virtualbox.org

I have a multi boot system. I started with Virtualbox on XP and installed Vista Ultimate as well as Windows7 Pro in virtual machines. I now have Windows7 Ultimate RTM so I installed VirtualBox 3.0.10r54097 and tried using the existing virtual machines. Vista Ultimate boots up to the login screen and allows me to enter my password. However I never see the Vista desktop but rather just see the rotating circle.

Is what I am trying to do not possible??

Yes it should be possible, but I need to know what you did.
Is this in a different boot, you mentioned multi-boot
Did you use the exact same settings that was in the original?
Or did you simply upgrade and it does not work?

Maybe you can explain this and try to remember we are not there so try to draw a picture as it were.

The virtual machines worked in XP Pro SP3. I now have Win7 Ultimate installed on the same physical machine as XP Pro SP3 and wanted to use the virtual machines in Win7. I installed the build mentioned in Win7 but have the problem described with Vista virtual machine.

Well I would check the guest settings and make sure that they are the same as there were on the original.
Also I assume this is the same actual PC so the hardware has not changed. Is it 32 or 64 bit?
It maybe that you need to wait it out after you login. I have seen this take 10 minutes to actually work if the guest was large as I know Vista is.
After that it should boot right up.

Perryg wrote:Well I would check the guest settings and make sure that they are the same as there were on the original.

Is there any easier way of getting all of the guest settings under XP other than writing them down or do screen shots?

Also I assume this is the same actual PC so the hardware has not changed. Is it 32 or 64 bit?

Correct no hardware changes. Win7 and XP are 32bit.

It maybe that you need to wait it out after you login. I have seen this take 10 minutes to actually work if the guest was large as I know Vista is.
After that it should boot right up.

I have yet to boot into XP to check guest settings but so far it has been 11 mins and still rotating circle in Vista under Win7 ultimate.

pcguy wrote:Is there any easier way of getting all of the guest settings under XP other than writing them down or do screen shots?

There is, open the XML file from the XP one and compare it with the one from W7. VB must NOT be running, or the files are locked for writing. Remember, with this set up you have now (dual boot, same VM in two OSes), you cannot use snapshots and saved states, the other OS doesn't know of the changed state.

During the time that you see the rotating circle, does the HHD light show activity?
Can you tell if it is doing something or does it appear stuck? Can you tell if it is frozen?

Things are getting stranger. Today I booted into Vista in the VBox. Vista completed applying update 3 of 3. I then entered a wrong password and got immediate response from Vista of the error. Entered the correct password and was able to login without any problem. Vista notified me after a while that there were additional updates, approx 4 or 5 of them. I told Vista to download and install these updates and when it was finished I was told to reboot Vista. Well I have done that and now Vista is exhibiting the same characteristics as it was under Win7. When the incorrect password is entered no error message is displayed only the spinning circle. Under Win7 the spinning circle occur whether the password was correct or not. In XP hard drive light shows very minor amount of activity. I also noticed just now that VirtualBox is version 3.0.8.r53138 whereas the current version of VB for x32 is 3.0.10r54097. When I tell Virtualbox under XP to check for updates it says I am running the current version!

Did you update the host OS from XP to Windows 7 as an upgrade?
Also reading above it looks like you have already updated to 3.0.10.
As for the program not showing the new version that can take up to a week.
You can get it now from VBox Download

Perryg wrote:Did you update the host OS from XP to Windows 7 as an upgrade?

No it was a full RTM install of Win7 Ultimate in a separate primary partition out side of the XP partition.

Also reading above it looks like you have already updated to 3.0.10.

Actually the 3.0.10 is the VBox version that is installed in Win7 while 3.0.8 is the version installed in XP.

Just updated to 3.0.10 in XP and have not seen any difference, seeing a spinning circle and Welcome. Will wait for 30 mins and see if anything happens.

The only way I could get vista to boot properly was in safe mode. Last Known Good configuration failed to load properly after 30 mins. Reverted back to a prior snapshot I had.

Sigh it appears that this problem is caused by one of the critical updates. In the XP based VB, once I restored the snapshot Vista indicated that there were 17 updates available. Six were applied and the system was rebooted and Vista loaded fine. I then applied 9 of the 11, bypassing the .Net updates thinking perhaps they were the cause of the non booting earlier. Well upon the reboot after the 9 updates were applied the problem with the rotating circle is back again with the XP based VB.

A wild guess (and probably of no help): Do you use Standby on the host PC (either directly or as part of the Power Options)?

No Standy configured or used. It appears to be an October '09 critcal update that is causing this problem.