Windows NT 3.51 virtual machine hangs on "NTDetect V1.0 Checking Hardware" at startup

[2ekibaragon]

hi, so today i have created a virtual machine that runs Windows NT 3.51 on VirtualBox 6.1.38 on a Windows 10 Home 22H2 computer (desktop BTW), and have recently installed the SP5 update for NT 3.51 on said aforementioned virtual machine. however, whenever i try and boot into it via the OS Loader option, i select "Windows NT Workstation Version 3.51", it starts the process of booting into the OS, but whenever it displays "NTDETECT V1.0 Checking Hardware ..." it hangs.

btw, i have barely any experience in virtual machines (despite the fact that i created my very first one, a Windows XP one, almost 4 years ago back in September of 2019) and i'm not well working with them that much, i tried resetting and everything (not the hard drive OFC, but the process) but it still doesn't work, can anybody help me with this? thanks

[mpack]

NT 3.51 is not a common choice so I have little to base this on, but it is very old and may have the same problems on modern processors that Win9x has.

So what is your processor? (precise manufacturer and part number please).

[2ekibaragon]

if you are talking about my host PC, i have an Intel Core i5-9400 which runs at the speed of 2.90GHz. if you are talking about the VM, well i don't know since i didn't know that virtual machines had their own different processors.

[mpack]

i didn't know that virtual machines had their own different processors.

They don't, in fact that is what defines the difference between a hypervisor and a simulator. It's also why I made no distinction in my post.

My own PC is a 10th gen i9 and does not have the problem with Win9x, so I would guess that your 9th gen i5 should not be a problem either.

I'm afraid I can't contribute much more here: I was never an NT 3.5 user, so I have no such VMs or install disks or interest to try it myself.

Win2K is a supported guest, so perhaps you could get a hold of that instead.

[fth0]

Please provide a (zipped) VBox.log file, perhaps there's something to see within ...

[2ekibaragon]

Please provide a (zipped) VBox.log file, perhaps there's something to see within ...

ok, here:

[fth0]

FWIW, a few remarks:

The VM is based on the VirtualBox template for "Windows NT 3.x", which has a floppy controller and a BusLogic SCSI controller with the virtual hard disk image (VDI) attached to it. VirtualBox read 267 kB from the VDI and executed guest OS code for ~1 second.

I've read that Windows NT 3.51 requires an Intel 386 or 486 CPU. You could try if restricting the CPU capabilities with VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows NT 3.51" --cpu-profile 80386 makes a difference.

I've read that Windows NT 3.51 requires 90 MB of free hard disk drive space. Can it handle a 4 GB (virtual) hard disk?

I'm not sure if I understood your initial description right (perhaps a language barrier). You created a VM "today" and updated the guest OS "recently", meaning afterwards? What are the "OS Loader options" (I never used Windows NT 3.51)? Perhaps you could describe what you did in a few more details ...