How to: Resolve trouble between Parallels and Windows under Boot Camp

How to: Resolve trouble between Parallels and Windows under Boot Camp - UPDATED

After seeing several threads relating to this issue, I decided to make this it's own thread instead of trying to reply to each. This article NOW resolves all issues pertaining to using Windows under Boot Camp through Parallels, INCLUDING activation. Hopefully Parallels will be able to integrate these fixes into a future release.

Before doing anything, I would recommend preparing your existing Windows installation under Boot Camp, for Parallels, before trying to access it through Parallels. If you have already installed Parallels and now have problems, don't worry, this article should address and resolve these issues as well.

Something to know upfront: using your existing Boot Camp installation with Parallels will most likely require you to activate your Windows installation a second time. The reasons for this are addressed in Section 4 of this article.


Section 1: Preparing your Boot Camp Installation for Parallels
(If you already tried to access your Boot Camp installation through Parallels, and can no longer get into Windows through Boot Camp or Parallels, please skip this step and come back to it after you have completed Section 2.)

First we need setup one Hardware profile for Boot Camp and one for Parallels. Please note, these steps are not available in Windows Vista. (Credit for this fix goes to logan_barnett.)

1. Open your "System Properties" either through the Control Panel or by right-clicking on "My Computer" and going to Properties.

2. Go to the "Hardware" tab and click on "Hardware Profiles".

3. Rename the current profile "Boot Camp", and then copy it. Rename the copy "Parallels".

4. Under "Hardware profiles selection", make sure "Wait until I select a hardware profile" is selected.

5. Check the properties of each profile and make sure the following options are selected:
"This is a portable computer"
"The docking state is unknown"
"Always include this profile as an option when Windows starts"

6. Click "OK" on everything.

This will allow you to choose the correct hardware profile when booting into Windows using Boot Camp or Parallels. Select the "Parallels" hardware profile when using Parallels and select the "Boot Camp" hardware profile when using Boot Camp.


Section 2: Resolving issues that may arise from installing Parallels

There are two things that I had to do to resolve the issues that arose after installing the latest version of Parallels 3 (build 4560).

First, I started receiving "Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" when booting to Windows using Parallels or Boot Camp. (If you do not have this problem, please skip this step.)

I had to resolve this issue by restoring this registry file using the Recovery Console (I actually used MacFUSE and NTFS-3G to access the NTFS partition from OSX to do this, but will not get into how to do this. If you want to look into it for yourself, you can find information here.). I restored the "system" registry file from the latest backup located in "C:\System Volume Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}\RPX\Snapshot". There is more information on how to do this here.


Section 3: Resolving issues with Stop Error 0x0000007b

After I resolved the first issue, I could boot back into Windows using Boot Camp, but was still getting a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) when trying to use Parallels. The Stop Error I was getting was 0x0000007b.

If you "Disable automatic restart on system failure" by using the boot option (F8), you should be able to see what the stop error is. If it is 0x0000007b, then see this article to resolve the trouble.

(When trying to run your Windows installation under Boot Camp, through Parallels, Windows reacts in the same way it would if you physically moved your hard drive from one PC to another. Thus, you have to do the procedure listed above to get Windows to run in Parallels.)


Section 4: Issues

Using the 0x0000007b fix appears to resolve any BSOD issues when booting into Windows using Parallels or Boot Camp, but there are a few other issues that arise from doing this:

Activation:
Windows will need to be reactivated. This is because of the "Significant Hardware Changes" detected by Windows when switching from Boot Camp to Parallels, or vice versa. When using the latest version of Boot Camp (1.4), Windows has complete access to all hardware in your Mac. When using Parallels, Windows has a different Hard Disk Controller, Video Card, and Processor core count (1 instead of 2).

After Windows has been activated under both Boot Camp and Parallels (twice), you will be able to boot into either configuration without any trouble. (If you were able to prepare your Boot Camp installation for Parallels before trying to access it through Parallels, you may not have to reactivate Windows, but I am not for sure on this.)

This may be a major issue for those of you using Vista. From what I have read, Vista is even less forgiving than XP, when it comes to reactivation. If you cannot get Vista to activate successfully a second time under Parallels, I believe that you can still get it activated by speaking to a CSR in Microsoft's Activation Department.

