How do I debug a boot failure after transferring a physical machine to a virtual disk? INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE (0x0000007B)

Question

I have tried numerous fixes for a Windows 10 blue screen with error code INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE (0x0000007B) after transferring a physical machine to a virtual disk using Disk2vhd. I am basically trying to preserve an old machine with legacy software that is rarely used so the hardware can be retired.

Things I have tried to fix the boot failure:

1. Windows 10 recovery mode Boot Repair.
2. All of the steps in Microsoft's boot loader repair process. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/windows-boot-failure
3. Other guides with extra methods in addition to Microsoft's guide.
4. VirtualBox using every disk controller. All failed.
5. Booting with Hpyer-V. Failed.
6. Downgrading the disk controller to the standard ACPI storage controller, reimaging with Disk2Vhd. Failed.
7. Manually setting all disabled storage controllers to be active on boot via the registry.
8. Enabling boot logging from the recovery console. (But where could it log to if I cannot find the disk?)
9. Enabling on-screen boot messages (Maybe I did something wrong, didn't see anything.)
10. Many attempts in case I did something wrong while completing any step-by-step guides.
11. Oh and also the common mergeide.reg fix, which doesn't seem to apply to beyond Windows 7.

Basically after every attempt, I see the Windows boot logo, there is a short burst of disk activity, the spinning progress wheel appears for about 10 seconds, then I see the BSOD with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. Surely there is a better way than trying things blind-folded.

The physical machine started as Windows 8, was upgraded to 8.1, and finally to Windows 10 on a MSI Z77-GD55 motherboard. It has a non-standard partition layout (I cannot remember why) starting with an extended partition containing 3 logical partitions (System Reserved, Windows, Recovery) followed by a primary partition ("Data"). The boot method is set to Legacy+UEFI. Windows is using legacy (BIOS) as booting with UEFI does not work.

Obviously the boot loader launches but then decides a critical driver, partition, partition layout, or something else altogether is missing. How can I get the Windows boot loader to clearly tell me what it is looking for but it cannot find?

Answer 1

You can try running sysprep before the conversion. How do I move a windows installation hdd to a new computer? As another alternative, you can try using StarWind V2V Converter to make the P2V conversion. https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-v2v-converter