Windows install from Ghost image won't boot

spazthecat · Post by **spazthecat** » 9. May 2008, 01:58

Hi,

I'm running Virtual box 1.5 on Ubuntu 7.1. I've installed our company's Windows XP image (Ghost image) via BartPE. The Virtual Box VM has 768MB of ram (physical machine has 2GB).

The install went fine but when I try to boot up the Windows VM I get to the Windows splash screen, then a quick blue screen, and then the VM reboots. The blue screen isn't up long enough for me to read any part of the error message.

When I boot into safe mode, I get a little further. The desktop starts to appear but then the VM promptly reboots before the desktop can completely come up.

I know the image is good because I created a VMWare image using the same combination of BartPE + Ghost image and it works fine.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Andy

MikeCompton · Post by **MikeCompton** » 30. Oct 2008, 18:06

We have dozens of Ghost images for the different depts in our organisation, being able to install these images on Virtual machines for testing purposes would be a massive help to use.

However, we have the exact same problem - whether it be with MS Virtual PC or Virtual Box, the imaged machine never boots.

Any ideas or support warmly appreciated.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 31. Oct 2008, 02:01

It's possible that the MBR is not written correctly.

As for any BSOD you get, are you sure that the hardware installed on the image is the same as what VB virtualises? If there is any change in hardware, it could cause these BSODs. Just like how a wrong PIIX setting in the VM settings can cause a BSOD when booting XP.

Post by **mpack** » 31. Oct 2008, 18:07

Sasquatch wrote:It's possible that the MBR is not written correctly.

Yep. I don't use Ghost - does it back up the drive, or just the partition? If the latter then the partition map / boot code / MBR may never have been put on the drive.

In which case, the fix might be to create a new VDI, install the OS, make sure it's bootable - and in future you can overwrite that OS partition with restored ghost images.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 1. Nov 2008, 21:21

Yep. I don't use Ghost - does it back up the drive, or just the partition?

That depends on the user. You can select the whole drive, or a single partition. I think the user selected to only backup a partition, which is pretty much the same as a copy of every file to an archive.

jrv · Post by **jrv** » 3. Nov 2008, 23:20

This may be a Windows problem, not VB per se.

Windows is not plug&play with respect to the driver for the boot disk. That driver must have been previously installed in order for Windows to boot - it's not enough that it's part of the shipping Windows CD.

When Windows is first installed only the drivers actually needed at that time are installed so the copy of Windows in a Ghost image will only boot from the set of all drivers that have ever actually been needed. The old-fashioned IDE drivers, for example, are not installed if SCSI is used, alternative drivers for the disk controller are used, etc.

It might succeed to try different disk controllers in VB - IDE vs SATA, PIIX3 vs. PIIX4 - on the chance the image has one of those drivers enabled.

It would be useful for VB to hang on Windows kernel panics for a few seconds so the precise error can be seen.

Acronis TrueImage Workstation has an added-cost plugin called "Universal Restore" that claims to solve this problem. I have not tested it. After restoring a disk it can detect the hardware needed to boot that disk and hack a driver for that controller into the restored Windows image so that Windows will boot.

jrv · Post by **jrv** » 16. Nov 2008, 00:55

I just tried this with Windows 2000 and it is not an INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE error.omething is causing Windows to hang before that point is reached in the Windows boot process. I tried disabling various services and drivers but had no success here.

Hizz · Post by **Hizz** » 15. Jan 2009, 00:14

I was able to get a ghost image onto my Vbox and the image boots. However, it crashes during the setup of the image. BSOD with a "DRIVER_UNLOADED_WITHOUT_CANCELLING_PENDING_OPERATIONS" error

Image:
Windows XP that was syspreped with all needed drivers and applications.
Single processor HAL.
Still waiting to test mutliproc HAL

Ghost platform:
Ghost 8.0 32bit running on BartPE with the exact same driver set as the syspreped image. PE and Ghost both run without issue.
To disk from image booted fine, but produced the BSOD.
To partition from image resulted in a failed boot.

jrv · Post by **jrv** » 14. Feb 2009, 22:25

I have been able to import VM images from Parallels using instructions from this web page.

plodder · Post by **plodder** » 20. Feb 2009, 14:15

I think all this may be the same sort of problem as one experiences when shifting a hard disk, with Windows (2000/XP) installed, from one motherboard to another of a completely different type. The disk will have the IDE drivers for the old motherboard set up and these will not, in general, work on the new motherboard. The conventional solution is to set the IDE drivers on the disk to Standard Dual Channel IDE in the Device Manager of Windows whilst the disk is still on the old motherboard. After transfer, this will enable the disk to boot successfully and then more optimized IDE drivers can be installed for the new motherboard. Relating this to the problem of ghost images and transferring Windows Guests from one VM software to another (which both simulate different hardware), I suggest you run the ghost image on the old Virtual hardware and set the IDE driver to 'standard'. Resave the ghost image and then transfer that to VirtualBox. This is approximately in line with what jrv is recommending (I think).

Hope that helps.