Windows XP vmdk "ERROR LOADING OPERATING SYSTEM"

[Martin]

I think FrederikB is right.

No, he is not.
Virtualbox doesn't modify anything inside your XP virtual machine.
It is the XP operating system itself which tries to modify itself to adjust to the different (virtual) hardware when running under Virtualbox.

[MisterR]

On what facts? You have just described doing exactly the same thing as FrederikB, so naturally you got the same result. That doesn't mean that your (or his) explanation for it makes any sense.

Of course I did the same thing as FrederikB because this happend to me BEFORE I read this thread and search for a SOLUTION.
Oh my god, I found out that someone here, FrederikB, had the same problems. Isn't that what forums are for ?
Now what about the only fact that Virtualbox modified the image file because the modified date and time attributes of the file have changed ?
Maybe not a solid fact but it speaks by itself.

Best guess? You or XP tried some kind of boot repair function. That's what stops it booting when you go back.

Nope. Only boot in Virtualbox, then boot in VMWare. Nothing else running at boot. Only hangs with error messages at boot in both cases.

And if you want to stop it happening? Easy. Don't experiment on your only copy of the data.

Hey, I wrote this :

Fortunately, I was using copies, so I lost nothing.

Don't think everyone is stupid...
And I had to try it twice when the problem occured to me to be sure it wasn't only a problem with the first image.

Please stop behaving defensively !
Thanks.

[socratis]

Oh my god, I found out that someone here, FrederikB, had the same problems. Isn't that what forums are for ?

Yes. But if you found an erroneous solution and you go with it, the forum users are here to correct your perception.

Now what about the only fact that Virtualbox modified the image file because the modified date and time attributes of the file have changed ?

VirtualBox does NOT modify your image, the OS that's installed on it does. Can you understand this fundamental difference? You can't be blaming Acer/Apple/Dell/HP/Lenovo/Other if your hard disk gets modified at boot, can you? Well, you do...

Because that's exactly where your mindset is at, and we're trying to "adjust" the way you're thinking and where exactly you're looking for the error and who you're trying to blame...

[mpack]

Please stop behaving defensively !

Then please stop spraying the site with BS. It's hard work to clean it off before it dries.

[FrederikB]

I think FrederikB is [not] right.

I do not dislike Virtualbox at all but neither am I ready to deep dive in the cause of all this, such as if it is VBox or XP doing the damage. I used VBox like I do with other OSes but with a XP vmdk my data gets corrupted. If I move the vmdk between VMWare products there is no issue. Isnt that enough for a serious warning? Now I also tried the MergeIDE but sorry that didnt help. Now before doing the MBR stuff I decided downloading the (for private use) free newest edition of VMWare player. That runs the XP vmdk without any issue. Now I can finally upgrade my Windows10 to 1903 (VMWare workstation 9 preventing that - now removed). I stick to my earlier warning statement. From a usability perspective it would be elegant if VirtualBox would issue a warning when someone would try to open an XP vmdk.

[socratis]

Once again... VirtualBox does not modify your VMDK, period. Your Guest OS is the only one that can do that. Please stop spreading misinformation.

If there's some special code in VMware to run this specific VMDK, that's another issue altogether. Because so far you've only compared the VMDK booting in VMware related products and not booting in VirtualBox. Not a logical comparison...