windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

I need help, please!

Please read the error message copied into the Capture.PNG file which I have attached.

Uninstalling VirtualBox and reinstalling it does not make any difference to the problem that, when the Start arrow is pressed for the Windows XP. the XP does not run. An error message always appears, which then gives a second error message that I have attached, below.

The installation was done by an expert on a computing problems helpline, but this helpline says it cannot spare the time to give me further support.

If you agree that I should uninstall the Windows XP and reinstall it, using a copy which is not corrupted (the helpline says that this is why it will not run). please advise:-

- How do I do this (there seems no reason to uninstall the VirtualBox itself)?

- How do I find a fresh copy of XP Pro SP3 which is not corrupted, and how do i install it?

-How do I find an activation code for the proposed new copy of XP?

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help. I am not a total novice, but I could not have performed the original installation myself. The helpline technician worked extremely quickly, using remote access to my Window 10 PC. I watched, but the process looked quite complicated!
Attachments
Error message from VirtualBox when Windows XP will not start
Error message from VirtualBox when Windows XP will not start
Capture.PNG (14.92 KiB) Viewed 4850 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by mpack »

Activation of XP has nothing whatever to do with hardware, whether virtual or not. It's a purely software function, and Microsoft can answer your questions about it.

In any case that error message has nothing to do with XP activation. The error dialog pictured comes from VirtualBox, not from XP.

To find out what it's really going on we need a VM log file. Make sure the VM is fully shut down, then right click it in the manager UI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" and "VBoxHardening.log" to a zip file. Attach the zip here.
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

How do I get to the manager UI?
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

I can find the two logs, but for the windows xp, not for the VM. But I can't find any way of sending them to a compressed zip folder because no Send option comes up when I right click.

If I click on Save, I can't see to where they have been saved.

BTW, I am supposing that the VirtualBox itself is the manager to which you refer, as its name shows at top left when I start it as Virtual Box manager.

But I still don't know what the UI is, and searching on Google does not find an explanation.

I am anyway sceptical that the logs that I have found are the ones you ask to see, because they are for the virtual machine (windows xp), not for the VirtualBox - at least, as far as I can tell.

I've been at this for over two hours, and still can't do what you ask me to!
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by mpack »

The "manager" is the front end you use to launch VMs.

"The Windows XP" and "the VM" are two names for the same thing. Your Windows XP is a VM. "The virtualbox" is not a term that we use. It's called "the VM".
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

Thanks, but I still can't do what you ask.

You haven't explained what the "UI" means after "manager". and what/where Manager is/is located.

The shortcut added automatically to my desktop during installation starts the VM, so I thought yesterday, after writing back to you, that UI may be short for "Uninstall". So, this morning, I went to to Control Panel > Programs. There is only one option (Uninstall a program). Left mouse click has no effect. Right mouse click on the program Oracle VM VirtualBox 6.1.22 gives only options to "uninstall", "change" or "repair".

I returned to the shortcut on the desktop, which, I thought, may be what you mean by the "front end to launch VMs". As I knew, right clicking on this gives a dropdown list with" Open" at the top, plus several other options, none of which is "Show log".

In "This PC > OS(C:) > Program Files > Oracle > VirtualBox" there is no option to "Show Log".
"Oracle" where there is an option to "Show Log".

In "This PC > OS(C:) > Users > ---- > .VirtualBox" there are ten files named "VBoxSVC.log.-" (-is numbers from 1 to 10). None of these has an option to Save.

Using Search > VBox.log brings up a VERY long list of all sorts of files, but no option to "Show Log".

Explanations of "front end" on Google don't describe anything that i know about, but plenty that I know nothing about! Explanations of UI seem to relate to Java.

I'm afraid that I need more help with focus that I can understand/follow if I am to find, show, save and zip the log files that you need (VBox.log and VBoxHardening.log)
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by mpack »

You really can't find out what common term UI means?

It is an acronym meaning "User Interface". Perhaps you know what GUI is, i.e. a graphical UI, UI being the more general term for anything the user interacts with when they use software. UIs do not have to be graphical.

