Windows 10: VMWARE using physical HDD's - IGNORE invalid Partition table error

Hi folks.

Specifically for VMWARE users although the results of using Raw HDD's on VBOX and HYPER-V should be the same - I think the partition error message only applies to VMWARE.

If say you want to use entire Linux formatted HDD's on a VM then when adding these as physical HDD's on a Linux Guest on a Windows Host you'll see an error message "Invalid Partition table" when you initially add these.

Just ignore the message -- the VM will power on just fine with the HDD's attached as /dev/sdx where x will be the HDD number and you wont see the message again.

The machine configuration will add the HDD's OK and you can then power on the VM normally.





The HDD's can be seen in the system






Often advantage of using RAW (physical HDD's) is that you can use the native file system of the OS and its I/O handling allowing for much better use of I/O (no translation of file systems needed of course).

With Linux guests on Windows Hosts you can get also another advantage if you want to assign 2 or more HDD's to a VM -- you can then use the very efficient LINUX SOFTWARE RAID system (mdadm) as well - if you use say RAID 0 you can get with decent devices faster throughput than on the host !!.

The above configuration shows 2 x 3 TB HDD's in a RAID 0 array and 1 X 4TB HDD native.

Note though if using RAID 0 while it's fast do backup essential data as if one HDD in a RAID 0 array fails then you lose the whole array.

Cheers
jimbo

:)

 

Windows 10 "Invalid partition table."?

Will the issue came back again after everything was setup. The invalid partition table error is back. Back to my drawing board.

When pressing a key it gave you No Boot Device Found. Which I check the bios, exactly no Hard drive found.

Press any key to reboot the machine is the next option. I was going back to your discussion

Justwanttogame

you have SSD and the same here.

Ok I hope this is the fix for this invalid partition Table.

1.) I created Bootable USB to downgrade my Dell M6800 Bios.

2.) Why create Bootable USB - cause I can get to my OS.

Copy and paste to your browser

How to fix an Invalid Partition Table error on a system with a SSD (Solid State Drive) | Dell Deutschland

___________I was able to boot to my Windows 10_________________________

This also does not help. It came back to where it started - INVALID PARTITION TABLE!

Even going to bios and move the Internal SSD to be the first to boot. It works the first time and after reboot or shutdown it went back to INVALID PARTITION TABLE.

BIOS just won't hold the settings. Even you upgrade the Bios to the latest and downgrade the bios.

Still INVALID PARTITION TABLE.

 

How to delete the GUID Partition Table (GPT) on a HDD

Greg,

Thanks for the reply... and, your Windows Clean Install Guide is great. I'm actually using it for this build I'm working on.

Yes, I plan to use GPT - but, I want to delete sector 0 on the HDD to get rid of the old MBR partition table and I also want to delete sector 1 on the HDD where the GUID partition table (GPT) is located. I am concerned that the virus may have infected the
partition tables.

I would think that deleting the HDD partitions might clean out the HDD partition table - but, I'm not positive. So, I want to delete both the MBR and the GUID partition tables and I do not know of a Windows DISKPART command that can do that.

I am so paranoid about this virus that I am even re-flashing the UEFI firmware back to factory settings using a switch located on the system-board.