Windows XP Pro hangs while booting but loads once reset

ithildin · Post by **ithildin** » 21. Jan 2009, 21:00

Hi everyone,

I am having problems using my Windows XP guest on Virtualbox 2.10 using an iMac (Core Duo 1.6 Ghz) running OS X 10.4.11 as host. Although I am quite pleased with the way WinXP runs via Virtualbox on my iMac, it have problems booting up the guest machine.
Everytime I start the guest machine, Windows XP hangs while loading (splash screen) before the login window ever shows up and sits there holding 100% CPU but won't budge any further. It usually happens right after Mouse Integration comes on. Resetting the image (Host+R) and selecting to "continue to load Windows normally" works and then loads to a usable desktop where I can login, everything is responsive, etc.. Once I shutdown Windows and then try to restart, it will hang again and then I have to reset it once more. I am going mad trying to find why this happens!

The guest image was ported over from VMware Fusion but all the usual fixes have been applied (reg fixes for IDE controller, intelppm.sys, agp440.sys, removed VMware tools, removed all VMware devices). I've also changed the windows HAL from ACPI and APIC to a standard one to reduce CPU overhead. I've tried switching on and off the SATA controller, ACPI, IO APIC, VT-x and PAE/NX with no noticeable effect - it still hangs!

I've reopened a similar bug ticket (#707) so hopefully this will get looked into. In the meantime, I wanted to get your input in case there is something obvious that I missed or some fix you might know. Any ideas? I can also provide logs if helpful (see ticket).

Thanks!

nabamer. · Post by **nabamer.** » 22. Jan 2009, 19:05

I had similar experiences with an image ported over from Parallels 3. Especially the usb support gave me a lot of hangs during the start up stage of Windows XP. Turning usb support off, has worked for me so far, but it might be not feasible in your situation.

I think it has obviously to do something with the other virtualization tools, that had been installed before, but I can't uninstall them anymore and as you have said disabling AGP support and playing around with the VT-X options did not have any effects.

However I don't think that this is a real bug - but it would be much better, if someone form VirtualBox could give us any advice on how to get a running system cleaned from older "hardware", because with a freshly installed Windows XP I don't have similar problems....