Cloned Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine fails to boot with the error: autochk program not found

Cloned Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine fails to boot with the error: autochk program not found – skipping AUTOCHECK

January 18, 2013

To workaround this issue on previous versions of ESX/ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.0:

Power down the source virtual machine.
Backup the .vmx file of the source virtual machine.
Change the value of the disk.EnableUUID parameter to False. For more information, see Tips for editing a .vmx file (1714).
Save the changes made to the .vmx file.
Clone the virtual machine again.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, try this alternate workaround:

Power down the source virtual machine.
Boot the virtual machine using the Windows Server 2008 R2 .iso file.
In the Installation Wizard, select Repair your Computer. For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2261423.Note: The preceding link was correct as of August 18, 2011. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.
Select Command Prompt.
Run these commands in the specified order:diskpart
list volume
select volume 1
attributes volume
attributes volume clear nodefaultdriveletter
Restart the virtual machine after removing the mounted .iso file.
Clone the virtual machine again.

Note: If you cannot power down the source virtual machine you can apply this alternate procedure on the resulting cloned virtual machine as well.

source: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2004505

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Categorised as: Microsoft, Server OS, VMWare/ESX