3.0 corrupt HDD files

[bgt]

I upgraded to 3.0 a few days ago, converted my windows 2003 OS that has 2 hard drives. It worked great all day. The next morning when I launch my machine, I get prompted with "Parallels Desktop is unable to access the virtual hard disk image file [the drive's filename]. The file is missing, corrupted, or used by other application."

When I go into the Configuration editor and select the drives, it gives me the same error for both drives. The new Parallels Explorer also gives me this same error when I try to view the drives.

The file is definitely not missing or being used... so what could have happened? I've tried re-installing Parallels, but get the same thing. I've had to go back to Parallels 2 with a backup I took prior to converting, but I lost all my day's work.

Is there anything I can do to try to recover the drive images?

[bgt]

I fixed my problem, I'll post what I did here in case it might help someone else.

I converted a backup disk image to 3.0 to see if I could see any obvious differences between the corrupt and non-corrupt images. I noticed the DiskDescriptor.xml inside the .hdd directory was text .XML in the newly converted non-corrupt image, but binary gibberish in the corrupt images (I originally thought it was supposed to have been a binary encoded XML file when I looked at it earlier). So I copied the non-corrupt DiskDescriptor.xml into the corrupt disk images, edited the disk parameters and file names to be appropriate, and presto! Parallels recognizes the drives now, windows boots, data is safe, and all seems to be well.

[Ynot]

Hmmm... And do you have any thoughts which concrete reasons can make your hdd image worthless?

[bgt]

I was hoping you could tell me! I have no idea what would corrupt those files (I'm assuming Parallels did it somehow, since no other files on that volume have any problems), but I'm glad it was just that and not the actual hds image files.

I'm running a fully patched/current Macbook Pro, the Parallels drives are contained in an encrypted .sparseimage (been running them like that since the first Parallels version came out with no issues).

If there is other specific information you'd like me to give to see if you can track down this potential bug, please let me know. I thought I was the only one with this issue on this forum, but I found another post in the Windows/Linux forum with the same issue, so I don't think it's just me anymore.

[torchydt]

bgt, you've just saved my life! I have been running Parallels without issue for some time, and recently upgraded to 3 without issue. I have a WinXP VM with two hard drives. Without any reason at all when I started Parallels last night it came up with the HDD corrupt error for the second HDD. Based on what you said here I tried to open the XML file within that HDD's package. Couldn't - it said the XML file was corrupt. By this time I had already backed up the corrupt XML over the previous good copy, so instead replaced the bad XML file with the one from the first HDD, edited the name of the disk in the XML file and to my surprise and delight it then mounted again okay and all seems well. I too have no idea what caused the corruption; I am an IT professional, never close down inappropriately, have had no crashes etc. I'm hopeful this is a one off but seems odd that more than one of us would get this corruption. Anyway, great tip about the XML file.

David

[bgraff]

Unfortunately, I do not have either the expertise or the tools, or both for this recommended solution. I seem to have the same problem, is there an easier fix or explanation?

[torchydt]

I'll try and help, but please proceed at your own risk. Locate the folder where the Parallels files are. This should be ~/library/Parallels. In there will be folders for your virtual machines. If you have just one, that will be it (in my case it's called 'winxp'). Inside that folder you should see various Parallels items including your hard disks. In mine I have 'winxp.hdd' and 'disk2.hdd'.

Whilst these appear to be single files, they are, in fact, folders. If you right click (or control click) on them you can select 'Show Package Contents' and this will open like any other folder. There may be one or more items in here, one of which will be a file called 'DiskDescriptor.xml'. In my case, it was a corrupt one of these that was preventing the hard drive mounting.

Move (move, not copy) the xml file for the non-working disk to somewhere else (desktop). This is purely for if this all goes wrong and you need it later (although if this is the cause of the trouble then it's no good to you anyway). Then copy (copy, not move) the xml file from the good disk, into the package for the bad one. You now have packages for the two disks, each of which contain the same DiskDescriptor.xml file. Unfortunately, that isn't the end of it as the file needs to be edited slightly.

Right (or control) click the xml file for the non working disk and select 'Open With' 'Other' and chose Text Edit. This will open the file in a sort of tree structure. You need to look for an reference to the name of the original good disk and change this to the bad one. So, in my example the good disk appeared twice in the file as 'winxp.hdd.0.' and I changed this to 'disk2.hdd.0.0'. It's a small file and finding the references didn't take long. Once I saved the file and started Parallels again, all seemed well.

Here are the caveats:

1. It worked for me, but that may not be the cause of your troubles, so may not work for you.

2. I don't know if the xml file also describes any other disk attributes, such as size etc. In my case, the good disk was larger than the bad one – by doing this I may have increased the size of the bad one without realising it. I have no idea.

So, this may or may not be a permanent fix. As it happens, I will soon have the need to delete this virtual machine and start again so I am less concerned about long term impact. One thing I will do once it is up and runnning is make sure I have backup xml files outside of my usual backups.

Hope this helps.

David

[bgt]

torchydt: Glad it worked for you as well! I hope Parallels can track down this problem, corruption that renders virtual disks unusable is a huge problem. I don't have much choice at the moment, but I'm very nervous about continuing to use Parallels 3 on vital data until they respond that they have a grip on this.

bgraff: torchydt's instructions are as simple as I'd be able to describe. Pay attention to his caveat's... that error could be caused by many other problems, this fix only applies if the issue is a corrupt DiskDescriptor.xml file in your virtual drive's package. Also, the disk parameters in that file must be important, and I have no idea what will happen if they are incorrect for your particular disk... you may not run into problems until later down the road if they are not right.

[fdm225]

Hi all,
I successfully migrated from 3188 to 4124. Like everyone else it worked fine for the first couple of days. Today I attempted to upgrade to 4128 and now have a corrupt drive image. The problem is that I may not be as fortunate as some of the other people here as I do not have a backup of the xml file.

If anyone has any suggestions as to how to fix this I am all ears.

Thanks,
dave

[Jack Dumphy]

I get prompted with "Parallels Desktop is unable to access the virtual hard disk image file [the drive's filename]. The file is missing, corrupted, or used by other application."


yes I've got the same.. but in my case fusion beta 4 VM was running in the background, so I thought, Parallels is having problems with that.
I took an earlier saved version of the .hdd from an extern drive and everything works again. But I want to know the reason for this problem, too !!

[bgt]

Hi all,
I successfully migrated from 3188 to 4124. Like everyone else it worked fine for the first couple of days. Today I attempted to upgrade to 4128 and now have a corrupt drive image. The problem is that I may not be as fortunate as some of the other people here as I do not have a backup of the xml file.

If anyone has any suggestions as to how to fix this I am all ears.

Thanks,
dave

fdm225: Before proceeding, please confirm your problem is actually a corrupt xml file! The DiskDescriptor.xml file inside your disk image package will be gibberish, rather than human readable xml text. I also recommend you backup your whole corrupted disk before proceeding, it's always possible it'll get screwed up worse than it already is by proceeding.

1. Do you have a backup of the disk file from anytime prior to upgrading to 4124? If you do, you can use Parallels to convert that up to the 3.0 format, and then get the xml file from that and copy it into your corrupted one. This would be the safest/optimal method.

2. If you have no backup whatsoever: use Parallels 3 to create a new disk that is the same size and parameters as your corrupt one. Use the DiskDescriptor.xml file from the new disk to replace your corrupted one (you will need to edit the GUID and disk file name fields appropriately!)

Please let us know if either method works for you.

