Troubleshooting VM Import/Export - VM Import/Export
Import image errorsImport instance errorsVM export errorsWindows VM errorsLinux VM errors

Troubleshooting VM Import/Export

When you import or export a virtual machine (VM), most errors occur because of an attempt to do something that isn't supported. To avoid these errors, be sure to check the requirements and limitations carefully.

An import task might stop before it completes, and then fail. You can gather details about the import task that appears to have stopped due to a failure before it changes to the completed status. To gather such details, use the appropriate command for the import operation you used to describe details of the conversion task that's in progress:

Import image errors

Error Code: InvalidParameter, Error Message: Message: Parameter disk-image-size=0 has an invalid format

The specified image format is not supported. Retry the operation using one of the following supported image formats: VHD, VHDX, VMDK, or raw.

A client error (MalformedPolicyDocument) occurred when calling the CreateRole operation: Syntax errors in policy

You must include the file:// prefix before the policy document name.

ClientError: Disk validation failed [OVF file parsing error: OVA with chunked disk files is not supported]

VM Import/Export does not support importing disks separated into multiple files. Check the disk format and retry the operation with the VM disk as a single file.

ClientError: Disk validation failed [Unsupported VMDK File Format]

The VMDK file must be stream-optimized. For more information, see Image formats supported by VM Import/Export.

ClientError: Multiple different grub/menu.lst files found

VM Import/Export found duplicate files during the import task for at least one of the following: grub.cfg, grub.conf, or menu.lst. VMs with dual-boot configurations are not supported. For more information, see Limitations for resources being imported with VM Import/Export.

The service role vmimport does not exist or does not have sufficient permissions for the service to continue

The VM import service role is missing or incorrect. You may also receive this error if the user, group, or role trying to start the import does not have sufficient access privileges on Amazon EC2 resources.

This error can also occur if the user calling ImportImage has Decrypt permission but the vmimport role does not. If you use Server-Side Encryption with AWS KMS–Managed Keys (SSE-KMS) to secure your at-rest data in Amazon S3, you need to assign additional Decrypt permission to your service role as shown in the following JSON code:

{
   "Sid":"Allow vmimport to decrypt SSE-KMS key",
   "Effect":"Allow",
   "Principal":{
      "AWS":[
         "arn:aws:iam::accountid:role/vmimport"
      ]
   },
   "Action":[
      "kms:Decrypt"
   ],
   "Resource":"*"
}

Import instance errors

Error Code: InvalidParameter, Error Message: Message: Parameter disk-image-size=0 has an invalid format

The specified image format is not supported. Retry the operation using one of the following supported image formats: OVA, VHD, VMDK, or raw.

Client.Unsupported: No bootable partition found. (Service: AmazonEC2; Status Code: 400; Error Code: Unsupported; Request ID: <RequestID>)

The root volume is GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioned. GPT partitioned volumes are not supported. Convert the root volume to an MBR partition and try again.

ClientError: Footers not identical

You attempted to import a differencing VHD, or there was an error in creating the VHD. Export your VM again and retry importing it into Amazon EC2.

ClientError: Uncompressed data has an invalid length

The VMDK file is corrupted. You can try repairing or recreating the VMDK file, or use a different file.

ERROR: Bucket <MyBucketName> is not in the <RegionName> Region, it's in <RegionName>

The Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket is not in the same AWS Region as the instance you want to import. Try adding the --ignore-region-affinity option, which ignores whether the bucket's Region matches the Region where the import task is created. You can also create an S3 bucket using the Amazon Simple Storage Service console and set the Region to the Region where you want to import the VM. Run the command again and specify the new bucket you just created.

ERROR: File uses unsupported compression algorithm 0

The VMDK was created using OVA format instead of OVF format. Create the VMDK in OVF format.

Invalid S3 source location

The command syntax or S3 bucket name is incorrect. Create an S3 bucket in the appropriate Region solely for VM Import and upload the VM files to the root of the bucket.

The given S3 bucket is not local to the Region

The S3 bucket used for VM Import must reside in the same AWS Region where you want to import the VM.

ClientError: Unknown OS / Missing OS files

The operating system is not recognized. Verify that your OS is listed as support in the VM Import/Export Requirements for resources that you import with VM Import/Export.

VM export errors

Client.UnsupportedOperation: This instance has multiple volumes attached. Please remove additional volumes.

Detach volumes other than the root volume and try again. If you need the data from the volumes, you can copy it to the root volume or import the volumes to Amazon EBS.

Client.NotExportable: This instance cannot be exported. (Service: AmazonEC2; Status Code: 400; Error Code: NotExportable; Request ID: <RequestID>)

You can only export certain instances. For more information, see Considerations for instance export.

Error starting instances: Invalid value <instance ID> for instanceId. Instance does not have a volume attached at root (/dev/sda1).

You attempted to start the instance before the VM import process and all conversion tasks were complete. Wait for the VM import process and all conversion tasks to completely finish, and then start the instance.

An error occurred (InvalidParameter) when calling the CreateInstanceExportTask operation: The given S3 object is not local to the region.

The EC2 instance and S3 bucket must be in the same AWS Region. You must also ensure the create-instance-export-task command is being run in the same Region as your resources being exported. You can specify the Region by using --region parameter. For more information, see AWS CLI supported global command line options in the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

Windows VM errors

ClientError: Booter Networking failure/instance not reachable. Please retry after installation of .Net framework 3.5 SP1 or greater.

The EC2 Config Service requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 or later. Install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 or later on your Windows VM and try again.

