Boot Camp partition STOP 7B in Parallels (3214) VM

Discussion in 'Installation and Configuration of Parallels Desktop' started by Milamber_Cubed, Aug 20, 2007.

  1. Milamber_Cubed

    Milamber_Cubed Junior Member

    Messages:
    16
    SOLVED - Boot Camp partition STOP 7B in Parallels (3214) VM

    Hi All,

    After Parallels failed to shut down my Boot Camp powered VM one time I was left unable to boot into XP natively due to a damaged HAL.DLL among other problems. As a way of fixing this without having to start from scratch, I did a repair install of XP which all went fine - I can now boot natively into my boot camp partition.

    The problem is now with my Parallels VM using the Boot Camp partition. Every time it boots I get a STOP 7B error (inaccessible boot device, I think) blue screen and the VM reboots itself. Safe mode doesn't work either.

    Now from what I can tell, basically the drivers for accessing the partition (as presented by Parallels to windows) have been removed. I imagine that the first time you run Parallels with a Boot Camp partition it installs all the things it needs within the partition before booting it up. Since I have already got the Parallels Tools installed in Windows, it seems that Parallels doesn't think it needs to do this step, which is where all the problems are coming from.

    I can't even uninstall Parallels Tools from my windows installation because it says it can only be done from within a parallels VM. Frustrating much? You betcha.

    Any ideas on how to get this thing back to normal would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to have to take off all the data, format the partition and start all over again with installing apps etc.

    Milamber_Cubed
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2007
  2. Milamber_Cubed

    Milamber_Cubed Junior Member

    Messages:
    16
    Well... this is just typical isn't it? Found a solution right after posting.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314082

    All I had to do was boot into XP natively, merge the reg file listed in the article (the 4 driver files were already in the right place) and reboot into OS X and run the VM. It took a while for XP to redetect all of the parallels hardware, but it got there in the end. Had to plug in a USB keyboard to get it all the way through, but that's my fault for changing some other stuff and not changing it back.

    All is well now. Though it does beg the question - why can't parallels check that the right reg key is there before trying to boot the VM? Surely the whole thing would take less than a second.
     
  3. bulletproof

    bulletproof Member

    Messages:
    26
    You'd think Parallels would make a list of prerequisites, or a software install, that would need to be completed in Windows, under Boot Camp, before allowing Parallels to access to the existing Boot Camp Windows installation.

    Here are my comments about resolving the issues that arise with using Parallels 3 with Boot Camp. They will resolve the BSOD issues (...the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM and Stop Error 0x0000007b), but I agree with you. I think Parallels should come up with a solution that avoids these issues altogether.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2007
  4. neilio

    neilio Member

    Messages:
    41
    I took a look at that Microsoft technote but it really lost me. I'm having the same problem - I can boot into Boot Camp no problem, but the first time I tried booting into BC via Parallels, Parallels crashed. Now when I start it up I see two "Parallels configuration" listings in the boot selection and when I select either of those I get the blue screen.

    Is there any way to "reset" Windows so I can redo the Parallels first-run changes? Or am I stuck with either reinstalling Windows completely or just not using Boot Camp in Parallels?
     
  5. bulletproof

    bulletproof Member

    Messages:
    26
    Hey neilio,

    Sorry to confuse you...I had linked the wrong article in my hyperlink for the 0x0000007b fix. I updated the link with the correct article, so you should be able to follow it now.

    If you use the 0x0000007b fix, you will be able to boot both Parallels and Boot Camp, but will still be faced with the activation issue...I am no longer using Parallels due to letting the time to activate Windows under the Parallels configuration expire (3 days). ATM (at the moment) I am only using Boot Camp because Windows is already active under its hardware configuration.

    Hope this helps!
     

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