Lairds Computer Services

So it was time to transfer our older SBS2003 server from the old P3 based hardware it was running on into a virtual on our new dell xeon server.

Decided to try to use the new disk2vhd tool that is available for free from sysinternals.

First attempt was just the dumb 'run-it-and-see' attempt.  It almost worked.  It created the VHD file, but when I moved it across and tried to fire it up on Hyper-V, it complained about the AD files being missing.  On looking at the VHD, it had failed to copy the partition where we keep the AD files.

Second attempt, boot the original server into DS Restore mode, and then run disk2vhd.  Bad.  When I tried to boot this VHD, it complained about bootmgr being missing - still don't understand that one as it should have been complaining about ntldr as this was a 2003 box.

Third attempt, boot the original server as normal, stop the AD and Exchnage services and then run disk2vhd.  Bad, sames as above, but complained of a disk read error instead.

By now I'm getting frustrated and thinking that disk2vhd might be getting filed under the 'interesting but useless' category, but decide to try one more time.

Boot the original server as normal, stop AD and Exchange, COPY DISK2VHD to a SEPERATE VOLUME, and then run disk2vhd.  Lo and behold it finally works.

What I learned from this:

1.  Despite what it says on the website, disk2vhd only works reliably if its run from a volume other than the one you are trying to image.
2.  You need to check the 'fixup hal' box on disk2vhd, or the image will not boot.
3.  Hyper-V can only boot from a virtual IDE disk.  Virtual SCSI boot is not supported.