[virt-tools-list] what does virt-v2v check for in a multiboot os?

[Richard W.M. Jones]

On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 10:02:21AM -0500, Kenneth Armstrong wrote:
> I've been trying to use virt-v2v to convert a Windows Server 2003 VM.
> This VM was one that was converted to a VMWare image that apparently
> had a previous Windows installation on it that is no longer being
> used.  However, I keep getting the message:
> 
> virt-v2v: multiboot operating systems are not supported by virt-v2v
> 
> So I followed the instructions here:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888023
> 
> Rebooted, ran virt-v2v again and got the same error message.
> 
> So, next I installed the Recovery Console, ran fixboot to write a new
> bootsector and tried again, got the same error message.
> 
> Figuring that virt-v2v sees the Recovery Console as a new OS, I then
> followed these instructions for deleting the recovery console here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216417
> 
> I then used an ISO image to boot my VMWare image and ran the Recovery
> Console that way, again running the fixboot command.  I am now
> attempting the virt-v2v process again.  It sucks though because it
> takes 3 hours over a fast gigabit network to do the transfer, and the
> image is only a 45G disk image that is using the thin provisioned
> VMWare disk format.

None of this is going to help.  It's not a problem with the MBR.

> I'll follow up with how this new run goes, but what is virt-v2v
> checking for as another OS?  I would have liked to keep the Recovery
> Console installed, as it is something rather handy on a Windows
> server.

virt-v2v uses libguestfs inspection to determine which operating
system(s) are installed in the guest.  If libguestfs finds multiple
file systems, each containing a Windows %systemroot% directory, then
it will think the guest is multiboot.

You can find out precisely what libguestfs thinks by using
'virt-inspector' on the guest:

  http://libguestfs.org/virt-inspector.1.html

But note:

Since we rewrote virt-inspector, there are two different versions
found in the wild and they use completely different codebases.

If you are using RHEL 5.x or 6.0 then you have the old version -- good
because the old version is what virt-v2v always uses.  If you are
using the RHEL 6.1 preview packages then both versions are available:
'virt-inspector' for the old version and 'virt-inspector2' for the new
version.  If you are using Fedora >= 13, then 'virt-inspector' is the
new version and the old version is not packaged.

Rich.

-- 
Richard Jones, Virtualization Group, Red Hat http://people.redhat.com/~rjones
virt-top is 'top' for virtual machines.  Tiny program with many
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http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/virt-top