Cannot unlock Windows Server 2003 after P2V

Problem

1. You use disk2vhd to perform P2V conversion of Windows Server 2003

2. Disk2VHD created an VHD successfully

3. You attach this VHD to newly created virtual machine (Generation 1, host 2012 in my case) and start VM

4. Unfortunately, you notice that mouse and keyboard are not captured and ctrl+alt+delete doesn’t unlock guest OS. This is because of there are no integration services inside guest OS. RDP+console access are not working too. Network adapter is not available = no RDP to guest OS.

Solution

1. Download and install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone

2. Convert source machine to vmdk

3. Convert vmdk to vhd using 2Tware

4. Attach VHD to VM and start VM.

Now Ctrl+alt+delete works + keyboard is captured. Insert ISO with integration services, install, restart VM and now mouse is available too.

12 thoughts on “Cannot unlock Windows Server 2003 after P2V”

Vytautas says:

November 2, 2015 at 5:35 pm

Thanks for this solution. However now I am stuck at installing integration services. It just does not finish the Installing Windows Driver Framework phase. Maybe you have a solution for that ?

Reply
1. rlevchenko says:
  
  November 2, 2015 at 6:17 pm
  
  What version of WS2003 are you using inside VM?
  
  Reply
  1. Vytautas says:
    
    November 3, 2015 at 12:36 pm
    
    Its Standard Edition with SP2.
    
    Reply
2. rlevchenko says:
  
  November 3, 2015 at 1:51 pm
  
  According to https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn792027.aspx at least 2003 SP2 is supported. It’s ok. You have the right version and don’t have any troubles with IS in theory.
  
  But..Have you uninstalled VMware tools before conversion? Are there any footsteps from previous IS? Try to find them and uninstall and then install new version of IS.
  
  If you are stuck please contact me and provide some more details
  
  Reply
  1. Vytautas says:
    
    November 3, 2015 at 2:42 pm
    
    So just to let you know I’ve managed to successfully virtualize this last server. I will provide the steps I have taken as my contribution. Perhaps it will be helpful for someone.
    
    Firstly, after several attempts, I have managed to unlock OS without using VMware Standalone converter. I ran sfc /scannow on the physical server with the original Windows media inserted. In addition I ran disk2vhd from the console not from the rdp session. It worked, but I do not know which one of these two steps helped.
    
    Secondly, I was still struggling with the installation of IS. So I went to safe mode and ran msconfig. Disabled all the startup programs and all non Microsoft services. After reboot installation of the Integration Services was successful. I assume the problem was with LANdesk services.
    
    Cheers
    
    Reply
3. rlevchenko says:
  
  November 3, 2015 at 3:12 pm
  
  Glad to hear that you have successfully figured it out.
  
  I’ve heard about impacts of some non-microsoft services but I’ve never faced with trouble like you had. Troubleshooting steps were right . I could add 1 more extra step: deep diving into logs to finally spot a cause of issue
  
  Thanks for your comment. It can be very helpful for someone
  Have a great day and virtualization!).
  
  Reply
Everton Weschenfelder says:

February 15, 2017 at 10:19 pm

Hi Roman, I did all the steps but when I start the VM, I get a blue Windows screen of death.
The conversion from VHD to VMDK and from VMDK to VHD completed sucessfully.
Is that another way to solve unlock problem with 2003 vm ?

Regards.
Everton

Reply
1. rlevchenko says:
  
  February 16, 2017 at 3:43 pm
  
  Hi, Everton! Have you checked VHD before conversion to VMDK?
  
  Reply
  1. Everton Weschenfelder says:
    
    February 16, 2017 at 3:51 pm
    
    Hi,
    
    Yes, everything was ok. I can’t even mount it now.
    
    Reply
    1. rlevchenko says:
      
      February 16, 2017 at 4:45 pm
      
      failed conversion? have you tried other solutions? describe your source machine (is it physical or VM)?
      
      Reply
      1. Everton Weschenfelder says:
        
        February 16, 2017 at 5:03 pm
        
        Hi, let me explain…
        My source machine is a physical windows Server 2012 R2 hyper-v. I used Disk2vhd to perform p2v conversion. The conversion finished without any problem, but when I imported it to hyper-v, anything works on the VM, ctrl alt del doesn’t unlock the vm. neither mouse and keyboard are captured nor network virtual swith.
        So I did a conversion to VMDK (completed without any problem) and to VHD again (completed without any problem) as this article. I’m thinking on give up and try to do this p2v conversion with windows backup.
        
        Reply
        
        rlevchenko says:
        
        February 16, 2017 at 7:45 pm
        
        I’m not sure about Windows Server backup. Have you tried to change VM settings? (disk controllers and etc.) + you have an option to convert from vhdk to vhd using VMM converter ps module
        Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter\MvmcCmdlet.psd1" ConvertTo-MvmcVirtualHardDisk -SourceLiteralPath c:\vmdkfolder\test.vmdk -VhdType DynamicHardDisk -VhdFormat vhdx -destination c:\vhdfolder
        Or StarWind V2V
        If you still getting issues, write me directly (contact me page)
        
        Reply