Drivers:
After doing the procedures listed above to get windows to run, Windows will need to have the proper drivers installed (Boot Camp drivers for running on Boot Camp, and Parallels drivers for running on Parallels).

Parallels Tools:
It appears that after installing the Parallels Tools under Parallels, the Boot Camp drivers for Windows no longer function correctly under Boot Camp. For example, the keyboards back-light no longer works, nor do any of the shortcuts shared by the function keys. (If you find that this issue does not actually apply to your installation under Boot Camp, please ignore the fix I have listed below.)

The only way you can get around this issue (since you cannot uninstall the Parallels Tools unless your are running Windows under Parallels) is to: change the Parallels Services (in the Windows Services Manager) from Automatic to Manual, stop the running service(s), disable the Parallels "startup" options (using Windows Defender or MSCONFIG), and reboot. After completing this, in addition to everything else, there should be no problem with using Windows under Parallels or Boot Camp.


Additional Comments:

I think these issues should have been addressed in detail, by Parallels, before releasing a product that has the ability to utilize the Windows installation under Boot Camp as a virtual machine. And it is my opinion that resolving these issues, or integrating these fixes into their existing product, should be Parallels top priority!

If Windows is running natively on Boot Camp, then Parallels should be able to run Windows seamlessly without having to use the fixes listed above, causing the Boot Camp drivers to malfunction, or (if possible) causing Windows to have to be reactivated.

I would recommend that Parallels create an install file that would need to be run in Windows under Boot Camp, as a prerequisite (automatically resolving these issues or applying these fixes), before allowing Parallels access to the existing Windows installation under Boot Camp. Parallels will also need to be very clear with the fact that Windows will need to be activated twice for everything to work correctly.

If anyone has any additional information about these issues, or has found this information helpful, please reply to this thread.

Thanks!

 

Recovery Console results in UMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME bluescreen

Bulletproof - thank you very much for your post! I'm having similar problems, and I tried an approach similar to yours, but with less encouraging results.

Some background: I have a MacBook Pro with a broken optical drive, and Parallels ate my Boot Camp XP install, resulting in the infamous "hal.dll not found" error when I try to boot using Boot Camp... But Parallels still works, thank god! Because my optical drive is kaput, I can't just boot off my Windows XP disk and use/install the Recovery Console to repair my Boot Camp install - that would be too simple =D

I copied all the files off the XP disk onto a machine with a working optical drive, and from there copied those files into my running Parallels XP environment via a network share. From there I was able to run $DIR_WHERE_I_PUT_THE_CD\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons and install the recovery console (inside Parallels).

However, I noticed that that didn't actually modify the boot.ini file, because Parallels stops it... Or something. Whatever. I then installed MacFUSE and NTFS-3G and proceeded to modify the boot.ini file myself, adding the C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons line which the Recovery Console would have installed if Parallels had let it do so.

That worked, in that the boot.ini file was successfully modified, and the "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" option showed up at boot time. Unfortunately, when I tried to boot using that option, I only got a UMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME bluescreen.

Now I'm kinda stymied. I wonder if Parallels prevented the Recovery Installer from fulling installing - obviously it prevented the boot.ini modification, but I don't think it prevented anything else! If I could boot off of anything other then my hard drive I'd have more options, but with a broken optical drive I'm not sure how to go about doing that. I have a 2GB bootable USB key that is working on normal Windows x86 machines, and if I could figure out how to boot from that I'd be able to make it into a pseudo-"Windows XP Installation CD" an]d go from there... But so far I can't figure out how to boot my MacBook Pro from it.

Hell, if I could PXE boot I might be able to do something similar, and trick the system into booting into something it thinks is a Windows XP installation environment.

So, Bulletproof... There you have it. I've done a lot of research and experimentation, but am not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions would be immensely appreciated!

 

What exactly did you do from that Microsoft technote to fix the BSOD on boot from within Parallels? I read through that page but it wasn't clear to me what it was I needed to do to fix my issue.

I can boot into Boot Camp fine - I had just set up a fresh partition and install. The first time I tried launching Boot Camp from within Parallels it crashed part way through the booting process.

