virtualbox.org

Hi all,
I'm running VirtualBox on Win7 wiht all the latest versions. When adding a usb printer, the system hung up and I had to reboot. The VDI file now goes immediately to a blue screen and will not boot. I ran chkdsk on the host drive and it seems fine.
I tried cloning and rebooting no good. I tried deleting the profile and booting, no good.

Are there any diagnostics I can use to test the file?
I have 2-3 files I really need to pull from the system, is there a way to get inside the vdi file and extract them.

I did a bunch of searching it only made me more confused. Please Help!!!
Thanks

Do you have or can you easily create a second Win7 guest? Then, after fully installing the 2nd guest, mount the problematic VDI as a second HD?

Adding a USB printer may or may not work (sharing the printer over the virtual network is a better choice), but there's no way this could cause serious problems with either the host or the VM.

We don't have any of the information that might help diagnose the real issue. The main thing needed is a VM log file . Please read Minimum information needed for assistance. We also need to know what the blue screen says, e.g. with a screenshot.

If you know what you're doing then there are third party tools which can extract files from certain VDIs, however none are bundled with VirtualBox. Also they probably won't work if you used snapshots which inexperienced users often do.

Re Socratis suggestion, don't try it if you used snapshots. I'd say let's see the error details first.

Thanks so much for the help, of course I'm in a time crunch so I'll try to get you all the information.

I'm using VB version 4.3.4 with the latest version of guest additions. The log fire is attached. I hadn't used the program in a while and I now realize I should not have tried to use the printer as a usb device. Ugh. I don't believe I used snapshots.

I've also attached two screen shots.

Thanks again, for the help!
Mark

Check the Microsoft article on the Stop 0x24 that you're seeing. Or try to search it online. But it seems like a corrupted virtual HD. Also as mpack said, it has nothing to do with your USB printer.

VBox.log wrote: 00:00:00.811401 File system of 'C:\Users\Mark\VirtualBox VMs\Formshop Recover\Snapshots' (snapshots) is unknown
00:00:00.811407 File system of 'I:\Formshop.vdi' is ntfs

Well, the good news is that you don't seem to be using snapshots. The bad news is that you have an "unusual" arrangement of the VM files, so I can't be sure what else you've done oddly. Stop code 0x24 usually means a corrupted filesystem, and if (say) you had the VDI file on an external or network drive then a corrupted file is a significant risk. I.e. there's a significant risk that you'll forget and unplug the external drive while the VM is running, or some network glitch could do the same.

So what type of drive is drive "I:" ?

Also, the VM name is odd for a working VM - it kind of implies that this is perhaps a copy you made to play with, and perhaps the VDI is borrowed from another VM, possibly sans snapshots and log files. If that's the case then I need to know.

The only other thing I notice is that 192MB is rather tight on RAM for XP. I know XP started off needing less, but I wouldn't count on modern apps working well with such low RAM. Your host has 13GB available, you can easily afford to give 2GB to the guest.

Suggested fixes: the only sure fix is restoring from a backup. Failing that, as Socratis suggests you could create another VM and attach this as a secondary drive. Then you could run a chkdsk/f on it to attempt a repair, and/or possibly just read off your files.

Thanks for the info. This was an attempt at creating a new profile. That's why the parameters seem odd.
The I: is an external drive that I am using.

I have a back up of the vdi file, can I use that to fix the current file? If so, how?
Also, I'm not super sure of the steps on loading this as a secondary drive.
Thanks again!

If you have a plain backup of the VDI file that you know contains the files you want then simply use it to overwrite the damaged file. This will replace the damaged file, not fix it - I assume that's what you meant. If you aren't sure what you're doing then make a backup of the damaged VDI first.

You must know how to mount a VDI in a VM since it's hard to see how else you mounted a VDI in a non-standard location. To mount a secondary drive just attach it to a controller in the same way, i.e. using the "Storage" panel of selected VMs settings. If you don't first remove the primary drive then the new VDI is by definition a secondary drive.

So the UUID of the corrupt VDI is the same as the back up. . .so it won't let me load it as a secondary drive. Any way to fix that? I would just overwrite the file, but I need some files on the WinXP desktop in the corrupt VDI file.
Thanks in advance!

Ok, I was able to change the ID and run chkdsk on the bad VDI. Maybe that will fix it. Dang, got the files copies out. Awesome. Gonna see if it is bootable now.
Thanks so much!!!

So I was able to pull my files off the corrupt vdi file. I loaded my back up on the latest version of extension and Vbox. XP seems super sluggish. To the point where I really can't use it. I tried two copies of the vdi file.
Is there anything I should be checking to ensure the virtual drive is working properly? I mean, I click a folder and I have to wait 30 seconds or so before it opens if it opens.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I already gave you notes in a previous message - move the VDI onto a faster drive, and allocate much more RAM to the VM, something like 2GB. Also check for bad network connections and malware/antivirus hogging cpu.