[elf]

bgt-
I had the same issue today. I fired up parallels, and what do you know, first time ever for me, a kernel panic! After a reboot, the exact same issue, and the image is corrupt. Or at least the diskdescriptor.xml file.. I followed idea#1, and copied over the pre 3.0 converted drive, extracted the xml file, changed the drivename in there (the GUID was the same, i assume since i converted from the pre-3.0 source image). Repointed the drive name in parallels back to the previously "corrupted" disk, and it boots again... wow, serious bug here, but it seems to be working again!

[Ynot]

Hi again. Seems subscription to the thread works in very strange manner. I received only the last message from elf.

Seems that i found what can be happened here, and i'll fix it soon.

FYI, update with lot of fixes will be available in 2-3 weeks.

[Rich White]

For what it's worth I saw the same thing happen to my 3.0 disk images after trying to use the "Parallels Explorer" application to browse my HDDs - it seemed to crash and afterward all images that I tried to view were corrupt. The HDDs were a mix of linux and NTFS windows formats.

[Ynot]

Rich White, did your images be from suspended VMs?

[Rich White]

I don't think the Window XP HDD was suspended but I'm pretty sure the linux HDD was... I fixed both, by the way, by creating a new one of the same size, going into the package and copying the .XML file to the old package (as someone described above).

[bscholl]

My DiskDescriptor.xml file is totally truncated -- zero length.

Can somebody post an example DiskDescriptor.xml? I hope I can re-create one for mine (as I don't have a backup.)

[torchydt]

YNOT, do we deduce from your question that for now we should not be suspending VMs until a fix is out?

[bdr]

Hi,

I do have the same corrupt message. In my case, the XML is syntaxically valid but is missing the StorageData information. My XML looks like this:

<Parallels_disk_image Version="1.0" >
<Disk_Parameters>
... snip what seems valid ...
</Disk_Parameters>
<StorageData>
<Storage/>
</StorageData>
<Snapshots>
... snip what seems valid ...
</Snapshots>
</Parallels_disk_image>

don't know what cause the issue. mb the issue was that I removed the only snapshot I had for the drive (at compressor's request).

I did not have my backup image handy and went for creating a new disk of same size. I copied the XML and editted the storage area with the correct filename.

So far so good, windows boots again.

Bernard

[Ynot]

Interesting... There are situations when this file can be accessed improperly. And its contents is truncated or corrupted in the manner you described above.

This issue will be fixed in the nearest update.

[Ynot]

torchydt, no, you can use snapshots and suspend. But you should not try to use Parallels Explorer at suspended VMs.

bscholl, you can create disk with same size and use data from it.

[bgt]

Ynot, thanks for fixing this! Hope it gets released SOON! :)

But you should not try to use Parallels Explorer at suspended VMs.

Is that also going to be fixed?

[clight1]

[QUOTE=torchydt]I'll try and help, but please proceed at your own risk. Locate the folder where the Parallels files are. This should be ~/library/Parallels. In there will be folders for your virtual machines. If you have just one, that will be it (in my case it's called 'winxp'). Inside that folder you should see various Parallels items including your hard disks. In mine I have 'winxp.hdd' and 'disk2.hdd'.



Hi, I hope I'm not out of line in this thread, but I have the same problem with a missing "winxp.hdd" file. "Parallels Desktop is unable to access the virtual hard disk image file /Users/cyril/Library/Parallels/winxp/winxp.hdd."
It truly is missing though. I tried all the uninstall approaches and tried reinstalling 4128 but the same message persits. I searched the library/parallels file as quoted above, but there was no winxp.hdd file. All there is is Bug Report, Help License and Tools in the folder. Am I looking in the wrong place?

I have emailed Parallels multiple times but no one answers. It truly is frustrating to buy a product and there is no support from even the first week of use. Not even an automated response.. My only recourse unless someone has a suggestion is to dispute the credit card bill for this product

[bb1]

I had the same issue and want to share my experience. My machine crashed and I got into this situation. I as lucky enough to have a backup copy of my Win XP VM. Using the information in this port I replaced the DiskDescriptor.xml fired up the VM and now everything works.

This one is nasty. I hope this is fixed in the next build.

[dkp]

[QUOTE=torchydt]Am I looking in the wrong place?

Use the Mac Spotlight tool to search for your file. Click the blue magnifying lens icon and type in .hdd then wait. If it is anywhere on your disk it will be found.

[jorn]

I'll save you the details and say that I'm a member of this club. I had no backup that worked, and my DiskDescriptor.xml file was just plain empty.

My solution was to create a new VM with parameters as identical as possible, use that VM's DiskDescriptor.xml, and edit the HDD name in the file.

Thanks to all who posted such helpful advice. My support requests to Parallels have been ignored for weeks now.

[cavillor]

My XML file is human-readable; nothing appears to be amiss. My .hds file within the .hdd package, though, has this name: winxp.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds . Is this normal?

EDIT: Just on a whim I deleted all the gibberish from the name; no change, so I'll just copy it back into the file name.

[jorn]

My XML file is human-readable; nothing appears to be amiss. My .hds file within the .hdd package, though, has this name: winxp.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds . Is this normal?

EDIT: Just on a whim I deleted all the gibberish from the name; no change, so I'll just copy it back into the file name.


Said gibberish was in my files as well. So long as the line read real.hd.name.{gibberish}.hds., Parallels was happy. YMMV

[bgt]

My XML file is human-readable; nothing appears to be amiss. My .hds file within the .hdd package, though, has this name: winxp.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds . Is this normal?

EDIT: Just on a whim I deleted all the gibberish from the name; no change, so I'll just copy it back into the file name.

That particular "gibberish" is actually a GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier) number, probably used by Parallels internally to uniquely distinguish your drive from any other ever created in the world, even if they're named the same thing and otherwise appear identical.

[Ynot]

Yes, it's GUID. But used not to distinguish a drive, but every snapshot has its own GUID. Except special one (5fbaabe3-...).

[noutram]

I don't think I had suspended my VM either. The sequence was as some describe it. I ran parallels, and the Mac crashed. I booted back up, tried to start up the VM and got the same error. I have a zero length DiskDescriptor.xml

[tkn]

I found out my winxp.hdd was corrupted when I tried to back up my Mac for the first time (I use Super Duper). It failed trying to read that file, with I/O errors.

As a test, I tried to duplicate it using Finder, and that resulted in an error message.

What seems really odd is that Parallels works fine and the Windows virtual machine runs fine... for now, anyway.

Can anyone suggest how I might be able to create a clean copy of the winxp.hdd from within Parallels? I don't have a backup of the XML file!

[dkp]

tkn - is your disk full?

[tkn]

tkn - is your disk full?
No, the Mac OS partition is only half full (27 GB remaining), and I don't believe the Windows XP virtual disk is full either - I certainly haven't seen any error messages about it, and there's not much installed in it either. I also recall having set the virtual disk to grow (ie. no fixed size).

[gus.exe]

same story as above, both XP & Vista with empty diskdiscriptor.xml? Reverting to a previous snapshot produces another error.......and parallels support is terrible.

Any guidance here?

[dkp]

No, the Mac OS partition is only half full (27 GB remaining), and I don't believe the Windows XP virtual disk is full either - I certainly haven't seen any error messages about it, and there's not much installed in it either. I also recall having set the virtual disk to grow (ie. no fixed size).

I haven't tried this, but I wonder if you can create a new XP vm definition, but don't actually install it. Just see were in the install process the xml file is created. It may be possible to create definition and copy it to your damaged vm (and make a copy if it works). There may be some editing required to wedge it into your exisiting vm but it just may work out.

[gus.exe]

Can someone post the contents of a valid diskdiscriptor.xml file?

As well, maybe point out what fields should be edited?

Thank you all for your help, what a mistake jumping on this upgrade has turned out to be!!!

[Gryzor]

I experience a different situation. Same error, however, my .XML is fine. (I have tried a backup, tried a new VM and copy, etc.) The XML IS ok. They are identical (used a file compare program).

