Can't Start VirtualBox; Error With Official ISO Mounted

[BigOtaku2118]

So, I've done everything properly so far. I set up my virtual drive and even used an official ISO image from Microsoft's download site. I make sure to attach the ISO image, but I'm still getting that f*#@ing error message of 'Fatal Errror! No Bootable Medium Found. System Halted'. I chose it to be the Primary Master, so that should work. I know Microsoft wouldn't give away fake stuff on their official website. What could I be doing wrong? I'm also attaching screenshots of my settings to further ask what could I be doing wrong. I'd love to play some of these old games on my newer computer, and I'm getting so aggravated by this!

[Martin]

The sp2 ISO just contains the service pack, not an installable Windows?

[BigOtaku2118]

Thank you. So, I'm looking for a downloadable .iso file of Windows 2003 and I find, on the official website, a thing called 'Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition'. The format of what's being extracted so far via WinRar is a .vhd file. Would that work for using as a .iso file? I've tried looking for .isos elsewhere and I'm having some issues seeing my old Windows 2003 CD is LONG gone. Other than that, I'm only finding download files ending in spcd.iso which I don't think would work seeing it's a service pack.

[scottgus1]

A .vhd is a disk file that can be used in a VM. It may or may not contain a bootable image. If you got it from a legitimate Microsoft site then it may be a pre-installed bootable Windows 2003 image. You would then put this disk file in as the primary hard disk instead of the hard disk that Virtualbox wants to make for the Server 2003 VM. The OS would theoretically be already installed, no ISO needed. This is all a guess based off the .vhd extension. I cannot imagine why Microsoft would put an ISO inside a VHD inside a Zip.

If you use the VHD successfully, then you would not need an ISO.

VHD has a design flaw that is bad enough that we suggest cloning that VHD to a VDI using Mpack's CloneVDI, and use the VDI instead.

Your VM does not have a hard disk set up. You should have a disk file set up on Primary Master, and the CD drive should be on Secondary Master.

[BillG]

Windows 2003 was a server OS. It seems a strange choice for gaming. I would think that the client OS (Windows XP) would be a better choice for games.

The server OS had more limited built-in graphics support, and still does. To run Windows Server 2016/2019 with desktop experience you still need to download third party video drivers to get a reasonable screen resolution. The "out of the box" drivers are pretty basic.

[BigOtaku2118]

OK, I was able to get a Windows XP file booted up. However, to agree to the terms of service, I have to hit F8. F8 works PERFECTLY fine outside of VirtualBox, but whenever I hit it on VirtualBox, nothing happens. I can't get anywhere past the ToS without being able to use F8. What do I do now?

[scottgus1]

The only thing I can think of where the function keys might not work is if you are using a keyboard that combines the F# keys with another row and you have to hit a Fn key to get them to work. Whatever you do to get F# keys to work, do the opposite for the F8 accept in the VM. Or try Virtualbox's or the host OS's onscreen keyboards.

Virtualbox itself does not have any special function to make F# keys do something different.

[BigOtaku2118]

Everything appears to be in working order now! To scottgus1, BillG, and Martin, thanks SO much for helping out!

[BigOtaku2118]

OK, new problem... I have a bunch of .iso files and .cue files of old games I'd like to play. They're not on physical discs. How do I play them on VirtualBox?

[BillG]

You just attach the .iso to the optical drive, as you did to install the OS, and run it from within the guest (just as you would put a CD in a PC, then run it). An .iso file is just an image of a CD.

A .cue file is just text so you can read it with any text editor. You can read it from your host machine. If you really want to read it from the guest, use VirtualBox shared folders.

[mpack]

.ISO files don't come with .cue files. The normal choices for CD images are .ISO (which is the norm for data CDs/DVDs) and the .cue/.bin format, which I've always frankly ignored but I think it was more intended for music CD rips (music CDs don't use an ISO data format).