Impossible to install Windows XP on Parallels on Leopard 10.5.1

Discussion in 'Installation and Configuration of Parallels Desktop' started by satyor, Dec 19, 2007.

  1. satyor

    satyor Member

    Messages:
    35
    hi,

    i have the following problem trying to install windows xp home sp2 on my new iMac:

    i already own Parallels and it works smoothly with the windows xp VM i created on my macbook pro under Tiger

    now i got myself a brand new iMac with Leopard (please, see details below).

    i installed Parallels without any problem.

    when prompted to create a new VM based on windows XP, i inserted my windows xp disc into the mac (i own a 2nd licence of windows xp sp2) and the installation started.

    the iMac seemed to read perfectly my windows xp disc but on the "preparing windows xp installation" step the parallels' screen tells me to wait for 36 minutes and after waiting for ages nothing happens (please see the attached capture which shows exactly where the installation process gets stuck)

    i waited for hours and hours without success
    i uninstalled parallels with its own uninstaller and reinstalled it and retried to install windows xp: no success either.


    please, help me, otherwise i've the feeling i'll never be able to complete the installation.
    i checked your knowledge base, the posts & so forth but could not find the answer to my problem



    please, find below the technical details:

    system version: Mac OS X 10.5.1 (9B18)
    hardware: iMac 2,4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    memory: 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
    Parallels version: last update of Parallels 3, 'Parallels-Desktop-5582-Mac-en'

    thank you very much
     

    Attached Files:

  2. MichaelPrichard

    MichaelPrichard Junior Member

    Messages:
    13
    I've done all of my installs with an ISO image of the XP install disk (created with Disk Utility using CD-ROM "master" or something similar), then load the ISO image in Parallels as a CD. A big bonus to this is that the XP install goes much more quickly, and it may cure your issue.
     
  3. satyor

    satyor Member

    Messages:
    35
    hi

    thanks for the tip. i'm gonna try it but just a question before i make a mistake:

    where did you exactly created the iSO image of the XP install disk?
    was it on an external usb2 external drive? on a FW drive? or just on your computer's HD (Macintosh HD)? or on a another mac?

    are we supposed to load this image from a bootable device (it seems not to be the case since the XP install disk is bootable but if i am not mistaken, while doing my searches before posting, i read somewhere that Parallels suggests to create the ISO image on another computer)?

    thanks for your help
     
  4. MichaelPrichard

    MichaelPrichard Junior Member

    Messages:
    13
    You can put the image anywhere on your local HD or external. The key to making the image usable is to select the mounted XP install CD from the list on the left in Disk Utility, then select File->New Image from disk1s2 (or whatever the CD shows up as on your machine), then select "DVD/CD master" under the Image Format pop-up list, then simply name the image something intuitive. You may need to change the file name extension from .cdr to .iso so that Parallels will see it as a bootable PC disk image (I had to), but that should do it. You'll have to change the extension in the Finder after Disk Utility has saved the image file.
     
  5. higgins

    higgins Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    Hi there,

    I'm having the same problem -- my WinXP install is hanging with "36 minutes" remaining. If I used the automatic setup, the program seems to freeze (the little status boxes in the lower right stop moving), if I use a "default" setup it continues to cycle through the boxes (and the text messages about how great XP is going to be), but never goes beyond 36 minutes...many hours later.

    I tried imaging my install disk and instlaling from that, but no change.

    Did you find a solution?

    ;Chris
     
  6. Thomasj

    Thomasj Member

    Messages:
    26
  7. higgins

    higgins Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    Fixed!

    Thomas,

    Thank you!! This solved my problem. I am using a laptop and had an external monitor, Apple USB keyboard, Microsoft USB mouse, and several FireWire 800 drives plugged in. Unplugged all of this and the install went right through.

    Thank you!

    ;Chris
     
  8. satyor

    satyor Member

    Messages:
    35
    hi,

    thanks very much to everybody for trying to help!!

    i now have good news and bad news...

    1) let's begin by the bad news:
    as suggested, i created a CD/DVD master disk image of my windows xp CD.
    the installation process went much, much faster than from the CD but i got stuck a bit later than it previously did.

    and this time (only this time) i got an error message which is more or less as follows:
    "the installation program must stop. the 'syssetep.inf layout' file is damaged or missing"

    in case that might help somebody, my problem seems to be different from the ones other people were confronted with (i read your links, Thomasj, thanks very much).

    note: i was extremely surprised to find out that such a critical file is missing from my windows xp disk image since this licence (i mean the original windows xp install CD) was only used ONCE to install windows xp on a PC and very carefully placed in a case logic sleeve where it remained untouched for 2 years).


    2) the good news:
    i managed to install windows xp on parallels
    guess how?
    well, windows being such a problematic company, i fortunately owned another licence - another windows xp home install CD of which i made a CD master disk image on an external usb2 hard drive and that was it :))))

    this one is, after all, not such a very good news ;-), or is it?

    bye now,
     
  9. Eru Ithildur

    Eru Ithildur Forum Maven

    Messages:
    1,954
    Well, if one disk works, but the other disk doesn't it means one of two things:
    A. The disks were different, such as being a CD that a vendor has as a restore CD, and thus it will not install on Parallels even if it were unscratched, and usually those licenses are non-transferrable.
    B. The first disk was actually damaged, in which case I would not expect Parallels to install properly.
     
  10. satyor

    satyor Member

    Messages:
    35
    well, i'd rather think option 2 is more realistic...

    i don't have time to do so, but if i had i would try another install from this supposedly scratched disk... (i already devoted far too much time to a system... well, i can't do without but which i use as less as possible, as probably most of us in this community ;-)
     
  11. TonyD

    TonyD Bit poster

    Messages:
    1
    Any other thoughts for this problem?

    Hello. I am having the same problem where I can't install Win XP. I have downloaded all the latest updates for Parallels and for Leopard. I tried making the image of the XP disk on the desktop and installing from there and it got a little farther but still won't go all the way through. It gets stuck on the install screen at 30 something minutes sometimes then 20 something minutes then somewhere else. Occasionally it gets stuck in a loop of quickly rebooting back and forth to that setup screen. I have tried both typical and express install several times. I have unhooked everything from my iMac except the keyboard and mouse. Any ideas what I should try next?

    Thanks,
    Tony
     

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