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After migrating physical to virtual, server will not show GUI/XWin

This document (7015637) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
VMware vCenter
VMware vCenter Converter

Situation

After SLES physical server was migrated, it would boot fine to runlevel 3 but would not display a gui after running startx or init 5.

Resolution

Install VMware tools (for the given version of vCenter and linux architecture); and restart the guest.

Cause


Additional Information

The driver for the video card on the virtual machine is not included in the kernel.  Installing VMware tools adds the proper driver for video to the machine's config that all works properly afterwards.

In reviewing the /var/log/boot.msg log, the following may observed:
gdm[2902]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.454865 seconds
gdm[2902]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.020674 seconds
gdm[2902]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.019999 seconds
gdm[2902]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.021120 seconds
gdm[2902]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.021724 seconds
gdm[2902]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.021945 seconds
gdm[2902]: WARNING: GdmLocalDisplayFactory: maximum number of X display failures reached: check X server log for errors
done
Additionally, in reviewing the /var/log/Xorg.*.log file(s), the following may observed when there is a problem:
(EE) No drivers available.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
     at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:7015637
  • Creation Date: 08-Sep-2014
  • Modified Date:12-Oct-2022
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

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