How to access data on a non-bootable XP VM?

A

autosyskid

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Running Parallels Desktop for Mac Build 3188.

I have a corrupted Windows XP VM which fails to boot (even in Safe mode). Is is possible to add the .hdd to another working VM, so that I can pick-off any key data files?

Apologies if this is too easy for the forum - I'm new to Parallels...
 
autosyskid said:
Running Parallels Desktop for Mac Build 3188.

I have a corrupted Windows XP VM which fails to boot (even in Safe mode). Is is possible to add the .hdd to another working VM, so that I can pick-off any key data files?

Apologies if this is too easy for the forum - I'm new to Parallels...
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about the tanked VM. Yes, the best thing to try would be adding the .hdd to another VM. This should work if the extent of the corruption includes mainly boot and/or Windows-related files. Fortunately, this is the more common scenario. If the corruption is disk-wide, you may have to resort to data recovery tools (a Google search will turn up a bunch of 'em) to retrieve your important files.

The above assumes that the .hdd file itself isn't corrupted - just the virtualized file system which it contains. If the actual .hdd is messed up then all bets are off... :-)
 
You can also..as a last resort...boot the VM from the XP CD (or an iso of the cd) and try to use the repair console to fix the XP install or install XP again on that hdd WITHOUT the format option..you'll lose the personal settings but your files should still be there to retrieve..of course, just as the last user stated...if the .hdd file itself is corrupt..you may be out of luck.
 
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