@kagbasi-ngc That's expected since the boot storage driver is gone. You'll need to get into Safe Mode with the Recovery or F8 menu.

@kagbasi-ngc Yes, both.

@kagbasi-ngc I can't tell why the VM failed to boot originally. However, having the Intel RST and Xen drivers installed at the same time made me think that as the Xen drivers were installed before Sysprep, once the Xen drivers stopped functioning, the IRST drivers were no longer able to find your Windows device path. You could try the following procedure:

• Boot into Windows PE
• Use dism /image:C:\ /Get-Drivers to find the published name of iaStorAC.inf (oemxx.inf)
• Use dism /image:C:\ /Remove-Driver /Driver:oemxx.inf to remove iaStorAC
• You should be able to boot into Safe Mode. Rebooting will make things normal again.

As for why the drivers are there, they are likely present in the installation ISO you used.

@kagbasi-ngc I'd like to have some information regarding your VM template; how did you prepare your template, and how were the Intel drivers included? What was installed before the VM started failing to boot? I tried installing several versions of Intel RST drivers but all of them were rejected at install time.

Edit: Does this work for you? https://nextcloud.vates.tech/index.php/s/yCTHF536JHTgoJL

@kagbasi-ngc I think it's due to the Intel drivers acting up after being replaced by Xen drivers. I'll try to find a way to reproduce things on my end. Which Intel RST driver package did you install on the VM?

@kagbasi-ngc Okay, you have the Intel storage drivers installed on the VM so XenBootFix did not work correctly. Here's a new version of XenBootFix that should fix your VM: https://nextcloud.vates.tech/index.php/s/C784bGgbqWZDrki

@kagbasi-ngc I forgot that the devnode command doesn't work since there's no symbols.

For the config/SYSTEM file, can you copy it outside with Hiren's boot?

@kagbasi-ngc Normally you can't cache them, since the symbols depend on your exact Windows and updates version. The analysis output shouldn't be too important for INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.

@kagbasi-ngc The symbols require an Internet connection on your WinDbg machine.

@kagbasi-ngc said in VM Failing to Reboot:

PS. The VM is still sitting at the splash screen (showing the Windows logo).

It's normal when kernel debugging with WinDbg. You can resume the VM by clicking Go.

Nevertheless, XenBootFix should have gotten rid of INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. If it's not sensitive, can you send me the output of !devnode 0 1 and the contents of your Registry at C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM?

@kagbasi-ngc That's pretty odd, you're still getting INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. Did XenBootFix finish successfully? If !analyze -v runs for too long, interrupt it with Ctrl+Break then run kb; !devnode 0 1

@kagbasi-ngc Try this method: https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/85097

@kagbasi-ngc More instructions for you on how to use WinDbg:

In WinDbg, select File - Attach to kernel - Paste connection string and paste in your connection string. Once the debugger finishes attaching, click Go until WinDbg says "BUSY Debuggee is running", then wait until the VM crashes. You should see an error message (see screenshot).

Click the "!analyze -v" link, it will spit out a bunch of analysis info. This will take a while. Once it's done, paste the entire WinDbg output counting from the initial "Fatal System Error" message, including the entirety of the analysis output.

@kagbasi-ngc That's the old WinDbg. You should use the new WinDbg instead: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/

The serial connection looks to be working.

@kagbasi-ngc You'll need these commands instead:

bcdedit /store bcd /set {dbgsettings} debugtype serial
bcdedit /store bcd /set {dbgsettings} debugport 1
bcdedit /store bcd /set {dbgsettings} baudrate 115200

The serial port is only accessible when the VM is running.

@kagbasi-ngc said in VM Failing to Reboot:

I tried the command against the {default} identifier, and it worked. However, I didn't see any change in behavior during the boot process. Should I continue with the instructions for exposing the VMs serial console?

Yes, it won't show anything special on screen during boot, but attaching a debugger should work if everything is configured correctly. Note that it's timing dependent (there's a small time window where you can attach before it reaches the BSOD) so it might take a few tries.

@kagbasi-ngc There's no slash in debug while using the /set command:

Also please don't enable debugging for bootmgr, just do it on {default}

Also, one way to verify the issue is to install MediaEnable on another VM.

@kagbasi-ngc It's not the BCD database path but the BCD entry identifier. Try bcdedit /store ...\BCD /enum to get the entry's identifier, then bcdedit /store ...\BCD /set <identifier> /debug on

@kagbasi-ngc Is it possible that your GPOs or MediaEnable that are causing the BSOD? Could you try to eliminate the causes?

@kagbasi-ngc You can enable debugging from within Hiren's by mounting the Windows EFI system partition to e.g. S: then running bcdedit /store S:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD /debug on

You can also try renaming the .sys files but normally XenBootFix should have been sufficient to disable all Xen drivers.

I forgot to ask, how did you install guest tools onto your VM, and did you install anything else to it (e.g. some 3rd-party apps) before rebooting?