Server 2012 Macrium image restore in a Virtual Machine

deadmorrow · February 18, 2021

Hey guys, I am trying to use a virtual machine, I have tried VirtualBox and Hyper-V, to restore a Macrium Reflect system image.

This Macrium system image was taken from an existing Dell PowerEdge server running Server 2012. My reason for doing this and my end goal is to create a virtual copy of this existing server that is a Domain Controller for a small business and use this virtual copy to practice a domain transfer before replacing the server for real.

I have been working at this for a few days now and am at a point where I am stumped. I know from browsing help forums and Macrium Reflect themselves, that this is possible and has been done many times. Steps I have taken to get to where I am at now include all the following:

Created a Rescue Media ISO from the source server and created a full image of the OS using Macrium Reflect Server.
Using Disk Management, a new VHDX was created, Initialized, Formated, and the source Macrium server image moved onto it then unmounted the virtual drive.
Using a different PC, installed Hyper-V and created a new Virtual Machine.
Set this VM up using a SCSI based Seagate external HDD that has attached the Rescue Media ISO mounted as a DVD Drive, the VHDX drive attached as a SCSI HDD, as well as the actual VM attached as a separate HDD.
Then booted from the Rescue Media ISO and selected the Macrium image that was attached previously and the Image Restore done on the VM drive.
Once the restore finished, the Macrium ReDeploy tool was used to search for drivers and rebooted.

It is at this point I am stuck since the source Windows Server 2012 is not booting and I suspect it is a driver issue. I do not know how to proceed from here.

Does anyone have helpful information that can help me restore this Macrium Image onto a VM? Anything obvious I am missing? Anything incompatible that I am unaware of?

Again, my goal is to create a virtual copy of this existing server to practice a domain transfer to another virtual machine running Server 2016. I can answer any questions that will be helpful to resolve my issue. Thank you!