Windows 10: Machines Fail to Start and Initialize

OK in this case the additional info in the error message really does not reveal anything.

Do you store the virtual hard disks and configuration files on default places? VHD files in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks, and the configuration files in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V? If so you could try this and tell if you could create and run a vm:

• Create a folder Hyper-V on root of any drive than C:
• On that folder create a subfolder, name it as VHD, and another with a name VM
• Create a new VM
• In New Virtual Machine Wizard, step Specify name and location, select Store the virtual machine in a different location, browse to the Hyper-V\VM folder you created and select it as the location
• In New Virtual Machine Wizard, step Connect Virtual Hard Disk, click the Browse button next to Location, browse to the Hyper-V\VHD folder you created and select it
• Finish the setup, launch the vm

 

I followed the instructions precisely. Checking the Event Log it shows that the VM was created successfully.
I get the exact same error detail for the new machine as I posted earlier.

 

OK, that last one was to test that we do not have any permissions issues; if you get the same error message even when everything is located in a folder you created, it's not a permissions issue.

The last vm you created, please open its settings and take a screenshot of it, post here. An example of what I want to see, settings of a vm:




Additionally, please answer the following questions:

• What kind of user account you are signed in (admin user MS or local, standard user MS or local)?
• The amount of RAM on your host?
• Last time before the upgrade when you used a Hyper-V vm, did it open without issues?
• After the upgrade, has a Hyper-V virtual machine ever worked and started normally or did this start already the first time after the upgrade when you tried to launch a vm?

 

Here is the screen shot:



And for your questions:
What kind of user account you are signed in (admin user MS or local, standard user MS or local)? I am an administrator and get the same errors when I use the built-in Administrator account.
The amount of RAM on your host? 8GB
Last time before the upgrade when you used a Hyper-V vm, did it open without issues? Yes
After the upgrade, has a Hyper-V virtual machine ever worked and started normally or did this start already the first time after the upgrade when you tried to launch a vm? A VM has never worked since the upgrade. The VMs only worked pre-upgrade.

Thanks for you ongoing help!

 

How important are the pre-upgrade virtual machines to you? Would it be acceptable to lose them in order to get this fixed? I would like to suggest something but if you follow that suggestion, the virtual machines are lost. They might be reusable by first copying the vhd files to a safe location, then if we get this fixed use them as existing vhd when creating new virtual machines, but I cannot guarantee that.

 

Only one of the VMs is important. When I started troubleshooting I backed up the VHD files for the VMs. What is the process please?

 

Warning The process below will remove all your virtual machines and they cannot be recovered. The virtual hard disks if copied to a safe location might be able to be used on new virtual machines later on.

If you proceed you do it acknowledging this. I cannot be held responsible for the loss of your virtual machines.

• In Hyper-V Manager, delete all virtual machines (right click, select Delete)
• Close the Hyper-V Manager
• Manually delete the files remaining in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks
  
• Right click Start, select Programs and Features
• Select Turn Windows features on or off on the left pane
• Expand Hyper-V list item, unselect everything in it to disable Hyper-V
• Reboot
• Create new storage locations for virtual hard disks and virtual machines (configuration files) on another drive than C:, you can for example use the X:\Hyper-V\VHD and X:\Hyper-V\VM folders as I told in an earlier post of mine
• Co back to Windows features, this time re-enable everything Hyper-V related
• Reboot
• Launch Hyper-V Manager, change the default storage locations to those you created (see screenshot below this list)
• Create a new vm, run it, come back to tell if it started normally or not

Change VHD & VM storage locations:

 

• In Hyper-V Manager, delete all virtual machines (right click, select Delete)
• Close the Hyper-V Manager
• Manually delete the files remaining in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks
  
• Right click Start, select Programs and Features
• Select Turn Windows features on or off on the left pane
• Expand Hyper-V list item, unselect everything in it to disable Hyper-V
• Reboot
• Create new storage locations for virtual hard disks and virtual machines (configuration files) on another drive than C:, you can for example use the X:\Hyper-V\VHD and X:\Hyper-V\VM folders as I told in an earlier post of mine
• Co back to Windows features, this time re-enable everything Hyper-V related
• Reboot
• Launch Hyper-V Manager, change the default storage locations to those you created (see screenshot below this list)
• Create a new vm, run it, come back to tell if it started normally or not

Change VHD & VM storage locations: I'll give it a try after I complete a cloning process for the boot drive. (Cloning is giving me fits saying at this point that it can't complete -- the cloning app from Samsung keeps failing....sigh...)

UPDATE: I booted from an old Windows 7 disk and the disk cloning software is chugging away cloning the Windows 10 disk to my new SSD. This clone will allow me to test without permanent destruction to the existing VMs should something go wrong.

Thanks again.

 

Kari, I was able to clone my production drive so that I could experiment without fear of hosing it. I then followed the instructions and attempted to start a new VM with the locations on a different drive. The machine would not start with the same errors as before.

 

OK. At the moment I have no idea why this is happening. I will do some testing, trying to reproduce the issue and will come back to tell if I found something.

 

Thank you VERY much for your on-going assistance!

 

I know the error message not telling you that you have insufficient permission.
But it's worth a try..
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2249906

You can make a quick test by giving the user "everyone" full access on the folder that holding all your vm's.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I had already reviewed this TechNet item and had already changed each and every related folder and file to add "Everyone" with full access rights. I went ahead and tried it again/checked existing permissions and for those for a newly-created VM and no success. Thanks for the suggestion.

Does anyone know if I should be getting an XML file for each newly-created VM with the VM's SID as the file name? I'm not getting these...(?)

 

I never was able to complete all the troubleshooting I wanted to because somewhere along the line the Windows installation became corrupted. Windows would boot and get to the point where the sound driver loaded -- I could hear the speakers energize -- and the mouse became useable. But booting stopped at the black screen just prior to where the sign-in screen should have appeared. (If anyone has any thoughts on how to fix it I would appreciate hearing. I tried everything I could think of or find on the web with no luck.)

So I bit the bullet and did a clean install on a new SSD drive. (I had to do an upgrade using my old Windows 8 activation key since I didn’t have a new Windows 10 key.) Hyper-V works correctly in all aspects. I was eventually able to add the old drive with the corrupted Windows image and retrieve all of my data, including the Hyper-V virtual drive files. I am able to attach them to the new virtual machines and they work great.

The one last bit of troubleshooting I wanted to perform (but couldn't because of the Windows corruption on the old installation) was to uninstall Hyper-V services, delete the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V folder and subfolders, reinstall Hyper-V services letting it recreate the tree, recreate VMs, and attach the old VM dive files to them. That might have worked but I'll never know.

Thanks for everyone's help along the line.

 

I am sorry that you had to reinstall, and sorry for not being able to help you. Your issue was very unique, I've not seen that before.

I hope Hyper-V will work for you in the future as you'd like it to work *Smile