I bought and installed it. It's just not at all clear now, a couple years
later, how one actually fires it up. (I just don't use it at all frequently.) I
thought it was an option that installed within True Image Workstation?

>>> or
>>> 2. Include the drivers into the image and run Sysprep before taking
>>> the image.
>>>
>>> Acronis automagically resizes the partition if going from a larger VM
>>> to a smaller.
>>
>>Didn't seem to. But that might have something to do with how I did it. Is there
>>a
>>FAQ or outline of the steps or something out there somewhere?
>
> The resizing takes place when you use Acronis to restore the backup to
> a new disk. It works like this:
> 1) You backup to a file
> 2) You add a new drive (empty) to the PC
> 3) You restore from the file to the new empty drive
> 4) Now Acronis uses the new drive by resizing the target partition to
> fit on the drive
> 5) You shut down the PC and take out the old drive and configure the
> new drive as the first drive
> 6) You start up the PC from the new drive.
>
> If you are doing a P2V transfer then you have to make sure that the
> backup file is available to the virtual machine. I would do it as
> follows:
>
> 1) Backup the physical PC to a file as above
> 2) Create a new virtual drive using the wizard, make it maximum size
> (dynamically expanding)
> 3) Attach this drive to a guest you already have.
> 4) Start up this guest and connect to the drive on the host where you
> have the backup file via Windows network sharing
> 5) Use Acronis inside the guest to restore from the backup file to the
> empty disk that you added in step 3
> 6) Shut down the guest and detach the new drive from it
> 7) Create a new guest and point it to the new drive
> 8) Start up the new guest
> VOILA!

Ah ha! I *never* thought of doing it in that manner. That might work, yeah. :-)

So I could just create, say, a 120GB VHD, load it as the second in VM and restore.
Then set it as the primary in a different VM. Makes total sense. Thanks!
--
..NET: It's About Trust!
http://vfred.mvps.org

Steve Jain [MVP] wrote:
>>(The actual VHD itself is 82GB, fwiw. The disk was only about 1/3 full.)
>
> actual amount of space used doesn't matter, what matters is the max
> limit (size) of the drive is less than 127gb.

That was my impression, yeah. W/Could the size alone prevent VPC from starting up a
VM with it, even as a secondary?

> Try the VHD resizer program.

This one? http://vmtoolkit.com/files/folders/c...s/entry87.aspx
--
..NET: It's About Trust!
http://vfred.mvps.org

Karl E. Peterson wrote:
> Steve Jain [MVP] wrote:
>> Try the VHD resizer program.
>
> This one? http://vmtoolkit.com/files/folders/c...s/entry87.aspx

That one only resizes *larger*, not smaller... :-(
--
..NET: It's About Trust!
http://vfred.mvps.org

On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:33:35 -0800, "Karl E. Peterson"
<> wrote:

>Karl E. Peterson wrote:
>> Steve Jain [MVP] wrote:
>>> Try the VHD resizer program.
>>
>> This one? http://vmtoolkit.com/files/folders/c...s/entry87.aspx
>
>That one only resizes *larger*, not smaller... :-(

If you are willing to switch virtualization product you could always
use VMWare Player (or Workstation, but that is not free).
VMWare does not have the size limitation on virtual disks and they
also have the VMWare Converter program
(http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/) with which you can do P2V
easily in a single step.

I did a P2V on a laptop that was going to be decommissioned last week
because it contained a software development environment we had to
save. The coverter worked across the network and took a fair amount of
time but was totally unattended once started.
The final virtual machine started up just fine except it had been
syspreped by the Converter so it had to be activated. I just entered
the Windows code (the 25-letter one printed on the sticker on the
laptop) to get it going.

I have now examined the machine and found it to be perfectly OK. One
advantage is that since VMWare supports USB in guests there are no
problems with the drivers and such for USB devices that might have
been installed on the physical PC.

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)