virtualbox.org

Hi. I'm a bit new to all this, so forgive me if the problem I'm having is really obvious to fix. (Which is what I'm hoping.) Whenever I try to activate my version of Windows XP for my Mac with VirtualBox, it says it's loading and everything, but then it says 'PXE-E53: No boot filename recieved' And then it says 'PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.' And finally; 'FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! System halted.'

I have no idea what this means. Could someone please help me out with this? I'd really appreciate it.

Okay, I think I've figured it out what it means. I need a disk of some sort for storage, I think. Which I wasn't expecting, the website didn't mention anything like that. I'm not sure I'm right, though, and I don't know what kind of storage device I'll need. Could someone please point me in the right direction?

Why not start by reading the manual? Your VM is like a real hardware. Without a disk it will not be able to do anything.

the disk that you need is just a virtual disk, in fact a file on your Mac. VB will just make one for you, if you simply advise the new-virtual-machine-assistant to do so.
If you accidently have made your virtual machine without a disc you can add a disk anytime later in the basic VB application by choosing the section disk and make a new one. Easy as you hoped for.

Okay, I think I've figured everything out. The only problem is that it still isn't working, and I think it's because it says 'Non-optimal settings detected'. In Settings. Could someone please help me figure out what settings are incorrect?

Then dead silence............

I too am a confused user with the same question about "non-optimal settings detected".

I too, am not a seasoned Mac or VirtualBox user. However, I HAVE read and am trying to find any reference to this error message in the Manual(now version 2.2.2). So far I am still in the dark.

Generally, I am very pleased to have found VirtualBox, as it seems so far to be one of the best for running a trouble free virtual machine. In my case Windows XP (SP3) on an iMac OS X 10.5.6

However, that still doesn't answer the question as to the reason and possible cause for this particular error message, namely: "non-optimal settings detected". The manual doesn't seem to be very helpful on this score.

Are there any knowledgeable 'gurus' out there who can give a helpful answer, if not to the reason at least to the possibilities ?

One example that gives you "non optimal settings" is if you give your guest more than half your physical memory.
So tell us:
How much physical memory in the host?
Free disk size?

How much disk resp. memory have you given the guest?

Or you are trying to create a XP VM, you select XP as the OS and then install linux...

Thx for your help.

It was a physical memory issue.

I have 4 Gb of RAM on this Intel iMac, and had allocated 3 Gb to the guest Windows XP.

I have now reduced this to 2GB and the message has disappeared.

Thx again for your help.

I am very pleased and impressed with VirtualBox so far.

I only have two pieces of Windows software that I need regularly, now I've moved to an iMac and VB has helped greatly. Previously I've tried BootCamp. Parallels and CrossOver and found them all wanting in some sphere or other.

Another reason is Video Ram