Can't boot Windows 7 VHD

[szimek]

Hi,

I've just downloaded Windows 7 VHD from MS page (@ microsoft dot com /download/en/details.aspx?id=11575) and I can't start it. When I try to start it, I get "Startup repair" window with "Your computer was unable to start. Startup repair is checking for your system for problems" message and it just keeps on checking

I remember that some time ago I was using these VHDs provided by MS with some older version of VirtualBox without any problems. Is it a known issue with VirtualBox, or is there some configuration option I should change to make it work?

I've got OS X 10.7.3 with VirtualBox 4.1.12 and Windows 7 (IE8) guest.

[stefan.becker]

Try changing ioapic settings in the guest.

But better try a clean install.

[szimek]

Thanks, but I already tried changing IO APIC setting and it didn't help.

[stefan.becker]

As i said: Download a 7 iso and make a clean install.

[szimek]

The issue is that MS only provides VHD files, not ISO files - the page I posted link to says "Windows Virtual PC VHDs for testing websites with different Internet Explorer versions".

[BillG]

MS provides a .vhd file which is, not surprisingly, designed to run on MS Virtual PC (and it probably already has the VPC additions intalled). The "hardware" of the VPC vm is quite different from the hardware of a VBox vm, so trying to boot the .vhd in the "wrong" hardware is likely to fail for a number of reasons. IO APIC is just one of the possible problem areas. A repair install would probably fix it but that requires the OS installation disc or .iso.

[mpack]

To stand any chance of success you need to be certain about the VM recipe, e.g. does it require IOAPIC or not? Is it a 32bit or a 64bit guest, and if the latter, does your recipe include having VT-x turned on?

[szimek]

Thanks. I just skimmed some MS FAQ regarding Windows Virtual PC and it looks like it doesn't support 64 bit guest OS at all, so these VHDs must be 32 bit. So what options besides IO APIC can I change to try to make it work?

[mpack]

All I can tell you is that the VirtualBox hardware recipe must be as close as possible to the Virtual PC recipe, there is no magic formula that always gets it working. The VPC guest additions will also need to be removed, but it doesn't seem like you've reached that stage yet.

Does the guest boot up in safe mode? (press F8 as it starts to boot to get a boot menu).

[szimek]

Unfortunately it doesn't start in safe mode as well. I'm getting blue screen (it's disappears too quickly to actually read anything), it restarts and then offers an option to repair the system.

[ChipMcK]

Unfortunately it doesn't start in safe mode as well. I'm getting blue screen (it's disappears too quickly to actually read anything), it restarts and then offers an option to repair the system.

In order to create a virtual machine for a .vhd or .vmdk virtual disk drive
you need to know the following:
The format of the drive: IDE or SCSI
The controller that if drive is connected thru: IDE, SCSI SAS, SATA

Without the proper information (how the drive was created - hardware configuration during the OS installation), you will get a BSOD. That screen will try to tell you the mismatch that you defined as your virtual machine.

(For Windows, F8 includes an option to stop the looping, allowing you to view the BSOD text "Disable automatic restart on system failure")

[szimek]

Thanks for the suggestion! I've finally made it working, however, now I can't see mouse cursor

I checked the error code I was getting (0x0000007B) and it means INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. I removed SATA controller and added VHD again to IDE controller and it works fine now.

Thanks!

[iandunn]

Changing the storage from SATA to IDE worked for me too.

[rastapopulous]

Just want to add I was getting a BSOD and moving the VHD from SATA to IDE fixed it. I P2V'd an old dell laptop running Windows 7 ultimate to get past the physical limit on cpu and RAM.