Windows XP freezes a few seconds after boot up

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by rauckr, Jan 22, 2011.

  1. rauckr

    rauckr Member

    Messages:
    48
    I have Parallels Desktop 6.0.11992 running on a 2010 17 inch 2.66 GHz MacBook Pro with 8 G-Byte of RAM and a 500 G-Byte hard drive with plenty of free space. I am running OS X 10.6.6. I have 4 G-Byte of RAM and 60 G-Byte of hard drive space assigned to one of my VMs running Windows XP Pro (32 bit, service pack 3). It had been working well the last time I used it (a while ago). I have Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 installed on it.

    Windows now freezes up shortly after start-up in both normal and safe modes. Kaspersky doesn't seem to finish loading as evidenced by the lack of an Icon in the Start-up menu portion of the taskbar and the hourglass icon when I hover the cursor over the taskbar. Any attempt to reach task manager during the few seconds before everything freezes results in all desktop icons, the taskbar and start button immediately disappearing with no affect on the freeze. I tried a repair install with the installation disk and it did not fix the problem. I wanted to roll Windows back to the last known good state but I can't seem to get to the Windows Advanced Options menu at start-up. I mouse click in the VM window and hit F8 and it is ignored. I have also tried fn > F8 and CMD > F8 to no avail. What is the trick? Any other suggestions?

    I have Windows 7 on another VM and it seems to be running normally.
     
  2. rauckr

    rauckr Member

    Messages:
    48
    Further Windows XP freeze info

    I should clarify the key combos I had tried for reaching the Advanced Options screen. They were Fn + F8 and Cmmd + F8. I have since discovered that the reason F8 fails to work is that it controls "Spaces". I went into the System Preferences > Expose & Spaces and changed Spaces activation to F1 and now I can reach the advanced options screen with no problem.

    I suspect this is the reason many people have been unable to install XP and generally had problems whenever F8 needs to be used. Now I will see if I can fix my freeze problem.
     
  3. Hans Balen

    Hans Balen Member

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    64

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