However, My VM Keeps telling me the very same error. Yesterday I posted that a possible solution was to delete the paralells folder from user/library but that doesn't work anymore.

Now, if I fast user switch to the original user of the box (when I Installed OSX) ... IT WORKS. The VM is on an external drive and both users are admins, both users have ReadWrite permisions (heck, even Others have ReadWrite). I used the migration tool to get my user back (and hence paralells 2.5). But I had to reinstall Parallels (to get the kernel extension back I suppose). Then I upgraded to 3.0 and this problem arose.

I don't know what permission is Paralells missing, or what is wrong. I am a little bit disappointed with this but above all, I need to find a fix, I work in Paralells.

ANy ideas?

For the folks asking for a "correct" XML here's mine:

<Parallels_disk_image Version="1.0" >
<Disk_Parameters>
<Disk_size>65536128</Disk_size>
<Cylinders>65016</Cylinders>
<Heads>16</Heads>
<Sectors>63</Sectors>
<Tools>
<Installed>No</Installed>
</Tools>
</Disk_Parameters>
<StorageData>
<Storage>
<Start>0</Start>
<End>65536128</End>
<Blocksize>63</Blocksize>
<Image>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<Type>Compressed</Type>
<Flags/>
<File>winxp.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds</File>
</Image>
</Storage>
</StorageData>
<Snapshots>
<Shot>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<ParentGUID>{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}</ParentGUID>
</Shot>
</Snapshots>
</Parallels_disk_image>


Ideas? I've repaired permissions, checked everything. I don't want to reinstal paralells, because I don't know if my Key is going to work!

[edstorm]

I need help.

My hdd image is 10.29 gb (11,053,186,048 bytes) according to the the hdd image.

it is already too late to use my backup since i backed it up when the issue happened so I am stuck.


Can someone let me know how my xml file should look like. I have a tried a few different combinations but its not working!!

I use this for work so this is driving me nuts.

This might help in troubleshooting though... the situation in mine happened when my computer ran out of disk space. My suspicion is that when the hard drive ran out of space, the xml could not be written and thus the file is blank.

10.2 gb of working data is not a good thing to lose.

I know it worked before in versions pre-3.0... I think the new package deal is what causing the issue... :(

There must be a way to save my image!!

[edstorm]

actually, I am looking in the package contents and i have two hds files

winxp.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds ----- 2.05 gb

winxp.hdd.0.{9bac708c-226b-43ee-a0d0-589d312ab016}.hds ------8.25 gb

does this impact how my xml file is supposed to look like?


ps. - I also used compressor to compress the image a few times before..... and expanded the image once before....

[Gryzor]

Ideas? I've repaired permissions, checked everything. I don't want to reinstal paralells, because I don't know if my Key is going to work!
Setting the Ignore Ownership in this volume (Get Info for the external drive), solved my problem. (somehow). It seems that paralells has a problem with permissions even when you can write/read on the drive; in my case it worked with the original user and not with mine (I am admin too). I had to do a Fast User Switch.
When I started ignoring permissions on the drive, it worked again.

Hope this helps.

[ffangohr]

I tried to retrieve an older hdd image from backup (this was created with an earlier version of parallels) but after a conversion to the new format that image was also inaccessible.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Florian

[ffangohr]

I solved the problem by duplicating my disk and selecting that image in Parallels.

Even though this is annoying, the upside is that your disk images are probably not corrupt, I think this is just a permission problem.

I hope this works for somebody else.

Florian

Ps: the only problem I have now is that my mouse doesn't work in Parallels. Ung.

Pps: Re-installing Parallels tools fixed that.

[andrewh1112]

All I want is my files. Any way of getting just a few files out of my image? I really don't care for the whole installation - just some files I didn't get a chance to backup :(

What is worse is that Parallels support won't reply.

I contacted Paralllels support and they recommended I try creating a new disk of the same size. I told them I had tried this more than once without any results. The DiskDescriptor.XML file was completely empty in my case - and creating a new disk of identical size and replacing the GUID with the correct one from my original installation does not work. I still get the corrupt/missing disk image message.

I am not quite sure that creating a 8GB file works identically in versions 2 and 3 - because the actual contents inside the images are very different. :confused:

My disk image worked fine in 2.0 and I really regret purchasing and upgrading to 3.0.

[garneaum]

Hi again. Seems subscription to the thread works in very strange manner. I received only the last message from elf.

Seems that i found what can be happened here, and i'll fix it soon.

FYI, update with lot of fixes will be available in 2-3 weeks.


Will the update fix the problem (which I also am now having), or will it just prevent it from happening again in the future?

[spectre]

garneaum,

The update just prevents the new possible file corruption.

andrewh1112,

You were advised to create new 3.0 hdd image exactly to replace your blank diskdescriptor.xml. Please check this KB article - http://kb.parallels.com/entry/459 and see if it helps.

[andrewh1112]

You were advised to create new 3.0 hdd image exactly to replace your blank diskdescriptor.xml. Please check this KB article - http://kb.parallels.com/entry/459 and see if it helps.

And that is exactly what I did and like I said it does not work. I understand what and why I am doing it - but it doesn't work with my image.:mad:

Now I just want a few files extracted from the image so I can work - but I won't keep any important files in the image in the future.

[mrench01]

Well, count me in. I upgraded to the latest build 4560 from 4128 and I got the same problem. I tried the method EXACTLY as described in the suggested workaround listed on the Parallels support site and it still doesn't work. HELP!!!!!!!!!!! Should I try to re-install 4128 and see if it works. I really hope there is some utility in the works to fix this without having to rebuild my WinXP installation. It took me forever to set it up and I had to re-register Windows XP 2 times (calling into their tech support). ~Mike Rench~

[mrench01]

Well, I've tried now 3 times and no luck. I have been using Parallels for almost a year solid with no issues. I even paid to upgrade from 2.0 to 3.0. Now I can't get to my WinXp installation. Please fix this fast. I know that I can do another reinstall BUT I do not have the hours to dedicate to another WinXP install and updates and reinstall of my Windows apps just because I decided to upgrade.

~Mike Rench~

[Ynot]

mrench01, hmm.. what concrete problem you have? Your fresh HDD corrupted again? Or Parallels not restored your HDD?

[andrewh1112]

Hi Ynot, I would love to hear of a working solution to the corrupted XML-file problem if any.. Or could you maybe suggest a way of retrieving my files from the image?

I wish Parallels would solve this issue quickly or at least talk to us! For my money I would have expected more - and VMWare is seriously looking good to me now.

[mrench01]

The concrete problem is that I get the message that the winxp.hdd image is corrupted when I try to start the VM. This happened directly after I upgraded to the latest build 4560 from 4128. It never was able to launch my VM of WinXP and it completely crashes my Intel Mac Mini to the point where I have to press and hold the power button to force a reboot. I can't be any more "concrete" or direct about the issue.

I tried the procedure, (KB article - http://kb.parallels.com/entry/459) 3 times of creating a new virtual hdd and copying the .XML file to the one that parallels says is corrupted. I followed this exactly!!! It still won't open the original hard disk image file.

I have a "normal" Parallels installation on a 8Gb partition (that Parallels compacted) image created by Parallels. It is located on the main internal Mac hard drive. I have been using this disk image since last August (almost 1 yr) when I first bought my Intel Mac Mini. I have never had any issues before. It even worked perfectly after upgrading from 2.0 to 3.0 a couple months ago. It was only when I installed the update from 3.0 build 4128 to build 4560 that this became an issue.

My Mac Specs Are (if it helps):

Intel Core Duo Mac Mini, 80Gb Hard Drive, Super Disk, 2Gb RAM.