Btw I said nothing about clicking shortcuts on desktops. That would be using the host OS UI, not the VirtualBox UI.
Attachments
Image1.png
Image1.png (95.64 KiB) Viewed 4794 times
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

Oh my, oh my. GUI. Yes, I vaguely remember that term from DOS computers.

I didn't recognize just UI.

I had seen these log files previously (as I did tell you early in this exchange of messages), but thought, as I said then, that the logs you wanted were for the VBox manager, not for the VM because the error message I had sent referred, you said, to the manager and not to the Virtual Machine.

I have now attached what I hope are the two logs that you need.

I say "hope" because I don't know how to check that they are (1) the Hardening log and (2) the log, because I don't know how to open the attachments in the form of Zip files. I've read up only on zipping up files, not (yet?) on unzipping them!

If they are not what you you need, or both are the same, please say, and I'll try again.
Attachments
vBoxHardening.log.zip
(119.22 KiB) Downloaded 4 times
VBox.log.zip
(119.22 KiB) Downloaded 4 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by mpack »

Curious that you didn't notice that neither file shrank in size, and that the two sizes are identical.

The files did not shrink because you didn't zip anything, you just renamed the files to add a .zip extension.

And instead of giving me one VM log and one hardening log, you gave me two copies of the same VM log.

The only thing I can see so far: 16MB is nowhere near enough graphics RAM. Set it to 64MB. And don't confuse graphics RAM with VM normal RAM: leave that at 1607MB (though that's a really weird number to pick).

The VM runs for 2 minutes before being closed for no obvious reasons. I'm not seeing a VM error. It's possible that the error was in the hardening log that you did not provide.
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

I have tried again to zip the VBoxHardening.log, which is now attached. When Iry to open it, it is shown as a compressed file. So I hope that this time you have the main file that you need in the requested format. The size is 120 kB.

If this has been successful, and you also need the VBox.log, I will send that one separately.

As regards the graphics RAM, if I need access to the VM to increase this to 64MB I imagine that I can't do this until the VM (the XP) is running. When I press the Start arrow it does not start at all. I get the error message which I sent to you at the start of our correspondence.

So I conclude that you first need the VBoxHardening.log. After you have identified and remedied the problem causing the VM (the XP) failing to start and run, I should then be able to re-set the graphics RAM in the VM Is that right?
Attachments
vBoxHardening.log (2).zip
(119.36 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

I amnot doing the right thing/s to send you the Hardening log.

1. I right click on Show Logs in the manager UI.

2. I click on Hardening log and then on the Save button at the top left above the log details.

At this point I am taken to a file folder. If I enter the name VBoxHardening.log in the Save box, click Save, and then right-click on the file that has been saved, I am not given the option to save the file to a zip file. Because I can't do this, I end up with either an empty file or a non-zipped one.

I must be doing something wrong, but what?
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by scottgus1 »

Broytsch wrote:then right-click on the file that has been saved, I am not given the option to save the file to a zip file
This could be solved by web-searching 'zip a file in Windows', but here is how you do it:

Select the file(s) or folder(s) you want to zip.
Right-click the selected the file(s) or folder(s).
Click 'Send to' then click 'Compressed (zipped) folder'.
The new zip file will appear.

FWIW the last hardening log you posted was a zip file. However, you apparently renamed the log file with a .zip extension before zipping it, which throws off the zip extracter that unpacks the zip file. Of course a file renamed .zip doesn't make it a zip. :lol: Keep in mind that a web-search can help solve problems too. https://www.google.com/search?q=zip+a+f ... e&ie=UTF-8
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

Try this one(!?)
Attachments
VBoxHardening.zip
(12.73 KiB) Downloaded 9 times
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

Another attempt!

What actually happens when I try to zip and attach the Hardening log does not match exactly any of the instructions I have found for zipping files, including yours.
Attachments
VBoxHardening.zip
(12.73 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
Broytsch
Posts: 39
Joined: 22. May 2021, 12:19

Re: windows xp with activation code installed into VirtualBox, but will not run

Post by Broytsch »

From the size, what I have just sent you does seem to be compressed. However, when I drag it onto my desktop and right click on it, there is no extract option.
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