3.0 VM upgrade success finally!

3.0 to 4.0 VM upgrade success finally!

Upgrading my Windows XP SP3 3.0 VM to 4.0 has resulted in BSOD cycling with a STOP 0x000000A5 error every time I tried it. I finally found a workaround that has worked repeatably for me.
Start 4.0 choose backup and convert
When asked to boot the VM choose no, then make a snapshot of the VM so you have a restore point
Go to configure, deselect all shared folders, profiles, applications, smart mount, and set security to the lowest setting
Boot the VM and allow the conversion process to continue
When the "You need to manually continue the upgrade process" warning appears select OK
Allow the system to boot and cancel all the Windows messages when asked to restart Windows select no
Start the Parallels Tools Setup if it doesn't start automatically. This will complete step 2 of 4 of the upgrade process
When the "unable to upgrade this machine warning occurs select OK.
The BSOD cycling will begin, stop the machine and revert to the previous snapshot.
Restart the VM
Go to Virtual Machine > Install Parallels Tools
This time the Parallels Tools Setup Wizard should start with a bar showing the status (See attached screenshot) rather than the splash screen.
My experience has been that if the Virtual Machine Upgrade Wizard runs at this point (returning you to the splash screen at step 2 of 4) the VM will be trashed but if the Parallels Tools Setup Wizard runs you will be OK.
Reboot VM and it should work OK.

I don't know why this worked or which of these steps have an effect or how many are necessary, I just found that this worked for me. Note that this worked in my particular case (STOP 0x000000A5 error) and may not be applicable with other errors.

Macbook Pro 2.0 GHz Core Duo
2 GB RAM OSX 10.5.5

 

Jed,

Glad to hear that you have upgraded finally. Unfortunately, most probably this workaround will not work for anyone. The root of the problem is corrupt access rights to one of Windows' registry nodes and a strange way Windows handles access to such node. Most probably, the snapshot contained integral registry, that's why the process worked.

The good news is that we know what causes the problem, have a fix internally and are validating it. As soon as the validation is finished, we'll publish it.