For the record I still love the product. I consider this a bug and will continue to be an advocate of Parallels. I still need to get this fixed though.

~Mike Rench~

[Ynot]

mrench01, thanks for that report. Ok, can you send me your DiskDescriptor.xml file and list of files in your HDD bundle via private message? Also send me snapshots.xml from your virtual machine directory.

[quebel]

Hi all,
I have upgraded from the initial 3.0 release to Build 4560 2 hours ago and do have the same problems as mrench01 in getting a kernel panic when starting the selected VM:

Using a newly generated DiskDescriptor.XML hasn't solved the problem for me.
A reinstallation of Build 4560 or using backuped images hasn't changed the problem.

Any further help is appreciated.




panic(cpu 1 caller 0x001A4A55): Unresolved kernel trap (CPU 1, Type 13=general protection), registers:
CR0: 0x80010033, CR2: 0x3698beb8, CR3: 0x01790000, CR4: 0x000006e0
EAX: 0x25d8bad6, EBX: 0x00000000, ECX: 0x04faba2c, EDX: 0x05d6ef04
CR2: 0x25d8baa4, EBP: 0x25d8bab8, ESI: 0xbfffdee0, EDI: 0x05d6ef04
EFL: 0x00010206, EIP: 0x3f0f8a84, CS: 0x00000004, DS: 0x0000000c

Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x25d8b908 : 0x128d08 (0x3cc0a4 0x25d8b92c 0x131de5 0x0)
0x25d8b948 : 0x1a4a55 (0x3d24b8 0x1 0xd 0x3d1cc8)
0x25d8ba58 : 0x19aeb4 (0x25d8ba70 0x50 0x400000 0x1992a3)
0x25d8bab8 : 0x3f0f8ab6 (0x25d8bad6 0x25d8badc 0x25d8bba8 0x19aeb4)
0x25d8bae8 : 0x3f0f6923 (0x25d8bb48 0x0 0x0 0x0)
0x25d8bb18 : 0x3f0f6d55 (0x5d6ef04 0xbfffdee0 0x50 0x17f)
0x25d8bbd8 : 0x3f0f74d4 (0x5d6ef04 0x25d8beb8 0x18 0x0)
0x25d8bd38 : 0x3f0f393b (0x5d6ef04 0xc0185401 0x25d8beb8 0x6)
0x25d8bd68 : 0x1f1668 (0xd000000 0xc0185401 0x25d8beb8 0x81)
0x25d8bda8 : 0x1e84a2 (0x25d8bdd0 0x297 0x25d8be08 0x4fa93e8)
0x25d8be08 : 0x1e02a3 (0x5cd5b58 0xc0185401 0x25d8beb8 0x81)
0x25d8be58 : 0x332ac8 (0x52670e0 0xc0185401 0x25d8beb8 0x4fa93e8)
0x25d8be88 : 0x350e24 (0x52670e0 0xc0185401 0x25d8beb8 0x4fa93e8)
0x25d8bf58 : 0x37ad83 (0x4fa93e8 0x4f3e848 0x4f3e88c 0x0)
0x25d8bfc8 : 0x19b28e (0x4f6a724 0x0 0x19e0b5 0x43bb1cc) No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xbfffdf78
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.parallels.kext.vmmain(2.2)@0x3f0f2000

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.10.1: Wed May 23 16:33:00 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.22.5~1/RELEASE_I386

Model: Macmini1,1, BootROM MM11.0055.B08, 2 processors, Intel Core Duo, 1.66 GHz, 2 GB
Graphics: Intel GMA 950, GMA 950, Built-In, spdisplays_integrated_vram
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 1 GB, DDR2 SDRAM, 667 MHz
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 1 GB, DDR2 SDRAM, 667 MHz
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x168C, 0x86), 1.1.8.5
Network Service: Ethernet (integriert), Ethernet, en0
Network Service: Parallels Host-Guest, Ethernet, en2
Network Service: Parallels NAT, Ethernet, en3
Serial ATA Device: ST98823AS, 74.53 GB
Parallel ATA Device: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-846
USB Device: USB2.0 Hub Controller, NEC Corporation, Up to 480 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: USB Device, Up to 1.5 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: Generic USB Hub, Chicony, Up to 12 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: PFU-65 USB Keyboard, Chicony, Up to 12 Mb/sec, 210 mA
USB Device: Cinergy T², TerraTec GmbH, Up to 480 Mb/sec, 500 mA
USB Device: IR Receiver, Apple Computer, Inc., Up to 12 Mb/sec, 500 mA
FireWire Device: External HDD Button & Lights, WD, Up to 400 Mb/sec
FireWire Device: External HDD Button & Lights, WD, Up to 400 Mb/sec

[mrench01]

I'll have to do that when I get home (@ work right now). Also I am not super technical when it comes to this so please bear with me and specify exactly which files you want. Are these the ones located in my home directory user library in the Parallels folder?

Thanks for the help!

~Mike Rench~

[mrench01]

I just tried to launch build 4560 of Parallels (upgraded last night) on my 2nd Mac (Intel Core 2 Duo, 2Ghz iMac 17") with the exact same result. I get the error that the winxp.hdd image is corrupted and my iMac crashes. I tried the .XML descriptor procedure (again!) for the iMac and no luck. My iMac is for work and now I am really screwed!

I would highly suggest that the 4560 build be somehow suspended or withdrawn until this issue gets resolved. The only reason my Mac Mini and iMac were both upgraded was because I got the pop up message about the update when I launched Parallels. I am suprised that there haven't been more people with this issue.


~Mike Rench~

[andrewh1112]

I would just like to point out that Parallels support (Ynot) solved my problem with the corrupted 3.0 image!

From what I understand the problem I had in addition to a blank XML-file was that the snapshot-file also needed to be replaced/created!

[edstorm]

how did he solve your problem?

I am still having the issue with one of my images having a black diskdescriptor xml and I can't seem to fix it no matter what. It complicates things since the original image has been compressed a few times by parallels and I don't have a duplicate xml to use. Can someone release another solution?

does the new release fix the problem?

This is big I have lost a lot of files because of this!!

Help!

[andrewh1112]

how did he solve your problem?

Ynot kindly helped me with a tiny "dummy" 1MB .hds file to replace the missing snapshot-file inside the .HDD. And then I replaced the blank XML-file with the text below.

I had two .hds-files inside my original .HDD package. One of them was not working/missing. This way I finally got my XP working again:)

does the new release fix the problem?

I updated to the latest release (#4560) hoping it would solve the problem - but it does not automatically fix the problem.

P.S. Edited for spelling and clarity.

<Parallels_disk_image Version="1.0" >
<Disk_Parameters>
<Disk_size>16384032</Disk_size>
<Cylinders>16254</Cylinders>
<Heads>16</Heads>
<Sectors>63</Sectors>
<Miscellaneous/>
</Disk_Parameters>
<StorageData>
<Storage>
<Start>0</Start>
<End>16384032</End>
<Blocksize>63</Blocksize>
<Image>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<Type>Compressed</Type>
<Flags/>
<File>winxp.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds</File>
</Image>
<Image>
<GUID>{b39970ca-9344-455a-8099-a58d8d650494}</GUID>
<Type>Compressed</Type>
<Flags/>
<File>winxp.hdd.0.{b39970ca-9344-455a-8099-a58d8d650494}.hds</File>
</Image>
</Storage>
</StorageData>
<Snapshots>
<Shot>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<ParentGUID>{b39970ca-9344-455a-8099-a58d8d650494}</ParentGUID>
</Shot>
<Shot>
<GUID>{b39970ca-9344-455a-8099-a58d8d650494}</GUID>
<ParentGUID>{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}</ParentGUID>
</Shot>
</Snapshots>
</Parallels_disk_image>

[mrench01]

I don't think I have any snapshots to use. Since I recently upgraded to 3.0, I don't think I took the time to make one on either Mac. I hope this doesn't mean I am out of luck. :(

I do appreciate the help and I will send those files just as soon as I get home from work. I have to box up my iMac so I can work on it from home (since I now have 2 sick Parallels / Macs to deal with).

