VirtualBox unable to start virtual machine

[Patni]

I am a newbie, and I did read the user manual, but I seem to be following the instructions yet being unsuccessful.
Installed virtual box 2.1.2 on Ubuntu 8.10. The system has AMD 3GHz single core processor with 1.5 GB RAM.

I created a virtual machine to run Win 2K, the parameters are

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General
Name:Win2K
OS Type:Windows 2000
Base Memory:512 MB
Video Memory:12 MB
Boot Order:Hard Disk, CD/DVD-ROM
ACPI:Enabled
IO APIC:Enabled
VT-x/AMD-V:Disabled
Nested Paging:Disabled
PAE/NX:Disabled
3D Acceleration:Disabled
 
Hard Disks
IDE Primary Master:Win2K.vdi (Normal, 2.00 GB)
 
CD/DVD-ROM
Image:K3b data project.iso
 
Floppy
Not mounted

Audio
Host Driver:ALSA Audio Driver
Controller:ICH AC97 

However when I start the VM, I get the following error :

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Fatal! Could not Read from the boot medium 

I checked and the hard disk has been created, it does have permissions rw for myself and nothing for others. Is that an issue?

The relevant snippet in the Logs folder is

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00:00:05.530 PIIX3 ATA: Ctl#0: RESET, DevSel=0 AIOIf=0 CmdIf0=0x00 (-1 usec ago) CmdIf1=0x00 (-1 usec ago)
00:00:05.571 PIIX3 ATA: Async I/O thread probably stuck in operation, interrupting
00:00:05.574 PIIX3 ATA: Ctl#0: finished processing RESET
00:00:05.582 Guest Log: BIOS: ata0-0: PCHS=4161/16/63 LCHS=520/128/63
00:00:05.585 PIIX3 ATA: Ctl#1: RESET, DevSel=0 AIOIf=0 CmdIf0=0x00 (-1 usec ago) CmdIf1=0x00 (-1 usec ago)
00:00:05.585 PIIX3 ATA: Ctl#1: finished processing RESET
00:00:05.587 PIT: mode=2 count=0x48d3 (18643) - 64.00 Hz (ch=0)
00:00:05.610 Display::handleDisplayResize(): uScreenId = 0, pvVRAM=b333c000 w=640 h=480 bpp=32 cbLine=0xA00
00:00:08.126 PIT: mode=2 count=0x10000 (65536) - 18.20 Hz (ch=0)
00:00:08.142 Display::handleDisplayResize(): uScreenId = 0, pvVRAM=00000000 w=720 h=400 bpp=0 cbLine=0x0
00:00:08.143 Guest Log: BIOS: Boot from Hard Disk 0 failed
00:00:08.147 Guest Log: BIOS: CDROM boot failure code : 0004
00:00:08.147 Guest Log: BIOS: Boot from CD-ROM failed
00:00:08.153 Guest Log: Could not read from the boot medium! System halted.

Although I am using a .iso file, I get the same result when I put the Win2K install CD in the CD drive. The Linux guest can read from the CD drive.

What am I doing wrong? The CD is not a bootable CD though. Is that an issue?

[Sasquatch]

The install media always need to be bootable. That is the whole error, isn't it? No Bootable Media Found, of course you get that when there is no bootable media.
If you want your Win2K to be bootable, you need to create it's boot record. If you have a Windows machine somewhere, you can use nLite to create a bootable ISO image.

[Patni]

Hello,

That did fix it using the Nlite program for which many thanks.

However, now the Windows installer does start up, but hangs at the message "Setup is installing Windows 2000" after the initial burst of loading drivers. I checked the forums and it was mentioned that the most likely cause of this message is a wrong IDE controller. I tried both the PIIX and PIIIX options, but the end result is the same. I dont have a SATA interface at all.

Any suggestions?

[TerryE]

Again its in the Forum FAQ. Select the PIIX3 controller.

[Patni]

As I said earlier, I have tried both controllers, still the same result.

[Sasquatch]

Give it some time. A friend of mine has the same kind of issue when he's installing XP on his laptop (physical install). After a while (could be half an hour or more, sorry) it finally goes on. It's kinda strange, as I have the same laptop and no issues when installing XP on it.

There is also a possiblity that the install files are not working properly somehow, like misreads or errors in the hardware. An old P3 800 I have won't accept XP install anymore. I can't seem to get any OS on it, possibly due to broken hardware (it is an old machine afterall).

But then again, this is a VM, it shouldn't behave like this.