> I'll come right out and say it - I HATE the VSMT. I've spent the better
> part of a week trying to virtualize this particular server and I'm still
> running into problems. I have several more servers to migrate, and I can't
> stand the thought of dealing with this cantankerous beast any more.
>
> Has anyone had any success in using Ghost instead of the VSMT? I'm thinking
> of trying the following steps:
>
> 1) Capture Ghost image of source server.
>
> 2) Manually create .vmc and .vhd files for a new VM.
>
> 3) Boot the VM from a bootable CD. The CD would contain both ghost.exe as
> well as the source image.
>
> 4) Restore the image into the VM.
>
> 5) Boot the VM and hope it is able to plug-n-play the virtual hardware.
>
> 6) If it's not successful, then go back to the source server and try loading
> the drivers for the virtual hardware, then re-capture the image and try
> again.
>
> Is this possible?
>
> Thanks!
>
>

> I'll come right out and say it - I HATE the VSMT. I've spent the better
> part of a week trying to virtualize this particular server and I'm still
> running into problems. I have several more servers to migrate, and I
> can't stand the thought of dealing with this cantankerous beast any more.
>
> Has anyone had any success in using Ghost instead of the VSMT? I'm
> thinking of trying the following steps:
>
> 1) Capture Ghost image of source server.
>
> 2) Manually create .vmc and .vhd files for a new VM.
>
> 3) Boot the VM from a bootable CD. The CD would contain both ghost.exe as
> well as the source image.
>
> 4) Restore the image into the VM.
>
> 5) Boot the VM and hope it is able to plug-n-play the virtual hardware.
>
> 6) If it's not successful, then go back to the source server and try
> loading the drivers for the virtual hardware, then re-capture the image
> and try again.
>
> Is this possible?
>
> Thanks!
>

> Sure, it's doable but it's definitely not a slam dunk. Sometimes you can
> do it sometimes you can't depending on the particulars.
>
> You have the basic steps described except you may need to do a repair
> install at the end to get the hardware setup right.
>
> I've done several migrations doing it this way, but there have been a few
> machines that totally refused to be migrated that way. I had an NT4 server
> that I spent way more than a week on and I never got it to run until I set
> up VSMT and used that instead.
>
> --
> Bob Comer
>
>
>
> "Brion Keagle" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> I'll come right out and say it - I HATE the VSMT. I've spent the better
>> part of a week trying to virtualize this particular server and I'm still
>> running into problems. I have several more servers to migrate, and I
>> can't stand the thought of dealing with this cantankerous beast any more.
>>
>> Has anyone had any success in using Ghost instead of the VSMT? I'm
>> thinking of trying the following steps:
>>
>> 1) Capture Ghost image of source server.
>>
>> 2) Manually create .vmc and .vhd files for a new VM.
>>
>> 3) Boot the VM from a bootable CD. The CD would contain both ghost.exe
>> as well as the source image.
>>
>> 4) Restore the image into the VM.
>>
>> 5) Boot the VM and hope it is able to plug-n-play the virtual hardware.
>>
>> 6) If it's not successful, then go back to the source server and try
>> loading the drivers for the virtual hardware, then re-capture the image
>> and try again.
>>
>> Is this possible?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>
>

> OK, thanks guys. I guess I'll keep chipping away at the VSMT for a little
> while longer, then if I'm still stuck I may try Ghost.
>
> Why can't Microsoft make the VSMT a little bit more user friendly???
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> "Robert Comer" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> Sure, it's doable but it's definitely not a slam dunk. Sometimes you can
>> do it sometimes you can't depending on the particulars.
>>
>> You have the basic steps described except you may need to do a repair
>> install at the end to get the hardware setup right.
>>
>> I've done several migrations doing it this way, but there have been a few
>> machines that totally refused to be migrated that way. I had an NT4
>> server that I spent way more than a week on and I never got it to run
>> until I set up VSMT and used that instead.
>>
>> --
>> Bob Comer
>>
>>
>>
>> "Brion Keagle" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>> I'll come right out and say it - I HATE the VSMT. I've spent the better
>>> part of a week trying to virtualize this particular server and I'm still
>>> running into problems. I have several more servers to migrate, and I
>>> can't stand the thought of dealing with this cantankerous beast any
>>> more.
>>>
>>> Has anyone had any success in using Ghost instead of the VSMT? I'm
>>> thinking of trying the following steps:
>>>
>>> 1) Capture Ghost image of source server.
>>>
>>> 2) Manually create .vmc and .vhd files for a new VM.
>>>
>>> 3) Boot the VM from a bootable CD. The CD would contain both ghost.exe
>>> as well as the source image.
>>>
>>> 4) Restore the image into the VM.
>>>
>>> 5) Boot the VM and hope it is able to plug-n-play the virtual hardware.
>>>
>>> 6) If it's not successful, then go back to the source server and try
>>> loading the drivers for the virtual hardware, then re-capture the image
>>> and try again.
>>>
>>> Is this possible?
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

> If you don't want to spend a dime use NTBackup with system state of the
> original and a Universal boot CD ISO to boot the virtual machine -
> BartCD with XPE runs NTBackup suitable for a restore.
>
> Restore using NTBackup to alternate location including system state (c:
> on the new virtual machine) then xcopy the system state files back to
> the correct location.
>
> Then either run an install of the OS over the top if the VM will not
> boot, or copy the VSMT VM patch files for the OS (15 or so files) over
> the top.
>

>I haven't had that good a luck using NTBackup on older versions of NT, but
>it would be worth a try.
>
> It isn't always going to work and almost for sure you'd have to do a
> repair install...
>
> --
> Bob Comer <Microsoft MVP - Virtual Machine>
>
>
>
>
> "Mark Wilkinson" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> If you don't want to spend a dime use NTBackup with system state of the
>> original and a Universal boot CD ISO to boot the virtual machine -
>> BartCD with XPE runs NTBackup suitable for a restore.
>>
>> Restore using NTBackup to alternate location including system state (c:
>> on the new virtual machine) then xcopy the system state files back to
>> the correct location.
>>
>> Then either run an install of the OS over the top if the VM will not
>> boot, or copy the VSMT VM patch files for the OS (15 or so files) over
>> the top.
>>
>
>