Is anyone with Parallels pointing to a Boot Camp partition having this issue or is it only with the .hdd image that Parallels creats? I think if I have to resort to re-installing WinXP then I will do it from a Boot Camp partition. At least I can run it native. I am really hoping that I won't have to do this because of the data loss on my current .hdd images.

~Mike Rench~

[andrewh1112]

I don't think I have any snapshots to useI don't think the snapshots matter. It was just that I had in fact created a [useless] snapshot and the DiskDescriptor probably needed information on both hds-files for some reason. That being said I believe filling in the XML-file with the basic structure and correct GUID probably works for most people.

[mrench01]

Well here is the .XML text from my Mac Mini Parallels WinXP drive image.

<Parallels_disk_image Version="1.0" >
<Disk_Parameters>
<Disk_size>15089760</Disk_size>
<Cylinders>14970</Cylinders>
<Heads>16</Heads>
<Sectors>63</Sectors>
<Miscellaneous/>
</Disk_Parameters>
<StorageData>
<Storage>
<Start>0</Start>
<End>15089760</End>
<Blocksize>63</Blocksize>
<Image>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<Type>Plain</Type>
<Flags/>
<File>winxp.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds</File>
</Image>
</Storage>
</StorageData>
<Snapshots>
<Shot>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<ParentGUID>{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}</ParentGUID>
</Shot>
</Snapshots>
</Parallels_disk_image>


I am not sure what all this stuff means but here it is. My Mac still crashes.

~Mike Rench~:(

[mrench01]

I noticed that my GUID is all zeros. I don't know why but I bet it's not supposed to be that way.

~Mike Rench~

[quebel]

Hi,
I have booted Mac OS X from an external device using a backup which has a Parallels Build 4128 installed.
Despite the fact that I have been told to reactivate my Windows XP I was able to start the VM machine using the same image which caused the kernel panic on my machine whenever running Parallel's Build 4560.

From my point of view, the winxp.hdd image and DiskDescriptor.xml should be fine otherwise I would have experienced problems to start the machine with Build 4128.

Instead of getting a kernel panic when starting the VM with Build 4560, now I see a popup saying that the winxp.hdd file is used by other application and Paralles Desktop is unable to access the virtual disk image.


Carsten

[mrench01]

OK, Ynot helped me out last night. (Thanks a bunch).

We were able to fix the corrupted .hdd image by using the .XML text from Ynot. Then I was able to check that it was working OK by using the Parallels Explorer. Once I could actually mount and explorer the contents of my Parallels WinXP .hdd then I tried to run build 4560. CRASH!!! Kernal error.

OK, then (after forced reboot) I checked to make sure that the .hdd image was still ok. It was. I then reinstalled the previous build 4128 and NO CRASH!!! It booted into WinXP just fine. :)

My only issues were that I was forced to call Microsoft to reactivate Windows XP, and I had to reinstall Parallels tools to get the mouse and networking functioning again. But I an now up and running.

My Mac is a 1.66Mhz Core Duo Mac Mini with 2Gb of RAM. My iMac is a Core 2 Duo 17". I don't know exactly what was in common with these to Mac's but I was able to get them both working again.

All I need to complete now is reinstalling my Anti-Virus in WinXP (for some reason it isn't working correctly)

I hope Parallels figures these issues out and fixes this problem. Also I hope that there is better testing in the future to prevent this kind of thing in the future. At least I did not loose all my data. Thanks again to Ynot.

~Mike Rench~

[andrewh1112]

Did you get another XML-file from Ynot or did you use the one I gave you when we chatted over ICQ?

[idevil]

Hi!
I tried to repair the Hdd, but it still does not work.
I re-installed the Paralles, and I also tried to build a new hdd to get a new xml file, but the virual hard disk is still corrupted.

After the hdd does not work, I copy the xlm file:
<Parallels_disk_image Version="1.0" >
<Disk_Parameters>
<Disk_size>20972448</Disk_size>
<Cylinders>20806</Cylinders>
<Heads>16</Heads>
<Sectors>63</Sectors>
<Tools>
<Installed>No</Installed>
</Tools>
<Miscellaneous/>
</Disk_Parameters>
<StorageData>
<Storage>
<Start>0</Start>
<End>20972448</End>
<Blocksize>63</Blocksize>
<Image>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<Type>Compressed</Type>
<Flags/>
<File>disk1.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds</File>
</Image>
<Image>
<GUID>{4f78e531-ba4a-4dbf-a300-42a424922d27}</GUID>
<Type>Plain</Type>
<Flags/>
<File>disk1.hdd.0.{4f78e531-ba4a-4dbf-a300-42a424922d27}.hds</File>
</Image>
</Storage>
</StorageData>
<Snapshots>
<Shot>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<ParentGUID>{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}</ParentGUID>
</Shot>
</Snapshots>
</Parallels_disk_image>

I do not know if this file is correct, because the disk size should be 10240 MB.

Then I built a new hdd file with 10240 MB, changed the xml as the FAQ. But it does not work.
This is new XML:

<Parallels_disk_image Version="1.0" >
<Disk_Parameters>
<Disk_size>20972448</Disk_size>
<Cylinders>20806</Cylinders>
<Heads>16</Heads>
<Sectors>63</Sectors>
<Miscellaneous/>
</Disk_Parameters>
<StorageData>
<Storage>
<Start>0</Start>
<End>20972448</End>
<Blocksize>63</Blocksize>
<Image>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<Type>Compressed</Type>
<Flags/>
<File>disk1.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds</File>
</Image>
</Storage>
</StorageData>
<Snapshots>
<Shot>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<ParentGUID>{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}</ParentGUID>
</Shot>
</Snapshots>
</Parallels_disk_image>


PLEASE HELP ME! THANK YOU!

[alzabo]

I have the same issue in that I upgraded to 3.0 4128 and then tried to start VM, saw for a moment a note that "something was converting something", then got a full kernel panic crash.

I now get the error that the file is corrupted, but my difference is that I have a file has the hdd name then it's also got "temporary" added to the name, so I have 2 files there - winxp.4.hdd - and - winxp.4.hdd.temporary - .

Obviously this is the partially converted file, so how do I get THAT back? I've tried the whole make a new hdd/copy the xml over/restart thing.....nothing, and yes I was following the directions pointed to earlier.

I too have important data in there that I need back out of it, and I too am stunned at the lack of response from tech support, and the lackadaisical testing that must have went into this product.

In any case, all bitching aside I need to get this fixed and it needs to happen SOONEST, as I'm dead in the water here.

[alzabo]

Great.

I buy Parallels 2, (just before 3 comes is released it turns out) it basically works but has shortcomings, then get 3 when it's released since it looks like it will do some of what I'm missing, instead it wipes out my XP install as far as I can tell, I send an email to support and start running around the web looking for answers....THAT'S when I find out that support at Parallels is known far and wide for not getting back to anyone, THAT'S when I find out that my twist on a widespread problem looks to be unique and possibly unfixable, THAT'S when I find out not only have I wasted money but I've also lost irreplaceable data and a LOT of time, and THAT'S when I start having a VERY dim view of this company.

Some supporters are very likely to say things like "getting mad won't help" blah blah woof woof....but I'm guessing it's not gonna hurt, now is it? I've got nothing to lose that hasn't already been lost, cause I can't get help ANYWHERE!

