11-29-2007 2:17 janiquec

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Common Issues and Tips - Stop 0x7B Error Booting from a Virtual SCSI Disk

This post is content adapted from Chapter 11 of the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Resource Kit.

Stop 0x7B Error Booting from a Virtual SCSI Disk

If you reconfigure a virtual machine VHD that contains a bootable guest operating system from a virtual IDE controller to a virtual SCSI controller, you will experience a blue screen when trying to start the guest operating system. Basically, if you simply just change the virtual machine configuration by switching the VHD from IDE to SCSI-attached, the guest operating system cannot find a valid SCSI controller driver during boot. This results in a STOP: 0x0000007B error message, followed by a virtual machine restart.

Resolution

Before you can switch a bootable VHD from virtual IDE to virtual SCSI, you have to first load the SCSI controller drivers in the guest operating system. Once the guest operating system is properly configured, you can shut down the virtual machine and reconfigure the VHD to attach to a virtual SCSI controller. The following procedure assumes the Virtual Machine Additions are installed in a Windows Server 2003 guest operating system prior to performing the installation of the SCSI controller drivers:

  • Open the Virtual Server Administration Website.
  • In the Master Status pane, click the icon to connect to the target virtual machine.
  • Once you are logged in, shut down the guest operating system and return to the Virtual Server Administration Website.
  • Under Virtual Machines, click Configure and select the new target virtual machine.
  • In the Virtual Machine Configuration pane, click SCSI adapters.
  • Click Add SCSI Adapter (ID 7), and then click OK.
  • Do not change the configuration of the bootable VHD; leave it as a virtual IDE disk.
  • In the virtual machine Status pane, point to the virtual machine name and select Turn On.
  • Click the icon to connect to the virtual machine and log in to the guest operating system.
  • The “Found new hardware: Adaptec AIC-7870 PCI SCSI Adapter” message will display. Windows Server 2003 comes packaged with a driver for the emulated Adaptec 7870 SCSI controller, so you will need a CD or ISO to load the aic78xx.sys driver file.
  • When the driver is installed, the virtual machine is configured to boot from SCSI, but the driver is a slow SCSI driver.
  • To load an accelerated SCSI controller driver, open Device Manager in the guest operating system.
  • Expand the SCSI and RAID controllers section.
  • Right-click the SCSI Controller and choose Update Driver.
  • On the Welcome To The Hardware Update Wizard page, click No, Not This Time and then click Next.
  • On the next page, select Install From A List Or Specific Location (Advanced) and then click Next.
  • Select Don’t Search, I Will Choose The Driver To Install, and then click Next.
  • Click Have Disk.
  • Browse to C:\Program Files\Virtual Machine Additions, click Open, and then click OK.
  • Under Model, highlight the Microsoft Virtual Machine PCI SCSI Controller driver and then click Next to install the optimized SCSI controller driver.
  • On the Completing The Hardware Update Wizard page, click Finish.
  • Shut down the guest operating system.
  • Back in the virtual machine configuration pane, click Hard Disks.
  • In the Attachment drop-down list, select SCSI 0 ID 0 and then click OK.
  • Turn on the virtual machine.

Note: A virtual machine can boot only from a VHD attached to the first virtual SCSI adapter. This adapter is identified as SCSI 0.

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# re: Virtual Server 2005 R2 Common Issues and Tips - Stop 0x7B Error Booting from a Virtual SCSI Disk

Wednesday, April 02, 2008 1:22 PM by Nico Borger

I'm trying to convert a physical server with a scsi c-drive to a virtual server. I do this using winimage to create a vhd image from the physical server. During first virtual server boot I execute a repair install to reset the device drivers for the virtual server. I set the C drive to scsi 0 id 0, but it doesn't want to boot from the disk. No possibilities to set this in the bios. If I make it a ide disk, after the repair install  I get "Error loading operating system". I can't install the optimized SCSI controller driver from the Virtual Machine Additions, because the virtual server doesn't startup. Tips and advise to get this solved is very, very much apreciated. Thanks in advance.

# re: Virtual Server 2005 R2 Common Issues and Tips - Stop 0x7B Error Booting from a Virtual SCSI Disk

Thursday, April 03, 2008 8:09 AM by vs-admin

Since Winimage is only creating a VHD from the physical server disk without making any device driver modifications to reset the VHD to boot as a virtual machine (VM), it is not a true Physical to Virtual (P2V) conversion tool. I'm not sure what steps you are following during your repair install, so hard to say why it is failing. Also, what operating system are you trying to convert to a VM?

I recommend you use a true P2V tool to accomplish your goal. For example, you can use an evaluation version of Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (SCVMM) which includes a P2V conversion feature. Microsoft has a pre-configured VHD available for download that you can use to do this with minimal effort. The download is pretty large, but worth it to accomplish your objective and see how a real P2V solution works (plus it would be a freebie if you only have one server to convert). You can find it at www.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx.

If you can send more details on the repair install procedure and operating system you are trying to convert, might have some other tips, but it's hard to give any targeted suggestions without some additional details.

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