[CentOS] Virtual Machine converted from physical : Kernel Panic at boot .

[Barry Brimer]

On Tue, 17 Dec 2013, Gregory Machin wrote:

> Hi.
>
> I used VMware Standalone converter 5.5 to convert a CentOS 5.3 machine from
> a Physical server to a Virtaul Machine on ESXi 5.1 .  Thus far with every
> attempt to convert this machine I get a "Kernel panic"
>
> mount: could not find filesystem '/dev/root'
> setuproot: moving /dev failed: No such file or directory
> setuproot: error mounting /proc  failed: No such file or directory
> setuproot: error mounting /sys failed: No such file or directory
> switchroot: mount failed: No such file or directory
> Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!-220000

I'm not following all of what is on the machine here, but here are some 
general things to try:

1. From what I can tell, your grub.conf expects /boot to be on its own 
partition, which appears to be sda1 .. is that the case?

2. Verify your /etc/fstab looks right for the new virtual HW you set up.

3. If that is correct, try using "grub-install /dev/sda"  to reinstall 
your bootloader.

4. You might trying using the older/compatible versions of hardware, 
specifically the SCSI controller in case that is an issue.

5.  In the event that it really can't find /proc or /sys mount in a 
chrooted rescue environment run "mkdir /proc /sys ; chmod 555 /proc ; 
chmod 755 /sys"

Good luck!
Barry