virtualbox.org

I the past, I have converted several Windows VMWare VM's to VirtualBox VM's without the slightest problem.
Now, the past three that I have tried over the past month all fail on first boot with the exact same error.

I have looked at the logs and don't see anything that jumps out at me as being obviously wrong.
These were both XP and Win 7 32 and 64 bit machines.

Upon boot I get the error shown in this screenshot:
I have tried with IO APIC enabled disabled.
I tried changing controller to SCSI, IDE, and SATA 0
The only SATA Controller Attribute is AHCI so I can't change that.
I have tried with and without 'use host I/O cache'

I have checked permissions on the various files I copied over from the Vmware install to see that they match the VM's that are functioning. (Which have all been copied over from VMware fusion installs)

I don't even know how to begin troubleshooting this error.
The googling I have done hints at the boot order perhaps having changed, or that the boot device isn't being found.
----
output of vmwaremanage showvminfo:
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• [bdmeyer@vbox Win7 SIFT Workstation]$ vboxmanage showvminfo Win7\ SIFT\ Workstation
  Name: Win7 SIFT Workstation
  Guest OS: Windows 7
  UUID: d3331ee9-e0a2-4704-a4d4-0ab7734c757a
  Config file: /home/bdmeyer/.VirtualBox/Machines/Win7 SIFT Workstation/Win7 SIFT Workstation.vbox
  Snapshot folder: /home/bdmeyer/.VirtualBox/Machines/Win7 SIFT Workstation/Snapshots
  Log folder: /home/bdmeyer/.VirtualBox/Machines/Win7 SIFT Workstation/Logs
  Hardware UUID: d3331ee9-e0a2-4704-a4d4-0ab7734c757a
  Memory size: 2048MB
  Page Fusion: off
  VRAM size: 64MB
  HPET: off
  Chipset: piix3
  Firmware: BIOS
  Number of CPUs: 1
  Synthetic Cpu: off
  CPUID overrides: None
  Boot menu mode: message and menu
  Boot Device (1): HardDisk
  Boot Device (2): DVD
  Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
  Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
  ACPI: on
  IOAPIC: on
  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 2011-11-04T17:09:22.864000000)
  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
  Storage Controller Bootable (0): on
  Storage Controller Name (1): SATA Controller
  Storage Controller Type (1): IntelAhci
  Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
  Storage Controller Max Port Count (1): 30
  Storage Controller Port Count (1): 1
  Storage Controller Bootable (1): on
  IDE Controller (1, 0): Empty
  SATA Controller (0, 0): /home/bdmeyer/.VirtualBox/Machines/Win7 SIFT Workstation/Win7 SIFT Workstation.vmdk (UUID: 5c9dba23-1c43-4c53-a397-12bf3467e8ae)
  NIC 1: MAC: 08002713D508, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, 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: ALSA, Controller: AC97)
  Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
  VRDE: enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 3389-4000, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
  Video redirection: disabled
  VRDE property: TCP/Ports = "3389-4000"
  VRDE property: TCP/Address = <not set>
  VRDE property: VideoChannel/Enabled = <not set>
  VRDE property: VideoChannel/Quality = <not set>
  VRDE property: Client/DisableDisplay = <not set>
  VRDE property: Client/DisableInput = <not set>
  VRDE property: Client/DisableAudio = <not set>
  VRDE property: Client/DisableUSB = <not set>
  VRDE property: Client/DisableClipboard = <not set>
  VRDE property: Client/DisableUpstreamAudio = <not set>
  USB: enabled
  
  USB Device Filters:
  
  <none>
  
  Available remote USB devices:
  
  <none>
  
  Currently Attached USB Devices:
  
  <none>
  
  Shared folders: <none>
  
  VRDE Connection: not active
  Clients so far: 0
  
  Guest:
  
  OS type: Windows7
  Additions run level: 0
  Configured memory balloon size: 0 MB
  
  
  [bdmeyer@vbox Win7 SIFT Workstation]$

I have also attached the VBox.log file.

Thank-you for any troubleshooting advice.

--Bruce D. Meyer

First, just to be clear: VirtualBox claims to support the VMDK format. It does not claim that any VMWare VM will run without problems.

Leaving that aside, I don't find the vminfo for a non-working VM very useful. It isn't as if one VM recipe is definitely wrong and another definitely right, it depends on what the installed image of Windows is expecting to see. The equivalent info for the working VMWare VM would be more useful.

Something you might try is booting the guest up with a setup CD and trying to "repair the installation" - if the Win7 CD still offers that option.