I freaking HATE these companies that don't hold up their end of the bargain, and I don't CARE why they don't. That's not my problem, it's their's.

When they took my money, they made a deal with me that they would provide some semblance of support and a product that works and they've come through on neither.

Yet MY part, (paying) HAS been fulfilled. If I hadn't of done my part (paying), what woulda happened then? What would happen if I called my CC company and had them reverse the charges (not a bad idea BTW)? Would they then just go "Oh well, guess I'll be on my merry way." you think?

No, they'd vigorously go after THEIR money, although I guess I'm supposed to just eat it on this and smile while I chow down a S@@T sandwich, right?

Guess what? I HATE this kinda treatment, and I don't sit still for it.

Make this right Parallels, you'll either make a friend or the opposite, it's your call.

[Ynot]

alzabo, remove winxp.4.hdd and rename temporary file back to winxp.4.hdd.

After that, when you open Parallels, your hdd will be converted to new format.

PS: forum is not the quickest way to have support.

[Ron@RonPinkas.com]

Yesterday I attempted to upgrade to 3.0 (4560) and it hanged my Mini Core Duo 1.66 with a panic screen while attempting to upgrade the hdd file.

Attempting to revert back to Build 3188 I ended up with the follwoing message when attempting to start my VM:

"... seems to be not a regular file and cannot be used as hard disk image."

Just reading this thread I decided to check the hdd file against an older hdd file, and I found that the pre 3.0 hdd file does NOT have the "Show Package Contents" option. I'm now hoping the .hdd.0.{..}.hds file in the 3.0 "Package" is possibly the good old original .hdd file. I'm copying it outside of the package and will report the results.

BTW, my package content has 3 files:

DiskDescriptor.xml
DiskDescriptor.xml.lck
winxp.hdd.0.{...}.hds

The DiskDescriptor.xml.lck has the following content:

Sometime i'll remove this warn and just set the PID here

The DiskDEscriptor.xml appears to have valid content.

All input to help me recover my "upgraded" hdd file will be greatly appreciated.

Ron

[Ynot]

Ron@RonPinkas.com, you can rename HDS file to HDD and use it as an ordinary 3188 disk image.

[Ron@RonPinkas.com]

Copying the .hds from the 3.0 .hdd package into a new hdd file does indeed work with pre 3.0 builds.

FWIW, Win XP booted from the .hdd file but the Parallels Tools caused GPF, and Mouse appeared frozen. I was forced to use KB interface to UNINSTALL Parallels Tools, reboot, reinstall Parallels Tools, and now all apears to be functional again. :-)

I believe this should be added to FAQ, and in general should also be available in the README file of 3.0, as well as in explaining portability with the Windows Version, as it likely will not know what to do with the new 3.0 .hdd Package.

Ron

[alzabo]

alzabo, remove winxp.4.hdd and rename temporary file back to winxp.4.hdd.

After that, when you open Parallels, your hdd will be converted to new format.

PS: forum is not the quickest way to have support.

AHA!! That did it!!

Ok, so I eventually got help, and for that I am glad.

I'll contest the assertion that this isn't the fastest way to get help, because it's the ONLY way I got help, and I'll be damned if I'll submit to the extortion of paying 40% of the purchase price to call someone to help me with something I bought about 1 month ago or so...that's truly a fictional incident there....

In any case, my problem appears to be fixed, and while it took too long, (and no response even now from the email to tech support) it did work, so I'm feeling better than I was.

Thanx ynot!

[Pedge]

I love products like this - they really change the way you work and I'm all for smaller companies showing the big boys a thing or two.

I got Parallels v2.0 and have been amazed by the usability of it; seeing version 3 I thought this could be a fantastic update, well worth my money to upgrade, several months after buying v2.0.

I've installed the trial software (which I would have paid for once it was running) and have been incredibly disappointed. I was lucky enough to read this thread to make a backup of my drive - and thank god I did it.

The install was going fine and I started it up - tools was installing and all fine. Then all of a sudden it died. Something 2.0 never did. Started it up again and windows (XP) started updating itself - and crashed. Started it several time and it happened again and again and again.

No matter what I've done, its ended with the program crashing.

Considering I was reminded each time I opened v2.0 to upgrade to v3 (I left the reminder on as I knew I'd want to update sooner or later) I expected a relatively stable program.

Having looked at this thread I played safe - thank goodness I did - thinking I'd laugh my caution off in a week or so's time.

I have all of the understanding and sympathy for a business making such cutting edge moves in the mac market; but I must say I am really, really, really disappointed that Parallels have released this version 3.0 software which is more buggy than the v2.0 beta(!).

I won't be trying your fixes, Parallels, I'm sure they do work and help people out - but if I'm paying for software I expect it to work 1st time, after which 99% of the time. So far your version 3.0 hasn't worked 1% of the time and I really do think you should put these problems to #1 on your fix list as saying things like "it'll be sorted in 1 or 2 weeks" is not what I would expect from a serious software company.

In my experience (and judging by some other comments here) this version 3.0 which your version 2.0 software is encouraging people to try out and upgrade is acting more like an Alpha, never mind a Beta and if you continue to release this type of software you will seriously damage your reputation as a competent and serious software developer.

Please remember that whilst no news is bad news, bad news can be equally damaging.

[talvo]

Pedge,

I couldn't agree with you more!!!

I am having the same corruption problems with the same kernel crash and I have important data on my image as well. First off I can't even open the hdd file and second I am not too interested in editing XML files.

It is down right pathetic that the other parallel USERS are faster to respond with solutions than the parallels team. I almost fell on the floor laughing when I saw the post from a Parallels team member that said this forum isn't the fasted way to get a resolution.

Unfortunately, I elected to be the one to test 3.0 for my company. We were planning on buying multiple copies/upgrades to 3.0. Rest assured I will not be endorsing this upgrade or any further purchases of Parallels until I am full assured this problem is resolved.

[mrench01]

Even though I was able to get my .hdd image to work again, the data was so corrupted that I ended up moving my data off of it and reinstalling EVERYTHING!!!. :-(

Even after a fresh install of Parallels 3.0 (Build 4560) my Mac Mini had a Kernal Panic!!! Again! There is something seriously broken with this version. I put 4128 back on the Mac Mini and no issues. I am so glad that I was able to access my old .hdd image to get my data off of it. I a very upset about this. The wierd thing was after I fixed the .hdd image on the iMac it works fine with the 4560 build. I can NOT get the Mac Mini to run this version without a crash and Kernal Panic.

It seems that other Mac Mini users have the same issue. Also I think that the 17" iMac with the GMA950 shared video (not the ATI equipped 17" iMac) sufferes from the same issue. I don't know what hardware is shared but it seems completely reproducable. Parallels should be able to figure out what the issue is and fix it. The data and time loss is unacceptable!

I also agree that the users have been more helpful than Parallels with the support. I am thankful for the forum as it helped me save my data. I never thought that an update would screw me over so badly.

~M Rench~

[help]

I'm yet another frustrated user.

I was trying to reinstall 3.0 after using a trial version and it is saying that
"winxp.hdd seems to be not a regular file and cannot be used as a hard disk image."

I tried following this: http://kb.parallels.com/entry/459

but there is no open package contents option on my disk2.hdd file.
Moreover, I cannot even open the diskdescriptor.xml file

help

[whytyger]

Has anyone tried to convert the corrupted hdd files to run in Fusion? There is a converter utility available on the VMWare website, and detailed instructions on how to do the conversion; and while Fusion is now out of beta, there are trial versions that can be downloaded. AFAIK, Fusion never corrupts its drive images.

This might be a way out of an emergency situation.

Sorry to mention the competition here, but solid support hasn't really been forthcoming from the team. I have not experienced this dreaded corruption, but it sounds like a nightmare for those who have. It's inappropriate to post links here, but Google is your friend.

