I thought i would reply to this thread, since it is basically the only existance of this problem that I found on the interwebs.
I had exactly the same error whilst p2v'ing an RH4u4 server...
FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion: 'GrubInstaller::InstallGrub: /usr/lib/vmware-converter/installGrub.sh failed with return code: 255, and message: mount: mounting /dev on /mnt/p2v-src-root/dev failed:
No such file or directory Unable to mount /dev to /mnt/p2v-src-root/dev '
The problem is it doesnt copy /dev. because the tar fails. (errors without exiting.)
[root@lonrs05089 ~]# tar --version
tar (GNU tar) 1.14
The p2v works by connecting via ssh to the server and running copyFileSystem.sh which basically runs:
tar --one-file-system -C / -cf - .
...you can simulate the failure by running:
[root@testserver ~]# /bin/tar --one-file-system --sparse -C / -cf - . | /bin/tar tf - | cut -d/ -f 2 | sort -u | (cd / && xargs ls -d)
/bin/tar: ./export/home/devuser/heapdump/dir/bigfile.bin: File shrank by 1114013368 bytes; padding with zeros
/bin/tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
.autofsck data home K00OUT.LOG lost+found srv bin
etc .hpshm_keyfile lib media opt root tmp usr boot
export initrd lib64 misc prod_apps sbin var
...in my case you will notice that /dev is missing. (and /proc /sys)
it turned out (in my case anyway) that there was a very large file (~7Gb) in the root filesystem that tar was failing on (because of underlying hardware issue with the hp e200i smart array controller) then silently erroring/terminating without exiting 1.
dmesg:
cciss: cmd 0000010037c80000 has CHECK CONDITION byte 2 = 0x3
/var/log/messages
Nov 19 14:04:50 testserver cmaeventd[7763]: Logical drive 1 of Embedded Array Controller: I/O request fatal error.
Nov 19 14:05:57 testserver kernel: cciss: cmd 00000100cfda0000 has CHECK CONDITION byte 2 = 0x3
=> controller all show config
Smart Array E200i in Slot 0 (sn: SKJWE123167 )
array A (SAS, Unused Space: 0 MB)
logicaldrive 1 (68.3 GB, RAID 1+0, Ready for Rebuild)
physicaldrive 1I:1:1 (port 1I:box 1:bay 1, SAS, 72 GB, Predictive Failure)
physicaldrive 1I:1:2 (port 1I:box 1:bay 2, SAS, 72 GB, Predictive Failure)
once I removed the dodgy file, tar was able to complete properly, and the p2v was able to continue without any problem.
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an alternative workaround: (not really recommended.)
Find a free linux server, and modify the boot-helper iso image:
C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone\converter-helper-vm-x64.iso
chrootAndExec.sh
initrdGenRhel.sh
edit either of these two to contain:
mkdir "$1/dev" "$1/proc" "$1/sys" 2> /dev/null
rebuild the iso using mkisofs, and dump back into your converter directory on C:\
This is not ideal, as you can't guaratee the integrity of the data that you are copying this way, but atleast it works enough for you to figure out why its failing.