FirstBootFailure: This import request failed because the Windows instance failed to boot and establish network connectivity.

When you receive the FirstBootFailure error message, it means that your virtual disk image was unable to perform one of the following steps:

  • Boot up and start Windows.

  • Install Amazon EC2 networking and disk drivers.

  • Use a DHCP-configured network interface to retrieve an IP address.

  • Activate Windows using the Amazon EC2 Windows volume license.

The following best practices can help you to avoid Windows first boot failures:

  • Disable anti-virus and anti-spyware software and firewalls — These types of software can prevent installing new Windows services or drivers or prevent unknown binaries from running. Software and firewalls can be re-enabled after importing.

  • Do not harden your operating system — Security configurations, sometimes called hardening, can prevent unattended installation of Amazon EC2 drivers. There are numerous Windows configuration settings that can prevent import. These settings can be reapplied once imported.

  • Disable or delete multiple bootable partitions — If your virtual machine boots and requires you to choose which boot partition to use, the import may fail.

This inability of the virtual disk image to boot up and establish network connectivity could be due to any of the following causes:

TCP/IP networking and DHCP are not enabled

Cause: TCP/IP networking and DHCP must be enabled.

Resolution: Ensure that TCP/IP networking is enabled. For more information, see Change TCP/IP settings at the Microsoft Support website. Ensure that DHCP is enabled. For more information, see Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) at the Microsoft website.

The Hyper-V server role is installed

Cause: Importing a virtual machine with the Hyper-V role installed is not supported.

Resolution: Remove the Hyper-V role from the virtual machine and try the import again.

A volume that Windows requires is missing from the virtual machine

Cause: Importing a VM into Amazon EC2 only imports the boot disk, all other disks must be detached and Windows must able to boot before importing the virtual machine. For example, Active Directory often stores the Active Directory database on the D:\ drive. A domain controller cannot boot if the Active Directory database is missing or inaccessible.

Resolution: Detach any secondary and network disks attached to the Windows VM before exporting. Move any Active Directory databases from secondary drives or partitions onto the primary Windows partition. For more information, see "Directory Services cannot start" error message when you start your Windows-based or SBS-based domain controller at the Microsoft Support website.

Windows always boots into System Recovery Options

Cause: Windows can boot into System Recovery Options for a variety of reasons, including when Windows is pulled into a virtualized environment from a physical machine, also known as a physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversion process.

Resolution: Ensure that Windows boots to a login prompt before exporting and preparing for import. Do not import virtualized Windows instances that have come from a physical machine.

The virtual machine was created using a physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversion process

Cause: A P2V conversion occurs when a disk image is created by performing the Windows installation process on a physical machine and then importing a copy of that Windows installation into a VM. VMs that are created as the result of a P2V conversion are not supported by VM Import/Export. VM Import/Export only supports Windows images that were natively installed inside the source VM.

Resolution: Install Windows in a virtualized environment and migrate your installed software to that new VM.

Windows activation fails

Cause: During boot, Windows will detect a change of hardware and attempt activation. During the import process we attempt to switch the licensing mechanism in Windows to a volume license provided by Amazon Web Services. However, if the Windows activation process does not succeed, then the import fails.

Resolution: Ensure that the version of Windows that you are importing supports volume licensing. Beta or preview versions of Windows might not.

No bootable partition found

Cause: During the import process of a virtual machine, we could not find the boot partition.

Resolution: Ensure that the disk you are importing has a boot partition.

Linux VM errors

ClientError: Invalid configuration - Could not read fstab

Linux VMs with dual-boot volumes or multiple /etc directories are not supported.

ClientError: BLSC-style GRUB found, but unable to detect default kernel

VM Import/Export can’t detect the default kernel. This can occur when it has been moved out of the main grub.cfg file. You can set the configuration to $saved_entry and ensure the grubenv contains the bootloader entry as the default.

ClientError: We were unable to read your import's initramfs/initrd to determine what drivers your import requires to run in EC2

We were unable to read required files while importing your Linux VM to prepare it to run as an instance in Amazon EC2. You can run the lsinitramfs command to verify the integrity of the file. For example, you might use the following command:

lsinitramfs /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-77-generic 2>&1 | less

If errors are returned in the output, you can try rebuilding the initramfs file to resolve the issue and import the VM again.

ClientError: Unsupported configuration - Logical volume group activation failed

A logical volume on your virtual disk image failed to activate. This may indicate file or disk corruption. Verify the uploaded disk image files.

ClientError: Unsupported configuration - Multiple directories found

Linux VMs with multi-boot volumes or multiple /etc directories are not supported.

ClientError: Unsupported kernel version

The kernel version used by the operating system is not supported. Confirm that your import meets the requirements listed for the operating system. For more information, see Operating systems supported by VM Import/Export.

Linux is not supported on the requested instance

Linux VMs can be imported to specific instance types. Try again using one of the following supported instance types.

  • General purpose: t2.micro | t2.small | t2.medium | m3.medium | m3.large | m3.xlarge | m3.2xlarge

  • Compute optimized: c3.large | c3.xlarge | c3.2xlarge | c3.4xlarge | c3.8xlarge | cc1.4xlarge | cc2.8xlarge

  • Memory optimized: r3.large | r3.xlarge | r3.2xlarge | r3.4xlarge | r3.8xlarge | cr1.8xlarge

  • Storage optimized: i2.xlarge | i2.2xlarge | i2.4xlarge | i2.8xlarge | hi1.4xlarge | hi1.8xlarge