Backup Management Server fails to start after changing disk controller and driver

We operate our Acronis Backup Management Server on a virtual machine. In preparation for upgrading this VM to Server 2012R2, we want to change the disk controller from an LSI Logic emulation to the VMware paravirtual SATA controller.

Our management server is a straightforward configuration, although we have changed the database backend from SQL Server Express 2005 to SQL Server Express 2008 64-bit. The management server has been running successfully with this configution for months.

Doing the disk driver change was straightforward: add the driver to the local Windows device store, run sysprep, change the device type from the LSI Logic to VMware paravirtual SATA controller, then reboot. Rejoining the domain was necessary, but then the server was up and running with the new disk controller.

However, once this change is made, we can no longer connect to the Acronis management server. The management server process is running after rebooting, but we can no longer connect to it with the management console. An error is displayed saying the file cannot be found when attempting to connect to the management server. We did attempt to do a repair installation of the management server component, but this did not help.

We would like to be able to change the disk device type...any suggestions what may clear up this error?