Reinstalled Windows, created new user account, VMs broken.

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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vemigrant
Posts: 8
Joined: 3. Apr 2015, 01:17

Reinstalled Windows, created new user account, VMs broken.

Post by vemigrant »

I had problems with my installation of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I created a new partition, reinstalled Windows, and created a new user account on a different drive. I transferred my files over to my new user account. I had doubts my virtual machines would work but tried copying the files to the new user account. The VMs don't work. See the attached picture. The error message is the same for all of them. My new user account is User1. The old user account was Owner. Is there a way to fix this? I'll edit paths in the files if I have to. Even if I find the lines I need to edit will I be wasting my time because there will be other problems that I can't fix? Is there a way to install VirtualBox or configure VMs so the %userprofile% environment variable is used instead of a specific user account name? I didn't simply export and import the machines because I wanted to keep snapshots. Before reinstalling Windows I had VirtualBox 4.3.26 or maybe 4.3.24. If it wasn't current then it was close. Currently I have version 4.3.26.
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mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Reinstalled Windows, created new user account, VMs broke

Post by mpack »

Have you been copying xml files around? Don't. Delete the VirtualBox.xml you copied, then :-
  1. Move the <olduserdoc>"\VirtualBox VMs\*" folder tree in its entirety to <newuserdoc>\"VirtualBox VMs\".
  2. Register each VM by choosing Machine|Add... in the GUI and then selecting the .vbox file for the VM.
If you keep the VirtualBox VMs folder in a neutral location (e.g. I keep it on drive D:) then the VMs can be accessed by multiple user accounts and step 1 can be skipped in future.
vemigrant
Posts: 8
Joined: 3. Apr 2015, 01:17

Re: Reinstalled Windows, created new user account, VMs broke

Post by vemigrant »

Thank you. Your advice worked. I found the VirtualBox.xml file in %userprofile%\.VirtualBox . My Windows 8 VMs had two vbox files. My guess is I updated the operating systems to 8.1 and changed the OS type for the virtual machines to 8.1 in VirtualBox.
vemigrant
Posts: 8
Joined: 3. Apr 2015, 01:17

Re: Reinstalled Windows, created new user account, VMs broke

Post by vemigrant »

I noticed a hiccup. Not sure it's related to starting a new VirtualBox.xml files and adding the machines. Some ISO files are attached to snapshots and the ISOs can't be removed. Not sure where I put the ISO files. The Remove option in the right-click menu is greyed out. Maybe VBoxManage will help me remove the ISOs from from the snapshots.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27329
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Reinstalled Windows, created new user account, VMs broke

Post by socratis »

Unfortunately, as far as I know, it is not that easy, as it involves editing the xml file (.vbox) with a text editor and manually removing the missing ISOs. If you can attach a zipped version of the .vbox file here, I could take a look at it.
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