Now I get two "Parallels Configuration"s listed in the boot screen, and selecting either of those causes a blue screen of death.

 

Hey sayke,

I have a couple things for you. It sucks that your optical drive is busted, it somewhat limits the options we have available to us...

1. Have you tried this? (The fix that resolves Stop Error 0x0000007b.)

2. Since you have NTFS-3G installed, you shouldn't need the Recovery Console because you can do pretty much everything through the features that come with NTFS-3G...This point may now be mute; but are you trying to boot to the Recover Console using Parallels or Boot Camp? I may be wrong, but I don't think the Recover Console will work correctly with Parallels...Do you get the same error when trying to boot to the Recovery Console through Boot Camp?

3. How long has it been since Parallels botched your Boot Camp install? If it hasn't been that long, your system may still a backup copy of the "system" registry file from before you installed Parallels, in your System Volume Information folder. If you are able to restore it, you should be able to boot back into Windows through Boot Camp. The only things you should have to reinstall after doing this would be any hardware drivers you installed after installing using Parallels. (If you happened to disable "System Restore", then the only "system" registry file you will have to restore is the system.sav file in C:\WINDOW\System32\Config\.) Just rename this file from system.sav to system. (Oh, and you'll want to rename the existing system file to system.bak, so you have a backup.)

I haven't tried this myself, but if you can boot to an external optical drive, you may want to try to perform a Repair Install on XP through Boot Camp. This might be your best option.

Just a side note: Even if you are able to get these issues resolved, you will still have the activation trouble just like everyone else...

Hope that helps.

 

Hey neilio,

Sorry about that, I had the wrong article in my hyperlink. I updated it with the correct one. You can also reach it here.

Here it is in a nutshell:

1. Copy the information from the link above into Notepad, and then save the file. Name the file Mergeide.reg, without the .txt file name extension.

2. Extract the Atapi.sys, Intelide.sys, Pciide.sys, and Pciidex.sys files from the %SystemRoot%\Driver Cache\I386\Driver.cab file, or copy the files to the %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers folder.
3. In Microsoft Windows Explorer, right-click the Mergeide.reg file, and then click Merge.

Windows XP displays the following message:
Are you sure you want to add the information in Mergeide.reg to the registry?
Click Yes.

After the import process is completed, Windows XP displays another message:
Information from Mergeide.reg was successfully entered into the registry.
4. Quit Windows XP, turn off the computer, and then move the system disk to the other test computer, the one that previously produced a Stop 0x0000007B error, and then test to see if you can successfully start the second computer.


UPDATE:

I removed the actual text needing to be copied in Step 1 of this post because this forum adds spaces to the text where it should not be. Please only copy this text from the link I have provided above, or download the file I have created below (you can open the file in notepad to view its contents.

 

Hello - I m having a similar issue. Every time I launch Boot Camp from within Parallels it crashes part way through the booting process. I have tried the suggestions above (except for the registry edit - I am afraid to mess up my windows build) and nothing has worked. It always bombs after it asks for me to activate windows - whether I click yes, no, or not at all. It does not blue screen, it just stops booting, and crashes. I would appreciate any help! Thanks!

 

Hey macmuchmore,

The fix you referred to as a "registry edit", is the ONLY way to resolve a 0x0000007b Stop Error. It is not an "edit" it simply adds the necessary entries to the registry that will allow Windows to utilize a different hard disk controller (or chipset) than the one that is currently installed. This fix comes strait from Microsoft's knowledge base, and is not something that someone just came up with. I have used this fix many times, on many systems, and never had any trouble.

Without using this fix, there is no way (that I know of) to get your existing Boot Camp installation to work with Parallels.

You could waste several hours trying to do a "repair" install in Parallels, but that may just make matters worse. I would not even attempt this without doing a full backup of your current windows installation due to the fact that everything in "System Volume Information" will be completely wiped out during the repair process (this is where Windows stores backups of all your system changes, including the registry). Not to mention the changes that will be done to all the files in the WINDOWS directory.

I don't even know if the "repair" option would be available to you during setup, or not. If you get to the part where you are agreeing to the agreement during setup, and see your disk partitions being listed instead of setup telling you that it found an existing Windows installation; DO NOT PROCEED! Doing so will completely wipe out your current Windows installation.

