> I'm a newbie to Virtual Servers. I need to move/migrate a physical server
> as
> a Virtual Machine to a Windows 2003 Server Standard edition(this is the
> domain/mail server) which hosts the Virtual Server 2005 R2. I've
> downloaded
> the VSMT and the ADS(Automated Deployment Services) from the MS website.
> While installing ADS I found that it runs only on the enterprise edition
> of
> 2003 server. Is there any other method of doing the migration and please
> let
> me know of the steps as well. Thanks in advance.

> Yes, there are other tools to migrate a physical machine to a virtual.
> However, it's not always easy and with some of these tools/methods, you will
> have to make a reparation step to replace the HAL layer before Windows will
> be able to boot under its new virtualized environment. The ACPI set up in
> the BIOS is also another thing that you must check up before making the P2V
> migration:
>
> http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/docs/vmwdocs/whitepaper-upgrading-cpus-on-non-acpi-p2v.pdf
>
> http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2004/11/24/269412.aspx
> http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2004/11/30/272662.aspx
> http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2004/12/10/279667.aspx
>
> Here are some other automated tools or manual methods for doing your P2V
> (Physical to Virtual) migration:
>
> http://4sysops.com/archives/p2v-for-vmware-migrate-physical-to-virtual-resources/
>
> http://www.invirtus.com/content/view/808/394/
>
> http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATISWin/universal-restore.html
>
> http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/converter/
>
> http://www.rtfm-ed.eu/docs/vmwdocs/whitepaper-ultimatep2v-quickstart.pdf
>
> In the case of VMWare converter, you will have to convert it back to VHD but
> only after removing the previous VMWare additions; see:
>
> http://vmtoolkit.com/files/default.aspx
> http://vmtoolkit.com/blogs/paul/archive/2006/12/14/preparing-a-windows-vmdk-for-conversion.aspx
>
> If you want to use an imaging software like Ghost or Acronis, you will have
> to set up a second virtual environment for the sole purpose of restoring an
> image directly to a vhd: first you create two empty VHD then you attach them
> to the virtual environment as second and third virtual hard drives, you copy
> the image file(s) to the second hard drive and you restore it to the third
> one. All you have to do now is to detach this last vhd and use it as the
> main virtual hard drive for creating a new virtual environment. (There are
> other methods like using a booting DVD or a network connectin but these are
> often more complicated to set up.)
>
> When using some older imaging softwares, it's also a good idea to partition
> the target VHD before making the restoration to make sure that the master
> boot record on the virtual drive has been correctly written or you can take
> the precaution of imaging the whole physical hard drive which is used as the
> source instead of just backing/restoring a single partition (and you must do
> it even if there is only one single partition on it); otherwise the MBR
> might be incorrectly written on the target virtual drive after the
> restoration. (Probably that you won't have this problem with a more recent
> version of these softwares but it's better to be safe then sorry.)
>
> You might have some other problems, for example if your operating system was
> on the D:\ drive and you want it now to be on the C:\ drive. For a
> discussion of this, take a look at:
>
> http://help.lockergnome.com/windows/Cloned-Drive-Ghost-10-Log-Drive-ftopict555352.html
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware/browse_frm/thread/9b00b92a2e7b865/81a9dbdf1dc4e7e7?lnk=st&q=%22+have+XP+Pro+with+a+40GB+HD+(partitioned+20GB%2F20GB)+NTFS.+I+installed%22&rnum=1#81a9dbdf1dc4e7e7
>
> --
> Sylvain Lafontaine, ing.
> MVP - Technologies Virtual-PC
> E-mail: sylvain aei ca (fill the blanks, no spam please)
>
>
> "RSub" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
> > I'm a newbie to Virtual Servers. I need to move/migrate a physical server
> > as
> > a Virtual Machine to a Windows 2003 Server Standard edition(this is the
> > domain/mail server) which hosts the Virtual Server 2005 R2. I've
> > downloaded
> > the VSMT and the ADS(Automated Deployment Services) from the MS website.
> > While installing ADS I found that it runs only on the enterprise edition
> > of
> > 2003 server. Is there any other method of doing the migration and please
> > let
> > me know of the steps as well. Thanks in advance.
>
>
>