"Windows Failed to Start" running Windows XP on Ub

blevinstein · Post by **blevinstein** » 4. Oct 2008, 02:06

I have XP on /dev/sda1, Vista on /dev/sda2, and Ubuntu on /dev/sda5. My normal boot process goes through GRUB, then Vista's boot menu, from which I selected Windows XP. I used the mbr package on ubuntu to create a .mbr file, used "VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda -partitions 1,2 -mbr something.mbr -filename output.vmdk -register" to create a vmdk file for the partitions, then created a machine of type "Windows XP", told it the vmdk file, and enabled IO APIC. VT-x/AMD-V is greyed out on my computer.

When I try to run the machine, I get the message "Windows failed to start." followed by some stuff about hardware or software changes possibly causing the problem.

Is it not possible to run windows xp in virtualbox without vt-x or something?

Post by **Sasquatch** » 4. Oct 2008, 03:29

Please use the search. There is a nice howto in the Windows Guests about this matter. Your main issue is the big hardware difference from what your Host machine has and what VB emulates.

blevinstein · Post by **blevinstein** » 4. Oct 2008, 07:06

I searched for "windows failed to start" (the error message I received) and various other keywords before I posted but couldn't find anything - would you mind linking me to the discussion you're referring to?

Thank you

Post by **Sasquatch** » 5. Oct 2008, 01:25

Using "RAW Disk xp boot" should help you. This is the topic I was reffering to: http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=9697

blevinstein · Post by **blevinstein** » 5. Oct 2008, 19:15

I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising.

Thank you very much.

blevinstein · Post by **blevinstein** » 5. Oct 2008, 19:52

Ok, I think I'm basically going to have to reinstall windows, because this thread (and pretty much all others) assume that you are install windows at the time.

As far as I can tell, it's impossible to setup virtualbox with an existing windows partition.

Post by **vkov_tinsky** » 6. Oct 2008, 01:09

blevinstein wrote:As far as I can tell, it's impossible to setup virtualbox with an existing windows partition.

That's not true. However in my opinion it is easier to install from scratch.

As far as using your existing installation goes: Did you have at look at the info and links of the section Import a native installation from a physical disk partition in HOWTO: manage VDIs and import native installations? (Also see http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows.) This will require a 2nd hardware profile in Windows if you plan on still booting it natively also.

Regarding the Migrate Windows wiki page: You do not have to rename/delete drivers which are not to be loaded, you can instead set the Start key of the to 4. (e.g. for agp440.sys this would be under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\agp440).

Regards,
VT