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Unable to boot Windows 7 VM created wtih Disk2VHD in VirtualBox

Posted: 20. Dec 2020, 18:59
by danielz000
Hi all,

I've recently been attempting to create a VM of my current Windows machine so that I can do a clean install of W10 and if I can't get certain software working on W10 I've got a fall back plan.

Unfortunately I'm unable to get the W7 VM to boot as I keep getting an error saying:

"Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause"

I think the first time I got a failed boot the error was different but I can't see that message any more.

The two options I now get are:

Launch Startup Repair (recommended) Start Windows Normally

Start Windows Normally boots me in an endless loop back to that same screen.

Launch Startup Repair shows a loading screen which appears to load quickly but then gets stuck when the bar looks to be fully loaded and I have to power down the VM.

The steps I took to create the VM are:

mountvol b: /s (to mount the efi partition to the b drive)

disk2vhd to create a VHD of both the b: (efi) drive and the c: drive. (I had vhdx and volumn shadow copy switched off)

switch UEFI boot on in virtual box

tried switching from a SATA controller to an IDE controller in VirtualBox.

Unfortunately I still can't load windows.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Cheers,

Dan