XenServer to Nutanix AHV VM Migration ERROR [Boot Device not found] | Nutanix Community
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Hi,

I am trying to move a Windows Server 2012 R2 VM from Xenserver to AHV. With reference to this article: AHV | Migrating a Windows VM from XenServer to AHV everything is working great except when I am at the last step. When I turn on the VM in AHV, I am getting a boot device not found error and windows will not boot up.

Windows will start with a windows icon throws the error and restarts, then goe
s into disk repair, reboots and same error and goes into the troubleshooting menu and when I am restart the VM in AHV it again and always goes into the boot disk inaccessible error.

I made sure all the Xen components are already uninstalled from the vm and Nutanix VirtIO drivers are also installed. Tried with loading the image as scsi and IDE, but still going into the same error. Also tried booting up in safe mode, tried disk repair, etc. but no luck.

Please help if someone has a solution.

PS: I am migrating Windows Server 2012 R2 from XenServer to Nutanix AHV.

Gut says the virtio drivers didn't install right or something w storage drivers. You are hitting the bios so most of it sounds right. The fact the disk wouldn't boot as ide though is odd.



Only other thought is an efi vs bios issue.



What happens with the disk repair?
Gut says the virtio drivers didn't install right or something w storage drivers. You are hitting the bios so most of it sounds right. The fact the disk wouldn't boot as ide though is odd.



Only other thought is an efi vs bios issue.



What happens with the disk repair?



Hey @jrack , The boot repair runs through without error and the VM restarts and repeats the same again and again. I did install Virtio drivers prior to migrating the VM and I think it installed correctly.



Is there any other way to install the drivers now? I mean I can mount the drivers.iso and can I install the drivers from the iso and then reboot the VM ?
The disk repair is going fine? Can you drop to the console and see what the disk looks like? Maybe the disk file was corrupted in transit?
The disk repair is going fine? Can you drop to the console and see what the disk looks like? Maybe the disk file was corrupted in transit?



Hey @jrack I opened the cmd and went into diskpart and it only shows one volume, Volume 0 i.e. CD-ROM. I think it should show the other volumes too right? (the iso image I created from the vm migration) Heres what my diskpart is giving me:





But the matter of fact, I have 3 disks attached to the VM:





Do you think that the reason its not showing up in the diskpart at startup is because its not reading it?



When I try to refresh the PC from trouble shoot menu, it says it cannot be refreshed as the disk is locked. Sorry too many questions at a time, but help me if you have a solution.



Thanks,
Yeah ok that's what I figured. Yeah the disk is not being seen. If you attach that disk using ide does it show up?
Yeah ok that's what I figured. Yeah the disk is not being seen. If you attach that disk using ide does it show up?



Hi @jrack

Yes, I am able to see the volumes when I am using/mounting the disk as IDE.







But the Windows is still restarting -> goes into "Ran into a problem" -> Preparing Automatic Repair -> Troubleshooting Menu -> Restarts again.
Ok but you can see the file system now. If you get into emergency mode can you get to a console and attach and install the drivers?



Those xen pvdrivers are a bit troublesome so maybe something is causing issues there.



Have you tried to start from your xen vm again and give it another go?
Ok but you can see the file system now. If you get into emergency mode can you get to a console and attach and install the drivers?



Those xen pvdrivers are a bit troublesome so maybe something is causing issues there.



Have you tried to start from your xen vm again and give it another go?



Hey @jrack

When I mount the drives as IDE I am able to see the file systems but I cannot get into any of the drives to install the drivers and when I mount the drives as SCSI, it doesn't recognize the drive.



I cannot start the VM in the xen now as it will give me the same boot device not found error there as well.



Not sure why it is not able to recognize the drive, I think I am going to make a new test vm in XenServer and will give it a shot again and do the migration.
Yeah sounds like something is up w the virtio stack. I have had issues w the xen paravirts way back when conflicting with natives, but details have been expunged.
Yeah sounds like something is up w the virtio stack. I have had issues w the xen paravirts way back when conflicting with natives, but details have been expunged.



@jrack

I think I know whats the problem.



When I pre-install the nutanix VirtIO.msi installer, it installs everything but the SCSI drivers and hence when after migration I mount the disks it doesnt recognizes the disks.



I am not able to find the SCSI drivers for Nutanix, can you send me a link if you have?
huh?! something must be going bad as the Nutanix dist has the SCSI stuff (betting Xen). You can try the Fedora copy (https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-windows-virtual-machines-using-virtio-drivers/index.html) they are inherently the same thing.

HERES THE SOLUTION!!!




  • When you remove all XenServer Drivers, do not DELETE them, just uninstall all the Xen drivers from Device Manager without restarting the VM, (Click NO when prompted to restart)
  • Restart VM
  • If prompted to do another restart after you login, click NO
  • Check Device Manager for any Xen drivers -> if there are any, uninstall them. DO NOT DELETE.
  • Install VirtIO Drivers
  • Clear the Registry Key for all XEN components
  • Shut down the vm with 'shutdown -s -t 0'
  • Do not re-start the VM in XenServer now.
  • Mount DISKs as SCSI in AHV
  • Start the VM

This worked for me, I was doing a silly mistake when I was removing the Xen Drivers. Well, hopefully this article/question/discussion will help anyone with similar problem.



Peace ✌🏻
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