[Solved] migrating a Windows XP installation from old PC

[youcancallmemar]

hi, what is the simplest way to migrate an exact replica of Windows XP from an old desktop PC onto my macbook pro running El Capitan? I have already installed VirtualBox here on my mac.

As a second part to the question, I previously attempted installing an older version of Parallels I had on my mac, and i was able to migrate the Windows XP installation directly onto this laptop, and it was working well, but i was having all sorts of USB errors and network sharing errors, and after a lot of troubleshooting, was unable to get it to function fully, as needed. so i uninstalled Parallels, but held onto the Windows XP.pvm file (created by Parallels) which, by "showing package contents", i can see contains the .hdd file of the Windows XP installation i'm trying to now import into VirtualBox. i tried selecting this hdd as an existing VM when initially setting up VirtualBox today, but i receive an error message.

any ideas?
thanks!!!

[youcancallmemar]

ok, i hadn't been able to find the answer to this question easily in the forum posting guide, but did just find the link: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows

seems like a thoroughly explained workaround and i will give it a try. if this is somehow not the most up-to-date way of doing it, or in case anyone has any other ideas, i will leave the original post up if thats ok with the admins...

thanks!

[socratis]

i will leave the original post up if thats ok with the admins...

Sure, give it a shot as per the guide, and if it doesn't work, then we'll have the context of your problem. If it works, we'll simply going to (hopefully) mark it as [Solved].

As for your Parallels issue, usually we have a rule of one issue per thread, one thread per issue. Search the forums, there are several posts about this, and if you don't find the answer, please open a new thread with an appropriate title...

Good luck with the conversion!

[youcancallmemar]

okay, thanks for the clarification socratis, i was sort of thinking that the two questions i originally set forth are connected, because the main question is...what's the best way to migrate this Windows XP installation?

i will look for an answer in the forums specifically for the second question: can i use the .hdd file created by Parallels as the method of migrating the Windows XP installation?

or if you know the answer to that, maybe just lemme know

thanks!!

[mpack]

One part of the tutorial you should definitely ignore - all that nonsense about imaging the disk using dd and convertfromraw. That was bad advice even when first written. Use Disk2VHD instead, but do convert the VHD to VDI before use. CloneVDI can do the conversion step.

The main thing is to run MergeIDE in XP before imaging it.

[youcancallmemar]

hi, forgive me, i'm pretty much a newbie with all this.

what is the VHD? are you basically saying i should skip steps 3 and 4 from the migrating XP tutorial?

thanks!

[socratis]

what is the VHD?

Virtual Hard Drive. It's a rather old (and problematic) format for a virtual HD that Microsoft created a long time ago. These days it's not really the best option, even Microsoft is using its successor, VHDX. But, that's all that's required at the moment as a transitional medium, the tool (Disk2VHD) is already there and works with VHDs.

That's why the next step is to convert the VHD to the much better supported VDI, Virtual Disk Image.

are you basically saying i should skip steps 3 and 4 from the migrating XP tutorial?

That's exactly what he's saying. The goal is to get the real hard drive into a VDI. mpack, and myself, are suggesting to use the Disk2VHD followed by the CloneVDI method, instead of the one in the guide.

[youcancallmemar]

thank you guys!

so just for overkill clarification:

instead of step 3 in the tutorial, use Disk2VHD to make a VHD file of my Windows XP installation. then throw that VHD file into Clone VDI and convert to VDI, then continue chugging along with the migrating windows XP tutorial, as it's written, from step 5 on...

[socratis]

Yes. On the other hand, only if you do it you'll learn. Especially if you make a mistake or two...

As the old saying goes:

• I hear it, I forget it.
• I see it, I remember it.
• I do it, I understand it.

[youcancallmemar]

wise advice socratis... will get started and see how it goes.

will update you guys. thanks again!

[youcancallmemar]

ok in Disk2VHD, it's asking if

i should use VHDX or just VHD?
Prepare for use in Virtual PC?
Use Volume Shadow Copy?

i wish i had any idea what any of that means! sorry, but can you help? haha

[socratis]

VHD not VHDX, Yes to the Virtual PC preparation, Yes to the Volume Shadow Copy, external hard drive as the VHD location. Read the online help...

[youcancallmemar]

ok, got through everything, tried booting up the windows xp vdi file, which seemed to integrate into VirtualBox perfectly btw, and i see the windows xp logo as it starts loading, then the screen just goes black and i can't do anything...

any ideas? i am confused by the migration tutorial at this point. i didn't get the BSOD, but did get the unresponsive black screen. i also don't understand the troubleshooting instructions for the BSOD (i'm assuming the b can also stand for black in this case, lol)...

it says to boot up from a windows CD... how does that work? do i put the windows xp cd into my macbook cdrom and somehow boot from that?

[socratis]

Not without a log... We need to see a complete VBox.log, from a complete VM run:

• Start the VM from cold-boot (not from a paused or saved state) / Observe error / Shutdown the VM (force close it if you have to).
• With the VM completely shut down (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log".
• Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response. See the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form.

[youcancallmemar]

nevermind! the issue was that on windows xp startup it is giving me two bootup options, one is the windows xp installation, the other is disk2vhd windows xp installation, and the disk2vhd was selected by default. my windows xp machine started up successfully once i chose the correct bootup version!!! i'm so excited and grateful to you guys... but im not in the clear yet. the computer immediately started installing drivers and trying to download some from the internet, but as far as i can tell, the VM is not online.

is it possible to get it online through the macbook wifi connection?

what are guest additions and how do i get them and install them? (this was the last step on the tutorial)

can i remove that disk2vhd windows bootup option completely from the startup sequence so that it just chooses the correct bootup version automatically?

you guys are the best, thx again