[GR-SF]

I came across the same problem that is on this string.... I tried to upgrade to 3.0 and I am now receiving an error stating that my existing vm is corrupt or in use by another application. I followed the instructions on here to copy the xml file from a new vm... didn't work. I also looked for any type of temporary hdd files... don't have any. What else can I try?? I have software on that windows vm that I cannot replace (or at least without paying quite a bit) and I cannot get it to work.

any further thoughts?

[mrench01]

All,

It seems to me that this problem is actually 2 different issues combined, though they may be related to each other directly somehow. Please put in the replies to this thread which is your issue, and what your system configuration is. I have 3 Mac's all running Parallels so I have slightly different issues. Also 2 of my Macs have been running Parallels on the same .hdd image (untill 4560) for over 1 yr! They even upgraded to 3.0 (build 4128) just fine.

Problem #1) Kernal Panic with Parallels 3.0 build 4560 (was working on 4128)

My Mac's affected by this issue:
[Mac Mini Intel Core Duo 1.66Ghz, GMA950 graphics, 2Gb RAM]
[iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83Ghz, GMA950 graphics, 3Gb RAM]

Problem #2) winxp.hdd image file corrupted after upgrade. (mine only had this issue after the Build 4560 upgrade, was working fine on 4128)

My Mac's affected by this issue:
[Mac Mini Intel Core Duo 1.66Ghz, GMA950 graphics, 2Gb RAM]
[17" iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83Ghz, GMA950 graphics, 3Gb RAM]
[17" iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz, ATI 128Mb graphics, 3Gb RAM]

The only Mac I could salvage the install (.hdd image) was the 17" iMac with the 2.0Ghz processor and ATI graphics. The reason is because this system only experienced the corrupt winxp.hdd image file. The .XML descriptor text file swap fixed this with no issues since. This iMac is running fine on 4560.

My other 2 Macs (Mac Mini 1.66Ghz & 17" iMac 1.83Ghz) will crash with Kernal Panic while running Parallels 3.0 build 4560. Once I reinstalled 3.0 build 4128 they both worked fine. My Mac Mini fared the worst because the winxp.hdd image was sooo corrupted that there was no luck getting it to work correctly after I fixed the .XML descriptor file. For the Mac Mini I did a complete remove and reinstall of Parallels and all of it's components. Then I tried 4560 and still got the Kernal Panic. So both Macs with the GMA950 graphics (Mac Mini and iMac 17") are running on 4128 now with no issues. My 3rd Mac (iMac 17" 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo ATI equipped) runs with no issues on 4560. I don't understand!!!

When I performed the "Fix", I opened the .xml descriptor file with simple text/text edit. I have the "right click" turned ON in my mouse prefs, and you can select which app opens that file with a right click. You have to right click (or command click) on the .hdd image file and select "show package contents" (or something to that effect) to see these files. Make a copy of your existing .hdd/image data before you try to fix your image or you might loose your data.

If someone has a "universal" text string to overwrite the .xml descriptor file please post the exact text to paste in the .xml file. One of the users here helped me out with a copy of their .xml file even thought it wasn't the same exact size. It allowed me to get my .hdd image working (on previous 3.0 build 4128) well enough to get my data off of it. Then I reinstalled the whole mess and it's now working on 4128.

For anyone who gets this fixed, I highly recomend NOT updating to 4560 untill it's been proven NOT to cause the Kernal Panic on certain Macs. Of course this is my opinion as I do not work for Parallels so your mileage will varry.

~Mike R~

[Fofer]

Same problem here. It happened after the upgrade to 3.0 beta, build 5060, right after I downloaded Windows System Update and restarted. Parallels now refuses to launch my Windows install.

With the .lck file inside the package, Parallels won't start Windows, says "the file is in use."
Without the .lck file, Parallels won't start Windows, says "the file is corrupt."

I open the "DiskDescriptor.xml" file with TextEdit, and see all the content intact:
<Parallels_disk_image Version="1.0" >
<Disk_Parameters>
<Disk_size>16384032</Disk_size>
<Cylinders>16254</Cylinders>
<Heads>16</Heads>
<Sectors>63</Sectors>
<Tools>
<Installed>No</Installed>
</Tools>
<Miscellaneous>
<ChangeState>0</ChangeState>
</Miscellaneous>
</Disk_Parameters>
<StorageData>
<Storage>
<Start>0</Start>
<End>16384032</End>
<Blocksize>63</Blocksize>
<Image>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>

Please don't tell me that a simple update has trashed my whole Windows install. That'd be enough for me to never want to run Parallels ever again.

Help!

[rcarlton]

Thanks for the sample DiskDescriptor.xml file above.

I'm also on 5060 - thought I'd try it to see if Parallels' memory and CPU footprint might diminish somewhat. It's become quite the little sloth in terms of resource utilization.

I decided to take a look with Parallels Explorer. It was a quick look, and I didn't change anything.

On the next reboot, Parallels Tools wanted to (re)install itself.

And after that restart, it wanted to do so again. And again.

Then I lost the Task Bar in XP, couldn't get it to relaunch (even as explorer.exe) and told Parallels (the OS X app) to restart the VM from the OS X side. It wouldn't. CPU cycles started going through the roof.

When I rebooted I had the lock file and the DiskDescriptor.xml file showed a generic 10GB drive size vs the 35GB I'd allocated.

I used your file, changed the disk size to be a "true" 35GB (based on 1MB = 1024 x 1024 vs 1000 x 1000) and changed the volume name to mine, and voila.

I gotta say - 2.5 was so sweet and stable, I sortof regret going to 3.0. I did it for the DirectX support, which was nowhere what I expected, and if I could do it all over again, I prolly would've stayed on 2.5 and waited for something like a 3.5.

You saved my a$$ - thanks again!

PS I'm thinking the GUID is what Microsoft uses to track licensing, as I had to reactivate Office after all this.

[master-ceo]

Man! After all the good reviews, I been saving up and growing the nutz to drop the cash on a BN MBP and I did! The thing that made really made me purchase was Parallels. Although I own 2 macs already (PPC). A new MBP with the ability to use windows on it (priceless), and my productivity level would be at an all time high.

All the videos, the HYPE, the Research. And I still got jammed.

I run a music Studio and purchased the MBP with Parallels so I can Run FL Studio on the go and in the Studio, using my mac.

After reinstalling windows 15 times because of .hdd corruption and kernel panic attacks.
Plus the inabilty to tranfer files properly to a second virtual .hdd without it (data) getting corrupted. I have given up on this product and moved on to VM Ware.

Oh what a feelin to finaly use something that works as advertised. Don't get me wrong, I love the Parallels interface (GUI) and visual design, but the product sucks for now!
I value the data that I spent so much time trying to transfer. What a waste of time! 3 Days of my life wasted.

Thanks.

[spectre]

master-ceo,

According to our QA Team investigations on your problem, FL Studio puts a huge strain on computer resources and even the real PC may produce unexpected system behavior with this software. Due to the huge number of HDD I/O requests when FL Studio is working, the VM performance may be limited by the file access speed on the Mac side and exhibit some possible problems.
If you please elaborate on your Parallels VM configuration and the FL Studio use-case that produced the problems, our QA Team will surely re-produce the problem in-house and we'll try to improve the VM compatibility with FL Studio in future updates.

Please keep in mind that although the virtualization technology has already achieved almost native PC performance, there are still some limitations possible in particular situations when we put the virtual resources to its limits. And we are very interested in investigating and solving such problems, as we do understand that such real-life use-cases are of great importance to many Parallels users.

