3.0 corrupt HDD files

B

bgt

Bit poster
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?
 
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Quick Survey (About this Issue)

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~
 
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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:
Code: 
<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!
 
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Thanks Gryzor!

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.
 
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I thought I was going crazy!

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.
 
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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.

master-ceo said:
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.
Click to expand...
 
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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?
 
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just all of a sudden..

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.

Code: 
<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..
 
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rcarlton said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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urusai omae said:
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..
Click to expand...


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!
 
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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?
 
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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.
 
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Corrupted VM and HDD

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.
 
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Any luck?

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...
 
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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
 
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