Partition misaligned by Veeam restore to Hyper-V

[mcbsys]

Recently I converted a bare-metal Server 2022 machine to a Hyper-V guest VM. I used Veeam Windows Agent 6.0 (Free) to back up the bare metal machine and restore it as a virtual machine. I created two dynamically-expanding VHDX disks for the restore of the system drive and data drive. The system seems to be working fine, but I am now getting these warnings from the virtual machine:

"Application Event Log, ID=264, Source=Microsoft-Windows-Defrag, Message: The storage optimizer couldn't complete slab consolidation on (C:) because: The slab consolidation / trim operation cannot be performed because the volume alignment is invalid. (0x89000029)"

I believe this fsutil command points to the problem:

Code: Select all

>fsutil fsinfo sectorinfo c:
LogicalBytesPerSector : 512
PhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity : 4096
PhysicalBytesPerSectorForPerformance : 4096
FileSystemEffectivePhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity : 4096
Device Alignment : Aligned (0x000)
Partition alignment on device : **Not Aligned (0xc00)** <----
Performs Normal Seeks
Trim Supported
Not DAX capable
Is Thinly-Provisioned, SlabSize : 33,554,432 bytes (32.0 MB)

Apparently Veeam did not align the C: partition on restore. How can I fix that now, or do I need to?

I opened case 06088940, understanding that since it is a free product, no guarantees. The case was automatically closed without a response. Thought I'd try here for some insight!

[Mildur]

Hello mcbsys

I checked the cases in the last 3 months about not aligned partitions and I only can find yours.
One suggestion, for Domain Controller it would be better to install a new server and use Microsoft methods to migrate your old domain controller to the new one. Instead of doing a physical to virtual conversion.

Please allow me one question, did you have used the recovery media to restore the agent or our Instant Recovery method with Veeam Backup & Replication?

Apparently Veeam did not align the C: partition on restore. How can I fix that now, or do I need to?

I suggest to ask that question in the Microsoft community forums.

Best,
Fabian

[mcbsys]

Fabian,

Thank you for looking into this.

The background is that this was a brand new physical domain controller but due to a possible hardware error (that is still a mystery), it seemed wise to virtualize the machine in case I needed to move it to different hardware. I was not aware that P-to-V of a Domain Controller is not recommended.

For the restore, I used the Veeam Windows Agent Recovery ISO created from the physical machine. I did have to use a workaround under Hyper-V, as the Recovery ISO would not boot with a Gen 2 machine. So I did the restore under Gen 1, then attached the disks to a Gen 2. Also during the restore, I had to manually partition the drives, and found that Veeam would not let me match the original disk layout--it moved the Recovery partition to the beginning of the disk, before the C: partition, which may explain why the C: partition is misaligned. I've blogged this with screen shots but it seems I am not able to post a link here. You could Google "Veeam 6 Fails to Restore to Hyper-V Gen 2 site:mcbsys.com"

I suggest to ask that question in the Microsoft community forums.

I haven't had much luck with Microsoft lately--even their paid support is ignoring a ticket, which is why the hardware error is still a mystery. Do you have positive experience with a particular Microsoft forum? I do speak German as well if there is a German-language forum that is helpful.

Besten Dank
Mark