Unable to use cloned VM, OpenSUSE, VirtualBox

Question

I've cloned a VM and now while booting it I see a message:

Trying manual resume from /dev/sda1
Invoking userspace resume from /dev/sda1
resume: libgcrypt version: 1.5.0
Trying manual resume from /dev/sda1
invoking in-kernel resume from /dev/sda1
Waiting for device /dev/disk/by-id/ata-VBOX_HARDDISK_.....-part2 to appear: ...
Could not find /dev/disk/...-part2
Want me to fall back to /dev/disk/...-part2 (Y/n)

If I press 'Y' it tries to boot again with failure, then exits to /bin/sh. If I press 'n' it exits to /bin/sh immediately.

I've read a solution here: http://diggerpage.blogspot.com/2011/11/cannot-boot-opensuse-12-after-cloning.html but I don't understand how to access files on disk to edit /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst?

Solution 1

I was able to make my system boot by doing the following:

1) Take note of the device(s) the system cannot find.

2) Answer "n" to that question. It should take you to a command prompt.

3) Run this command: cd /dev/disk/by-id

4) Run this command: ls

5) Rename all files in this folder replacing there current name with the name of the device you took note of in step 1. Ex. mv ata-VBOX_OLDNAME....-part2 ata-VBOX_HARDDISK....-part2

6) Once you have completed this type this command: exit

7) The system should boot normally.

I am still working through how this happens with OpenSUSE 11.4.

Solution 2

This problem is caused because SUSE by default configures Grub to find disks by name rather than by label or by path. When creating a VM from an appliance, VirtualBox creates a new disk with a new name and then Grub can't find the boot disk. I was able to fix this permanently by:

1. Add the disk as a secondary drive to another machine that can mount the filesystem. I mounted mine to /media/hd2.

2. Edit /media/hd2/boot/grub/device.map and replace the by-name path to the hard drive /dev/disk/by-name/ata-VBOX.... with the by-path path /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:0d.0-scsi-0:0:0:0.

3. Edit /media/hd2/boot/grub/menu.lst and replace the by-name paths with the by-path paths. For mine, I ended up replacing all of the part-1 paths with /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:0d.0-scsi-0:0:0:0-part1 and the part-2 paths with /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:0d.0-scsi-0:0:0:0-part2.

The paths that I used specify the first hard disk. If you want to boot off a different hard disk (or a different disk type), you will need to figure out how SUSE maps the path. I found that SUSE will mount a second hard drive as pci-0000:00:0d.0-scsi-1:0:0:0.

Specifying the hard drive by-path might not be ideal in some cases, but it worked perfectly for the quick fix I was going for.

Solution 3

I got this error and solved by replacing the old id for the disk with the new one on etc/fstab and on boot/grub/menu.lst

1. Hit 'n' upon fall back question.
2. Get new id by running hdparm -i /dev/sda
3. Rename all disks as expressed on the solution accepted and boot your guest.
4. Open terminal as root and vi etc/fstab and replace the old ID with the new one wherever it shows. Save and close.
5. vi boot/grub/menu.lst and replace the old ID with the new one wherever it shows. Save and close.
6. Reboot.

The accepted solution works only on a one time basis while this is a permanent fix. Hope it helps!

Comments

[Laure]

Now I'm not facing with this problem and can not check your solution. I accept your answer, hope these steps can help in the case I described. Thank you.

[bluish]

How could you use hdparm in this terminal? If I browse to /sbin I can't see it...