Troubleshooting corrupt VM configuration files with Virtual Server

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If you have an installation of Virtual Server that has been working correctly - but now you are finding that:

  1. The Administrative website loads, but does not display any virtual machines.
  2. The Administrative website loads, but displays an error message about a corrupt configuration file.
  3. The Administrative website fails to load and you get an error stating that the CGI application took too long to respond.

It is highly likely that you have a corrupt virtual machine configuration file (.VMC) that is causing this problem.  To figure out if this is the case you should:

  1. Open the Services manager under Windows and stop the "Virtual Server" service.
  2. Open "%allusersprofile%Application DataMicrosoftVirtual ServerVirtual Machines"
  3. Move all the .LNK files out of this directory into a temporary holding spot (I just use a new folder on my desktop).
  4. Use the Services manager to start the "Virtual Server" service.

If you can now load up the Virtual Server Administrative website with no problems - you do have a corrupt configuration (if the website still does not load - time to look elsewhere).  No you can go through the process of moving .LNK files back (and starting and stopping the "Virtual Server" service each time) until you narrow down the problematic configuration file.

Once you know which configuration file is causing the trouble - it is usually easiest to just delete it and create a new virtual machine that points to the virtual hard disks of the virtual machine in question.

Cheers,
Ben