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OK, VB 4.1 installed into win 7 fine. My original genuine XP Pro install disc installed into VB fine, but the installer then insists on wanting to directly read files from an SP2 cd. - like files from i386 for example. I can get sp2 and sp3 cd images from MS but these just contain auto runs which start an autextracting executable - which stops the install. What should I be doing?

I doubt that this has anything to do with VirtualBox. It sounds more like a Windows installer problem. Are you sure that you have an original XP disk? There is no way that the original XP installer could know anything about SP2! What is the exact message?

Did the install of XP complete successfully? Can you boot it? The message sounds like Windows XP is trying to install hardware drivers.

If that is the case, your original disk included SP2 and giving it the disk you installed from should work (if you point it at the correct folder). In any case it is a Windows problem, not VirtualBox.

BillG,
Thanks for the thoughts.

Problem solved - For some reason I had to take the install disc out, and reinsert it! The following - just for others info - is what I wrote before I found this out.

Thanks again.

I have tried two different and definitely genuine XP Pro installer discs with the same results. I agree there is no way the original installer disc knows about SP2 - but potentially VirtualBox does, and it does ask what OS is going to be installed. The exact message is "Please insert the Compact Disc labled 'Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 CD' into your CD-ROM drive (D:) and then click OK. You can also click OK if you want files to be copied from an alternate location, such as a floppy disk." and the preselected source is "D:\i386". "Cancel" just produces the same message - though without the pre-section box. "

Peter

petermat wrote:I agree there is no way the original installer disc knows about SP2 - but potentially VirtualBox does, and it does ask what OS is going to be installed.

Nope. VirtualBox doesn't know anything about SP2 - or any other OS software feature. It asks for the OS type in order to set VM defaults for memory and disk size, SATA vs IDE etc: and a nice graphic on the VM. The disks asked for during an install are entirely down to the installer script on the first CD. Evidently your XP CD set must be an intermediate one from after SP2 was available, but not integrated on the main install. The only reason I can think of for that is someone not being willing to throw out a production run of pressed CDs! An OEM set?

Anyhoo, I have several XP install CDs, OEM and retail. The are all SP2, and all come as one CD - so you are unlucky if all your CDs are as you've described.