Man! After all the good reviews, I been saving up and growing the nutz to drop the cash on a BN MBP and I did! The thing that made really made me purchase was Parallels. Although I own 2 macs already (PPC). A new MBP with the ability to use windows on it (priceless), and my productivity level would be at an all time high.

All the videos, the HYPE, the Research. And I still got jammed.

I run a music Studio and purchased the MBP with Parallels so I can Run FL Studio on the go and in the Studio, using my mac.

After reinstalling windows 15 times because of .hdd corruption and kernel panic attacks.
Plus the inabilty to tranfer files properly to a second virtual .hdd without it (data) getting corrupted. I have given up on this product and moved on to VM Ware.

Oh what a feelin to finaly use something that works as advertised. Don't get me wrong, I love the Parallels interface (GUI) and visual design, but the product sucks for now!
I value the data that I spent so much time trying to transfer. What a waste of time! 3 Days of my life wasted.

Thanks.

[polusam]

I have a similar problem yesterday. I closed the lid of my macbook and I believe parallel was running at that time.
After I started the machine again, parallel told me that it can not allocate memory for the monitor and can not start. when I went to menu and then tried to start it from there, the mac froze and asked me to restart by pressing the power button.
After the restart, the windows does not boot anymore and says the hard disk is corrupt.
I tried to reinstall by following http://kb.parallels.com/entry/64/527/. Unfortunately, there is no way I can get back my old data as it installed vista fresh and even the windows crashes now.

Can someone help?

[urusai omae]

After shutting down my windows xp hdd, I decide to start it backup and surprisingly get the popular "Parallels Desktop is unable to access the virtual hard image file /Users/..... The file is used by other application" error message. Reading this whole thread after doing research from other threads within this forum, I don't know any other way to solve this problem.

I have followed the directions many times from both of these support pages

http://kb.parallels.com/entry/64/527/
http://kb.parallels.com/entry/28/459/

....Created new harddrives and changing the contents of the DiskDescriptor.xml file or copying the .hds file within the winxp.hdd package renaming it and having it converted by parallels....My hdd isn't at all locked since the .lck file was not present from the beginning.

Does anyone have any idea why and how to fix this issue I'm having?

Here is the current DiskDescriptor.xml file as of this moment.



<Parallels_disk_image Version="1.0" >
<Disk_Parameters>
<Disk_size>16384032</Disk_size>
<Cylinders>16254</Cylinders>
<Heads>16</Heads>
<Sectors>63</Sectors>
<Miscellaneous/>
</Disk_Parameters>
<StorageData>
<Storage>
<Start>0</Start>
<End>16384032</End>
<Blocksize>63</Blocksize>
<Image>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<Type>Compressed</Type>
<Flags/>
<File>ike.hdd.0.{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}.hds</File>
</Image>
</Storage>
</StorageData>
<Snapshots>
<Shot>
<GUID>{5fbaabe3-6958-40ff-92a7-860e329aab41}</GUID>
<ParentGUID>{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}</ParentGUID>
</Shot>
</Snapshots>
</Parallels_disk_image>



Also the current build I'm using is 4562 if that helps..

[Gryzor]

Thanks for the sample DiskDescriptor.xml file above.

You saved my a$$ - thanks again!

PS I'm thinking the GUID is what Microsoft uses to track licensing, as I had to reactivate Office after all this.

Glad to be of help :))

After all the fuzz about 3.0, I decided to stay on "stable" releases. So I haven't tested "betas" until today, where I got a new "stable update". I'm on 4560 and will move to 5160. I will let you know about the experience...

Wish me luck.

[Gryzor]

After shutting down my windows xp hdd, I decide to start it backup and surprisingly get the popular "Parallels Desktop is unable to access the virtual hard image file /Users/..... The file is used by other application" error message. Reading this whole thread after doing research from other threads within this forum, I don't know any other way to solve this problem.
Does anyone have any idea why and how to fix this issue I'm having?

Also the current build I'm using is 4562 if that helps..


If the virtual machine is on an external drive, try going to that drive -> Get Info and check: "Ignore ownership on this volume".

That solved my issues with this msg. But of course, if you have the image on your internal drive, you can't do that.

Good luck!

[urusai omae]

Thanks for the response Gryzor. I don't have my virtual machine on an external drive so I was not able to use this option :(

[Gryzor]

:( Sorry 'bout that. You'll have to digg through the forum as there seems to have different approaches for the same problem.

Good luck with that!

[metaBit]

It happened to me.

Parallels Desktop unable to access virtual hard disk image file /Users/jasonjob/Documents/Parallels/Microsoft Windows XP/winxp.hdd The file is missing, corrupted or used by another application.

I have been using Parallels for six months without problem. I started with 2.0 and updated to 3.0 right away when it came out.

Last night I shut down Windows and closed Parallels as normal. This morning I went to open Windows and got the error above.

I just looked at my DiskDescriptor.xml file and found it to be completely empty.

I have no idea how this could have happened but I will try making a new VM and use then copy its DiskDescriptor.xml file, making the necessary changes.

Do I actually need to install Windows to get the DiskDescriptor.xml file made?

[metaBit]

Solved with http://kb.parallels.com/entry/64/527/

[tkn]

Sadly this did not fix the problem for me. Tried it with my old build then the latest update. Followed all the steps in the KB article, got Parallels to convert the renamed file, but the newly converted .hdd continues to be un-duplicatable via Finder and unreadable via Super Duper (my backup program). Help!

Solved with http://kb.parallels.com/entry/64/527/

[enicholas]

I just experienced VM corruption in 3.0. I attempted to resume the VM I had been using a few days earlier, only to receive the dreaded corrupted hard drive message. Upon further investigation, the hard disk file was only 500MB -- it was supposed to be over 30GB. And, naturally, enough time had passed that both of my system backups contained this corrupted VM as well, so my entire VM was irrevocably lost. I've had a rough week.

Obviously my backup policies turned out to be inadequate, and I will be taking measures to better protect my data. One of those measures is no longer using Parallels -- much as I love Parallels, all it takes is one VM implosion before I'm trying out the competition.

[darienphoenix]

I'm using the latest version of Parallels, updated without any problems a month or so back.

With Parallels running in Coherence mode, I placed my MacBook into sleep mode, and then left it for several hours. This was long enough for the battery to drain completely, which caused the MacBook to enter Safe Sleep, and shut down.

Upon reconnecting the power adapter and booting the MacBook, I found that my OSX preferences had been altered, including Dock Apps and settings, iTunes library (had to re-import all my music), and others.

On top of that, my Parallels VM would not start, showing the error message "Unable to open VM Configuration file", followed by the path to my Windows XP .pvs file.

I attempted to follow other similar reports from the forums, and accessed the DiskDescriptor.xml file for the Window HDD. It appeared to be corrupted, showing nothing but gibberish. As many important documents are stored on the Windows volume, not to mention I do not wish the inconvenience of reinstalling a new VM with all the necessary software, I`d like information on how to recover the VM.

[giminy]

I just upgraded from 4560 to 5160 (upgraded my machine to leopard while I had 4560 installed, I patched Parallels to 5160 before even attempting to run it) and I'm getting the old "drive in use" error. Has this been definitively solved? I'm backing up my .hdd right now before I go messing with it...

[av8r]

Is there any way to tell if the HDD is suspended by looking at it? This is the one scenario
which had not crossed my mind yet. My PVS file seems fine (says VM is not in suspended state, but
that may not be right) and the VM won't boot and says the disk is corrupt. I have snapshots,
so but I am not able to revert to one or merge them. The Parallels Image Explorer is also reporting
it as corrupted.

Need help, as I am at the end of my wits. I have tried the KB article http://kb.parallels.com/en/4790
to no avail. - Thanks

[John@Parallels]

If there are .mem and .sav files inside VM folder VM is in suspend state