If, by chance, you are able to get the "repair" installation to complete successfully in Parallels, there is a chance that your Boot Camp installation will no longer boot.

The 0x0000007b fix is the quickest, guaranteed way to resolve this issue. If you are nervous about using the fix, just backup your current registry configuration so you can roll back to it if you want. You can use this article for more information about doing this.

UNFORTUNATELY, in either case, you will still have the issue with Activation along with everyone else. Your Windows installation can only be "active" under one hardware configuration profile...

This is why I am currently only using Windows under Boot Camp instead Parallels until this issue is resolved. I can not use Windows under Parallels anymore because I let the time I had to activate Windows (3 Days) expire. I did not active Windows under Parallels because I believe it would make the activation under my Boot Camp installation invalid, and in need or reactivation.

I believe that activation is the main problem that exists in trying to use one Windows installation under Parallels and Boot Camp (which is unfortunate and inconvenient). I suspect that Windows will need to be reactivated each time you switch between Boot Camp and Parallels. I don't know how Microsoft will respond to this type of activity.

This is why I will not continue to use Parallels until this issue is resolved. The problem parallels has, is making their program use the same hardware drivers that your Boot Camp installation is using already, and this will be different for each and every Mac out on the market.

 

System does not recognized option key to select boot disk

I had this problem, but now, I cannot boot back in to OS X, the system just trys to boot to Windows and has this error. Very frustrating!!! Any suggestions?

 

After installing Boot Camp, I jumped into My Computer properties. On the Hardware tab, I went to Hardware Profiles. I named the current profile as Bootcamp, and I copied it and named the copy "Parallels". "Wait until I select a hardware profile" is selected. Check both profiles' properties and make sure the following are selected:
This is a portable computer
The docking state is unknown
Always include this profile as an option when Windows starts

As an additional note, I'm using the TinyXP Beast edition for my XP install disk. I'm not really sure what it does or if it somehow tore out the hardware changes stuff.


When my machine boots windows (in Bootcamp or through Parallels), I'm always asked which profile I want to use. I haven't run into any issues with this thus far, and I wasn't asked to call Microsoft due to hardware changes. I'm curious to see if folks with vanilla XP setups can side-step the hardware hassles with this.

 

Hey rfellows,

I just want to make sure I have this right. You cannot boot into OSX or Windows, and your option key does not work? If this is the case, it sounds like the issue is an issue with your Mac and not actually an issue with Parallels. I would recommend contacting Apple first to get these issues resolved (getting OSX to boot and getting your option key to work), then we can work on everything else.

If I am mistaken with what I understand your trouble to be, please PM me the following information and I will try to help you. (Your issue may need it's own thread.)

1. I need to know if your Mac is completely up to date including the firmware updates.

2. What version of Boot Camp are you running? Parallels?

3. Did you install Windows through Boot Camp first and then try to access it with Parallels?

4. Did you ever have Windows functioning correctly through Boot Camp or Parallels?

5. What changes were made between the last time everything was working correctly in OSX and/or Windows, and now? (I need specifics. Partition changes, system tweaking, etc.)

Please PM me this information instead of replying to this thread.

Thanks!

 

Hey logan_barnett,

I think you may have the answer that resolves the activation issue altogether, but I have a few questions I want to ask you before I test this out for myself.

1. I think I know the version of XP you are referring to. Correct me if I am wrong, but basically it is a "bare bones" version. Completely striped of everything extra, just giving you the bare necessities needed to run, right?

1a. If this is the case, did you have to activate it when you first installed it?

1b. Did you install it on Boot Camp first, and then access it through Parallels?

1c. Can you update this version online (will it pass validation)?

2. Did you have to use the 0x0000007b fix, or was this not an issue for you?

3. From what I can tell from your post, after you copied your hardware profile and everything, you were able to boot into Windows through Parallels (using the hardware profile you setup for it) and did not have to activate Windows a second time. And now you can boot into either Parallels or Boot Camp with out any issues. Let me know if this is correct.

My guess is if you did not have to activate Windows the first time, this is why you also did not have to activate it the second time. (Probably because the Windows Product Activation (WPA) service is not running in your version of Windows.)

