[Solved] physical harddisk won't boot

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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sebigbos
Posts: 4
Joined: 31. Dec 2021, 10:30

[Solved] physical harddisk won't boot

Post by sebigbos »

Hey there,

I want to boot a physical harddisk with a xp professional 32-bit installation on it. I used the command

Code: Select all

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename "</path/to/file>.vmdk" -rawdisk /dev/sda
to create a vdmk-file.

Then I start the vm I get a question wether I'd like to change the boot device using F12 and when only a blinking cursor. It seems like Virtualbox cannot find the boot partition but there is no error message.

I already tried several approaches to start this xp installation. So I created an image using dd. But it is always exactly the same outcome: a blinking cursor.

Any idea?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: physical harddisk won't boot

Post by mpack »

In general, physical devices and virtual machines don't mix well.

The simplest solution would be to not attempt to boot from a physical hard disk. So I'm going to ignore that aspect and concentrate on your use of DD.

First, if you have a raw image then first convert it to something more practical, e.g. use CloneVDI to convert raw to VDI. Enable the "compact" option to discard unused areas of the image.

You should also read https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows, though you can ignore the imaging steps. Though you should repeat those if you didn't do the "mergeide" patch before imaging.

Also, it used to be the case that a black screen on XP boot was almost always caused by having the IOAPIC setting wrong, i.e. not how it was set when XP was installed (*). In that case simply toggling the setting should have an affect.

(*) XP is too old to be "plug and play" when it comes to major motherboard features. It doesn't like CPU changes, nor IOAPIC changes, nor disk controller changes. It won't recognize SATA or USB3.
sebigbos
Posts: 4
Joined: 31. Dec 2021, 10:30

Re: physical harddisk won't boot

Post by sebigbos »

Hi,

thanks for looking.

I tried a lot of different approaches and all had exactly the same end: nothing but black and a blinking cursor, no error message. It seems that the problem is in all cases the same. So I want to concentrate on my favorite and best solution for my purposes and that means use the physical hard disc, sorry.

And it's not an export from somewhere to anywhere. This xp installation did run on exactly this machine and still does if I start the disc from bios, including AHCI and USB3 and all the other stuff.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: physical harddisk won't boot

Post by mpack »

sebigbos wrote: And it's not an export from somewhere to anywhere.
I'm not sure why you say that, and btw I did not use the word "export", which is an unrelated subject matter. If the source image did not come from a VirtualBox VM then this is most definitely a PC to PC migration like any other, and is covered by the linked migration FAQ.

To be clear: locating the VM on the original host doesn't mean that the hardware is the same - it is most certainly not. The virtual hardware will in fact be completely different except for the CPU. If it's a retail XP then it will want to be reactivated.
sebigbos
Posts: 4
Joined: 31. Dec 2021, 10:30

Re: physical harddisk won't boot

Post by sebigbos »

sorry, I'm not native english. I installed Ubuntu half year ago and before this I used this computer with xp on the hdd which I now will run in virtualbox.

Maybe I get some problems with xp concerning the hardware. I can handle this. But I stuck at a point where xp not even had a chance to try a start. Do you have an idea how to change this?
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: physical harddisk won't boot

Post by fth0 »

You could provide a (zipped) VBox.log file, so that we have more information about what really happens.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: physical harddisk won't boot

Post by mpack »

sebigbos wrote: I tried a lot of different approaches
Did you try the specific approach I mentioned, of changing the IOAPIC setting?

Note: I fully expect that this will not be enough. It should however be enough to advance you to the next error, a stop 0x7B due to the change of disk controller and not running MergeIDE, and/or not configuring the VM for IDE (as I already mentioned, SATA will almost certainly fail).
sebigbos
Posts: 4
Joined: 31. Dec 2021, 10:30

Re: physical harddisk won't boot

Post by sebigbos »

mpack wrote:Did you try the specific approach I mentioned, of changing the IOAPIC setting?
I didn't get this one. Virtualbox put IOAPIC off per default recognizing the guest as xp. I put it on and xp is starting like a charme. This works for starting the physical hdd and for starting the converted image also. There is still some work to do with drivers, but there is no bluescreen, so I can work on it.

Thank you very much. Problem solved.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: physical harddisk won't boot

Post by mpack »

Good. I thought that would be it.
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