VirtualBox host died, moving data/VM

[James_1984]

Hello,

Virtualbox is new to me but basically, i have been given a PC that needs rebuilding because it's failed.

This PC is a host with Windows 10 64 bit (I think), 8GB RAM, 240GB SSD, they had a virtualbox VM running Windows XP (assuming 32 bit) too.

I think I've managed to get everything in regards to the VM file, logs, etc, so I've installed virtualbox my work PC and added the VM (VHD), it just shows a black screen and that's it.

What do i need to do to get it working please? Will it work OK if I get the original host up and running again?

Regards,
James

[mpack]

and added the VM (VHD) ...

More details on that please, because a VHD is a disk image (a poor choice of one), not a VM. The correct way to add a VM would be to double click the .vbox file. If you actually built a new VM and attached the VHD to it then failures along the lines you describe are pretty much guaranteed.

In that case you would now have to unregister your VM to avoid UUID clashes when you do the job properly.

Howto: Move a VM.

[James_1984]

Hello,

Apologises, OK so i copied the the actual VHD and .vbox files too and put them in the same places that i copied from the Host.

I've just tried double clicking on "XP.vbox" file instead of adding a virtual disk (VHD) manually and it's still showing just a black screen.

It bring select your operation system and it shows 2x "Microsoft Windows XP professional", first just has a black screen and the other complains "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration change".

I know this might be a stupid question, do you recon i would work in the original PC if I get it back up and running again?

Regards,
James

[James_1984]

I've just changed the chipset from PIIX3 to ICH9 and has now booted!

It did say it was "an invalid setting" but it's working, do i need to worry about that?

James

[mpack]

If it's working then I'd stick with it, but the normal reason for black screen on boot with XP is having the IO-APIC setting the wrong way round (i.e. not how it was when XP was installed). Using the .vbox should have restored the correct setting, assuming your .vbox was always paired with that disk.

Usually, substantial hardware changes cause XP to be deactivated, so you might want to check that, and that you can reactivate (which you should only do when you have to, i.e. long after you are sure you don't want to change the virtual hardware again).

Just to clarify, when you say "it brings up", I assume you mean the early boot process of the VM, and are not referring to the list of available VMs in the VirtualBox manager, because my previous instructions told you to unregister the previous VM. Since we already clarified that a VHD is not a VM I hope that didn't get translated into removing the VHD from the old VM.

[James_1984]

Thanks for your help, it's greatly appreciated and yes it did complain about XP needing activating but i'm sure I can find an XP key somewhere .

James