virtualbox.org

Greetings,
I have a weird problem, where the virtual machine of Windows XP 32bit does not start properly, when launched on a different type of host that it was created in.
Scenario 1:
1. Creating VM of Windows XP on VirtualBox 5.1.6, where the host is Windows 8.1.
2. HDD: IDE controler PIIX4, Chipset: PIIX3, I/O APIC disabled, PAE/NX disabled, USB 2.0 Controller enabled, Extension Pack installed.
3. Works fine on Windows 8.1, but when I transfer the VDI to my second host: Lubuntu 15.10 with Virtual Box 5.1.6, Windows XP restarts upon launching with BSOD 0x7E. Works fine in a Safe Mode though.

Scenario 2:
1. Creating VM of Windows XP on VirtualBox 5.1.6 where the host is Lubuntu 15.10.
2. HDD: IDE controler PIIX4, Chipset: PIIX3, I/O APIC disabled, PAE/NX disabled, USB 2.0 Controller enabled, Extension Pack installed (same settings as before, usually default values).
3. Works fine on Lubuntu 15.10, but when I transfer the VDI to the previous host with Windows 8.1 / VirtualBox 5.1.6, Windows XP does not start, throws "A disk read error occurred, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart" at me.

I assume it has something to do with disk controller (upon errors and some googling around), but I tried various combinations of chipsets, IDE controllers (all of them), enabling i/o APIC, PAE/NX, changing IDE to SATA controller, disabling stuff that I don't need (USB, sound, CD drive) and nothing helps. I am especially weirded out by the fact that machine from scenario 1 works on Lubuntu in Safe Mode, where usually the disk controller problem does not allow OS to start on a non-virtual system. The only notable difference between hosts that I can see from the level of VirtualBox is that the host with Lubuntu does not support CPU Acceleration (the tab is greyed out and there's no related option in host's BIOS). Any advice?

Although the absence of hardware acceleration can be certainly a factor, both your scenarios end up with complaints about the hard disk. So, let me ask you a question: how did you copy each VM from computer A to computer B? Did it involve perhaps a flash drive? Formatted as FAT32? What the size of the .VDI files on the computer that the VM was originally created?

BTW, moving to "Using VirtualBox" since you have this issue with both Linux and Windows hosts.

I think I have to admit a PEBCAK on Scenario 2: something does not go completely right, when I copy/paste the VDI onto my USB HDD (NTFS) on Lubuntu, the file seems to be corrupted, causing random error every time (yes, I umounted the drive). Copying it over the network resulted in working VM on Windows 8.1 host. Scenario 2 is not a problem anymore, I thought it is related to Scenario 1 somehow, but it does not seem to be.

But the Scenario 1 is the following: The VDI file is stored on a TrueCrypt volume. The encrypted volume is in a form of a FILE, it's formatted as NTFS and the drive it resides on is also NTFS. I "transfer" the volume by plugging in external HDD into two different hosts, depending on where I want to start the VM. I mount it back and forward (I have done it now about 5 times) on both hosts and on Windows 8.1 it works, on Lubuntu 15.10 it does not, resulting in the error mentioned before. I umount the device properly every time and the Lubuntu VirtualBox even seems to make some changes on the drive (it's not in any way read only), as when I go back to the Win 8.1 attempts, I am prompted by the WinXP, that it's recommended to boot in safe mode, as previous launch was not successful (and then the machine starts normally).

msg90 wrote:The VDI file is stored on a TrueCrypt volume.

This is a classical example of how leaving vital details out of the problem description can affect the problem description.
• Have you tried it with a normal setup, i.e. without the VDI in the TrueCrypt volume?
• Are you just copying the VDI? Not the whole VM folder? You should. Please read: Moving a VM.

OK, this time I moved an entire VM folder and Added .vbox file to my virtual machines list. I have placed the entire thing on my Ubuntu's user Desktop:
/home/km/Desktop/XP1/XP1.vbox
At first, I had to correct the path to the VDI file, because after an import it resulted of something like this:
/home/km/Desktop/XP1/O:/XP1/XP1.vdi (O:\XP1\XP1.vdi) is the path I worked with on Windows host.
So I attached the hard drive to the VM manually, pointing it to /home/km/Desktop/XP1/XP1.vdi where it actually was.
The result is exactly the same - BSOD 0x7E. I have ruled out misconfiguration (.vbox file with an entire folder has been copied both over SMB protocol and ANOTHER usb drive (NTFS)) and TrueCrypt interfering with the VDI image somehow (Ubuntu's desktop is not encrypted at all, no system drive here is).
It is worth noting that however I copy the entire folder or however I deploy that virtual machine (including TrueCrypt or even with copying only the VDI and creating the rest from scratch), the VM starts fine in Safe Mode. It does not launch this way, when I try to fiddle with IDE controller though (it must be PIIX4).

You have to be more specific about the BSOD (STOP 0x7E), as there are more information that may point you to the correct solution. 99% is a driver that is the culprit. Look for the details of the STOP error.

Also, search for "windows xp stop 0x7E site:support.microsoft.com".