Windows guest not starting, copied vdi but forgot settings

[tinkerpuffs]

Hi,

I copied my windows guest .vdi file when I reinstalled my OS but I forgot to copy the settings file. When I created a new machine using that .vdi file windows XP no longer starts, instead it shows a blue screen on boot. I assume this to be because of different settings (like RAM amount maybe?), but I can't remember the exact settings I had before.

Is there any way to extract data from this .vdi or to get it working again?

Thanks for any help,
Katelyn

[devent]

maybe you have Enable ACPI or Enable IO APIC? Try to check it or try to uncheck it. You have a chance of 1/4 to get it right

[maraja]

trying to copy a minimal XP guest VDI on a Ubuntu host, I did the following:
1. detached the original VDI
2. copied the VDI with: VBoxManage clonevdi XP\ Pro\ IE6.vdi XP\ Pro\ IE8.vdi
3. created a new VM using the same parameters
4. attached the new VDI to the new VM

when I boot the new VM I get a blue screen that is removed too quickly to be read, then a black screen stating that a recent "hardware or software change" does not let windows to start.
I am offered a number of options, SAFE MODE, SAFE MODE WITH NET, etc but none let me boot...

does anyone have a clue?
thank you so much

[Sasquatch]

Did you create that image on 1.5.x? If so, set the IDE Controller setting to PIIX3 instead of PIIX4.

[maraja]

I did it on 1.6.0, maybe 1.6.2 ....

[punkybouy]

The exact same thing happened to me tonight. My source system is 1.5.6 and the newer target system is running VBox 1.60 I do have the settings file so tomorrow I will move that over and see if that makes a difference. I also noticed the the vdi file from the /VDI directory where I made the clone is dated from last fall when I installed it. The Snapshot directory has a snapshot vdi file dated last night when I made the clone and ran the VM and is twice the size.

[Sasquatch]

When cloning a VDI, make sure that all the snapshots and saved states are merged to the base VDI. If you don't do that, you end up with an old VDI clone that does not represent your last changes.

[punkybouy]

In the settings for your Virtual Machine in the "General" section click on the advanced tab and for the IDE Controller type choose PIIX3 instead of PIIX4 and in my case XP fired right up. Hope this helps. By the way it should create its own settings file, no need to copy one. Also make sure in Linux/UNIX you have the correct perms to the VDI file I had to to a chown and a chgrp to my user ID since I had copied it as root.

[punkybouy]

ty

[maraja]

...advanced tab and for the IDE Controller type choose PIIX3 instead of PIIX4 and in my case XP fired right up...

thank you so much, that was the case on my system too!!