When the normal methods one might use to fail, then one must use alternate methods and or a combination of alternate methods.
As an example if one makes a filesystem image only on a PM and restores it to a VM then one will need to do a few things to get it working properly. First would be to boot with the target OS install disc and repair the boot sector and or boot loader and the other would be to manually inject the necessary Drivers (Mass Storage Controller and Keyboard) and necessary Windows Registry entries for the Drivers. Then once up and running clean up the Hardware Tree removing any hardware no longer present, etc.