Scenario:
- VMware Converter 5.0 Standalone;
- Windows 2003 Server physical machine;
- When trying to convert the machine, the error "Unable to obtain hardware information for the selected machine." was seen on the conversion wizard. Remote or local installation,same error.
In the Converter Agent logs, located at %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Agent\logs\vmware-converter-agent-1.log could see:
2013-06-10T16:52:32.997-03:00 [04488 warning 'Default'] Failed to get capacity for \\.\PhysicalDrive0: error opening disk device: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process (32) 2013-06-10T16:52:32.997-03:00 [04488 warning 'Default'] Skipping hard disk '\\.\PhysicalDrive0' 2013-06-10T16:52:32.997-03:00 [04488 warning 'Default'] Failed to get capacity for \\.\PhysicalDrive1: error opening disk device: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process (32) 2013-06-10T16:52:32.997-03:00 [04488 warning 'Default'] Skipping hard disk '\\.\PhysicalDrive1' .... 2013-06-10T16:52:32.997-03:00 [04488 error 'Default'] [LiveWindowsComputer] Unable to find any disks attached to the computer.
No antivirus installed, hmmm.... using local administrator credentials, full access. Using Windows Explorer could access both volumes, C: and D:.
Verified services: HP Insight Manager running. Just stopped all HP related services and voilá, conversion working.
Hope this helps 
With Guilherme Pfeifer's collaboration.