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Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I have successfully installed VB 3.2.8 r64453, but no matter what I try, I cannot install Win XP OS on the VM created.

I have selected each CD drive and have used the original XP Pro CD; no go. I have made an ISO disk from the original CD and tried installing from that - similarly, no go. I have created an ISO file from the original disc and attached that to the VM rather than use the CD - still no go.

In all cases, the CD drive is recognised by the VM, and the OS installation disc runs until after the "Installing Windows" dialogue box. Then, for some reason, the installation program can find no CD, nor any ISO file of the CD. The enunciator light on the CD icon on the VM screen blinks until this point, but then nothing. Pressing "enter", when the dialogue saying no CD can be found, even produces blinking from the CD icon. but that stops before the repeat of the dialogue telling me that it cannot read the CD, etc.

I have installed VB, uninstalled it, and then reinstalled several times. No go.

I am starting to get the impression that VB and Ubuntu 10.04 really do not go together. But I suspect this is not right.

Any suggestions please, before I give up altogether and put VB into the too hard basket.

How about posting the host system information and the guest settings you are using.

Guest setting :
From the host terminal VBoxManage showvminfo <VM Name> --details and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM. Use "" if the name has a space in it.

Here are the Guest settings. The MAC has been altered for obvious reasons, but only in this copy, not in the actual system.

ian@ian-desktop:~$ VBoxManage showvminfo WinXPVM01 --details
Oracle VM VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.2.8
(C) 2005-2010 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

Name: WinXPVM01
Guest OS: Windows XP
UUID: f3cc7201-9811-4797-8cbe-77fabae01c52
Config file: /home/ian/.VirtualBox/Machines/WinXPVM01/WinXPVM01.xml
Hardware UUID: f3cc7201-9811-4797-8cbe-77fabae01c52
Memory size: 192MB
Page Fusion: off
VRAM size: 16MB
HPET: off
Number of CPUs: 1
Synthetic Cpu: off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: off
PAE: off
Time offset: 0 ms
RTC: local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
Nested Paging: on
Large Pages: off
VT-x VPID: on
State: powered off (since 2010-09-17T09:09:50.000000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Storage Controller Name (0): IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 2
IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/ian/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/WinXPVM01.vdi (UUID: 6d96a7d8-af45-4587-97d9-4ce5fb3ece63)
IDE Controller (1, 0): /home/ian/Downloads/ISO Images/X1APCCP_EN.ISO (UUID: f1161fbb-a27a-458a-b0a0-596381da8524)
NIC 1: MAC: 08xxxxxxxxFC, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: Am79C973, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0
NIC 1 Settings: MTU: 0, Socket( send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window( send:64, receive: 64)
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
Audio: enabled (Driver: PulseAudio, Controller: AC97)
Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
VRDP: disabled
USB: enabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Shared folders: <none>

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size: 0 MB


ian@ian-desktop:~$

Here is the Host System info

Ubuntu
Release 10.04 (lucid)
Kernel Linux 2.6.32-24-generic-pae
GNOME 2.30.2

Hardware
Memory: 2.6 GiB
Processor 0: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 4400 @ 2.00 GHz
Processor 1: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 4400 @ 2.00 GHz

System Status
Available disk space: 291.5 GiB

Hope this helps.

This sounds a like a bad CD to me.

I agree with mpack here. It sounds and looks like there is a bad spot on the CD. The information above shows it sees the CD/DVD and accomplishes some of the install. I know for sure Ubuntu works extremely well with VBox and Windows so you can put that behind you. Try downloading Ubuntu and see if it will install as a guest via the CD/DVD. I suspect that you will see it complete. Look at the Windows CD closely for scratches and smudges. I have had success with CD/DVD cleaning kits if that is the case.

In the settings, I see you have pointed to an XP ISO in your downloads folder. This would indicate you got the ISO from the internet. In that case, the ISO is corrupt or was poorly created, thus misses some vital information needed for installation.

Thanks, all of you, for that advice.

Whilst quite possible that it is the CD, consider this.

I burnt the .iso file from the original Windows XP CD myself. I have a copy of the original CD, made a couple of years ago (a backup copy). Also burnt an .iso CD from that disc when the original was quite new - in fact at the time of installing XP, then my primary OS. About a year ago, I installed Windows XP on another VB installation from that CD. No problems.

But I will try installing an Ubuntu OS onto another VM and will post the results.

For sasquatch:

The ISO file I am using is a copy from the ISO disk I burned from the original Windows XP Pro disk, not downloaded from the Internet. (I didn't know you could download a Windows installation disk from the Internet).

Re: my last reply; before attempting to install Ubuntu as a guest, I decided to run CDCheck (a Windows program) on the "suspect" disks. This revealed that all files on both disks are completely readable. No read errors on either disk.

I actually have three disks I have tried. As I have already mentioned, there is the original Win XP Pro disk from which I have made an ISO file. (The original disk ran OK and stopped at exactly the same place as the other disks. This is NOT an ISO disk).

I also have an SP3 ISO disk which I made some time ago and have installed a Windows system from, also some time ago.

So that makes

1. The original Mircosoft Win XP Pro disk (a licensed issue).

2. The ISO disk copy I made of the original disk as soon as I received the original disk. It has also been used for an installation.

3. The ISO dosk I made from the original Win XP Pro disk recently - a second copy in fact.

4. The Win XP Pro updated to SP3 ISO disk I burned about a year ago.

5. And the ISO file of the original Win XP Pro disk I copied onto the HDD a few days ago.

None of that list progresses past that same point where the installation program asks me to insert the Win XP Pro disk (which by the way, it has been booting up on until that point).

That they could all be corrupt, despite CD Check reporting no read errors, is probably just a little too coincidental.

I suspect there is a much more basic problem. But I can't think of what it might be.

Spinner, just to be completely clear: Windows XP is probably the most popular guest OS used by Windows users. People are installing it all the time, and all have forgotten to mention seeing your problem. That indicates a high likelihood that the problem is at your end, i.e. you made a copy of a damaged CD, or the tool you used to make the ISO is suspect. It's hard to see what else it could be.

I suspect you are quite correct. I have had Windows installed and operating in an earlier (now long gone) version of Ubuntu, so I know it works.

But it is the fact that I know it works that has me seeking assistance here.

But I will revisit the tools for creating ISO files from a disk. That is the most likely problem.

Any suggestion for a good tool for this purpose?

From Linux: dd. When you use the dd command, you can make a raw data dump from a device node or file to another device node or file. So put the disc in, and run this as root, or use sudo. You can copy the result to a more suitable location afterwards. Do change the permissions on the file. That should give you a perfectly bootable ISO file. If it doesn't work, search the web. We don't discus making ISO files here. You can use a physical disc with VB too, so no need for ISO's if you have the physical disc.

Last thing that I suspect when it doesn't work, is that the discs you have and use are OEM discs. These are designed to work only on a predefined set of hardware and the virtual machine does not have that.

Thanks for all the responses. You were all spot on.

Although I did run my original Windows XP Pro CD on another physical computer, and it did boot up and start the install, it would not work for the VM in my Ubuntu.

So I acquired another Windows XP Pro CD (legally), and lo and behold - it worked a treat. This was an original Microsoft disc, and not an ISO disk.

I am up and running and can now do what I know VB can do.

Just what the mystery of my original Windows XP Pro CD is, I cannot imagine. I will get on to Microsoft to see what they say - that'll be a saga!

Oh; by the way. My original disk is not an OEM CD. It is the real McCoy, for which I paid a lot of money when I purchased it. But this is just another of those mysterious things that happen when one uses Windows, or for that matter, any Microsoft product.