Stop error 0x7B and installation may fail when you try to upgrade to a Windows Server 2008-based or a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer that has SAN drives that are managed by EMC's PowerPath Device Specific Module (DSM)

Consider the following scenario. You try to upgrade to a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer that has externally attached storage. This storage is managed by EMC's PowerPath Device Specific Module (DSM). In this scenario, you may receive the following errors:

• The externally attached storage that is managed by EMC PowerPath is no longer available.
  
• PowerPath DSM drivers for MPIO shows a yellow exclamation point (!) in Device Manager.
• The upgrade may fail if Windows is starting from or has system information that is stored on externally attached storage that EMC PowerPath manages.

To upgrade to Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, EMC recommends that you follow these steps:

1. Remove PowerPath.
2. Upgrade the Windows operating system.
3. Install the version of PowerPath that EMC recommends for your storage.

REFERENCES

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.