Windows 7 64bit installation freezes with Fixed Disk

[kuul13]

I have installed VirtualBox 4.3.4.91027 on Mac Maverick. Now I am trying to install Windows 7 64 bit OS. In settings I have allocated 250GB fixed storage. Whenever I do fixed instead of dynamic I am getting this issue where the Windows 7 installation freezes, not sure what's wrong. It just says "Starting Windows". I have tried dynamic, it works without any issue. Also, first time I tried with 25gb fixed and it worked too. But with 250gb allocation it is frozen. Any suggestion what should i do?

[mpack]

There's no way for a Win7 guest to know or care what kind of host file is used to represent the virtual disk. That's like suggesting that a physical Win7 installer might care whether the drive chassis is made of plastic or stainless. The only explanation I can think of is that there's a bad sector on the host drive - it might be worth running a disk check.

Why would you want to use a fixed size disk anyway?

[kuul13]

Oh man, I am totally lost now. It seems nothing is working now. I am not able to install Windows 7 in any way. It worked before but now nothing works. What ever I may do, I only see windows loading files and then Starting Windows screen. Nothing happens after that. Not sure what might have happened.

Just fyi, I have bought iMac last friday and not sure how can it has a bad sector. This is the first time I am trying anything like this. So I have limited knowledge.

I was going for fixed because i thought it would be faster for my Photoshop work. I don't know what should i do now.

[mpack]

Fixed will be no faster, so use dynamic. Humungous host files should be avoided if possible since they can lead to congestion, especially on Mac OS which tends to like hidden backup functions.

Like I said, run a disk check. I'm not in a position to speculate on why you might be seeing errors, I'm simply responding to the data you give me.

If you want to discuss this further then provide a VM log file and explicit details about any problems seen. Minimum information needed for assistance.

[kuul13]

Thanks for the suggestions and tips. I have tried using dynamic 50gb and 3096 RAM. I still doesn't start Windows 7 installation. still shows "Starting Windows" screen. I am attaching the VBox.log. Not sure if you would need system.log? I have also attached some screenshot of my VBox settings if that helps.

I also, ran a disk check which was successful and showed no issues.

[Perryg]

Code: Select all

00:00:03.215905 Guest Log: BIOS: Booting from CD-ROM...
00:00:03.905320 Display::handleDisplayResize(): uScreenId = 0, pvVRAM=000000010fcab000 w=1024 h=768 bpp=24 cbLine=0xC00, flags=0x1
00:00:47.233206 PIIX3 ATA: LUN#2: CD-ROM passthrough cmd=0x5a sense=5 ASC=0x24 ASCQ=0x0 VERR_DEV_IO_ERROR
00:00:50.274689 AHCI#0: Reset the HBA
00:02:21.903550 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'SUSPENDING'.

That doesn't look good. Have you checked the md5sum of the install media? Looks like it is corrupt.

[kuul13]

I guess that was due to the fact that when I tried installing i had the default chipset of PIIX3 and it showed some major error dialog. But when I changed it to ICH9 it went through and then froze at "Starting Windows" as it was doing for some time now. Just to give little background, I was able to install windows 7 (32 bit) multiple ti,me in last one week. I didn't realize that i was installing 32 bit instead of 64 bit. Since two days i am trying 64 bit and it doesn't install and moreover now, I am not able to install any version at all

I am not sure if i told this, I have a windows version of Photoshop and I am a photographer so I am trying to install Win 7 for my editing work till I buy Photoshop Mac version. That is the reason i had higher disk space and memory.

[mpack]

That doesn't look good. Have you checked the md5sum of the install media? Looks like it is corrupt.

Aha.. copy protected setup DVD. Maybe it'll work in passthrough mode, maybe not.

So the topic name is a red herring.

[kuul13]

I always did installation with Passthrough selected. Today I will try to uninstall VMBox and install it back to see if that makes any difference. I am still not sure why it suddenly stopped working with Win 7 32 bit. I installed multiple time before and it worked like a charm. Now it all stopped.

Any other suggestions?

[mpack]

Random thrashing (e.g. uninstalling / reinstalling perfectly good software) is unlikely to solve anything.

Forget my copy protection comment; I misread what was said a couple of posts earlier (I thought you had now moved on to installing Photoshop).

Ok, that means you have an I/O error with the DVD, and this is not caused by a copy protection issue. That would make it either a bad/scratched/dirty disk or a problem with the drive. If I was you I would try to make an ISO image of the setup DVD - perhaps using another PC - and I'd mount the ISO in the VM rather than accessing the physical host drive. ISO images can't get dirty or scratched or be interfered with by the host.

[kuul13]

WhooHoo! I was able to make this thing work

Nothing fancy. I did the following steps again on Virtual Box:
- Created a new windows 7 session
- Selected all the default options plus a fixed 250gb storage with 3096mb ram
- In settings > system > chipset - !CH9
- In Settings > storage - I didn't select anything this time - No Controller IDE. (Note: Earlier, I selected this option and it worked)
Then inserted my Windows 7 (64 bit) OS DVD (ISO).
- Clicked on the Green Arrow (Show)
- First thing it did was - asked my to select the Host Drive (showed my DVDRW). I selected that and pressed Start.
It worked like a charm.

But, thanks to everyone for the help. Hope this will help someone who is new like me to setup Windows 7 as Guest.

[homelyn]

Hi

Thanks for the previous posting, I get the idea of using the wizard' to install and have tried using just the default settings, but ...........

I too am trying to install aV box using latest version, with a Win7 setup on an Intel iMac, pressed the green 'Start" arrow, have accepted all default options but am stalled when the wizard asks for a virtual optical or physical optical drive to start my VM from, now my Win7cd is in the dvd drive, should I select the Dvd drive., if so I cannot select anything until I drive down through the various folders to get a 'continue' button, but which file to choose?

I am stalling at this point every time, does anyone have any ideas.

If I leave the wizard alone to starts 'creating process for VM "........." 1/2 and stays there forever (well not really forever, but a very long time) and does nothing

Cheers

Eric

[mpack]

Your VM has a virtual (simulated) CD/DVD drive which can take data either from a physical drive on your host, or from an CD/DVD image file (also known as .ISO file, or .CDR etc). It doesn't really matter which you select.

I never use the wizard, but I believe it only shows up if you launch the VM without changing any VM settings. Another way is to go into VM settings | Storage and mount your CD/DVD there - the options remain the same.