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

Tue Dec 17 20:06:35 UTC 2013
Gregory Machin <gdm at linuxpro.co.za>

On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 6:06 PM, Barry Brimer <lists at brimer.org> wrote:

>
>
> 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?
>
> Yes, originally /boot and / where on the same disk as seperate partitions,
VMware converter recreates them as separate disks each with its own
partition /boot on /dev/sda1 and / on /dev/sdb1 .



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

As far as I can tell it should be correct.

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

As far as I can tell this is correct.

>
> 4. You might trying using the older/compatible versions of hardware,
> specifically the SCSI controller in case that is an issue.
>
> I have tried all the available hardware options.  I have gone as far back
as vmx-4 and tried all the scsi controler options.


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"
>
> I deleted the directories and recreated as above but no luck.


> Good luck!
> Barry
>