As for the rest of us, the question is: After following these steps, and activating Windows for the second time in Parallels (using its hardware profile), will the activation for Windows (using the Boot Camp hardware profile) continue to be valid? I'm willing to give it a shot, and if everything checks out, I'll add the solution to my original post.

Let me know.

Thanks!

 

That's my understanding of the setup.

Nope.

Yes.

I haven't tried it yet.

I have to admit I didn't read your entire post, but my installation was pretty vanilla to get things running. When setting up with Parallels I didn't leave the wizard.

Every time I boot I need to pick the right instance. If I started Parallels and picked the Bootcamp hardware profile I could be in for some heartache, but I haven't fat fingered that part yet.

Prior to setting everything up, I was aware that Windows has the reactivation when it sees that too much hardware has been changed. Being an XP user for some time now, I knew about the hardware profiles that seemed to be for docking and setups that required frequent hardware swaps. I never had a use for them myself so I couldn't say one way or another if it would work. Seems like it might help though.

I'd also set up Parallels once before, and noticed it put on it's own variety of drivers. I knew Bootcamp would have to provide it's own as well. Windows would either have to swap out drivers depending on how you booted up, or Parallels drivers know how to invoke or replicate the Bootcamp drivers. In the later case, that's pretty tight coupling. Even though Parallels claims Bootcamp support, Bootcamp is still in beta. Big changes are still possible, which means some downtime before Parallels catches up.

This is actually pretty likely. I'm not fully aware of what TinyXP has stripped from it, so I haven't provided a good test case here. I'm curious if it works for braver souls than myself.

 

Awesome logan_barnett! You rock! Your solution worked beautifully which makes me (and probably a lot of other people) very happy! I did have to activate Windows under Parallels (using the hardware profile I setup for it), but it did not make my existing activation under Boot Camp invalid when using its hardware profile. I can now boot into Windows using Parallels or Boot Camp with no trouble whatsoever!

I am guessing that it is going to be normal for Windows to need to be activated under Parallels and Boot Camp, but am not completely sure since I did not use your fix until after I had already accessed my Boot Camp installation with Parallels.

I am going to update my original post with this solution. Hopefully Parallels can come up with a way to implement these fixes before allowing Parallels to access Windows through Boot Camp.

I would recommend an install file that would need to be run in Windows under Boot Camp, as a prerequisite (automatically resolving these issues or applying these fixes), before allowing Parallels access to the existing Windows installation under Boot Camp. Parallels will also need to be very clear with the fact that Windows will need to be activated twice for everything to work correctly.

 

A different bootcamp/parallels issue I'm not seeing here -- suggestions?

Having read through this excellent thread, I'm having an issue I still can't figure out...

I have a Ghosted XP image that we install on our Windows boxes here. This image also works/installs fine -- in bootcamp.

However, whenever I try to access this bootcamp partition in Parallels (5160), I get the following message on the black screen:

Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.

Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.

Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.


I can still restart into Bootcamp with no problems.

A *clean install* of XP from the CD into the bootcamped partition -- that works fine in Parallels. My image that I'm trying to use has the same HAL.DLL/NTOSKRNL.EXE file as a clean install of XP (and the same boot.ini file contents), so it doesn't seem to be that.

But I'm really trying to get my patched/other-software-installed image to be seen correctly by Parallels.

I'm open for suggestions for things to try here. Anybody have any?

(Oh and I'm pretty sure this isn't an "activation" issue -- I'm using a Volume License version of XP, so modifying hardware shouldn't make any difference to my activation number...)

- Steve

 

Yah . . . now, how to set up separate hardware profiles in Vista? Can't do it as far as I can tell unless you have a dock device. Too bad Parallels can't emulate a dock device . . . that would force it to create separate profiles and recognize "docked ( in parallels )" and "undocked ( bootcamped )".

 

thanks for the excellent thread, bulletproof!

For some reason my setup was working fine for a couple of days, I could start XP via Boot Camp and via Parallels individually with no trouble. I did have to activate Windows twice but with my kosher version that wasn't a problem.

Then one day I get a nice black screen while booting to XP via Boot Camp.. restart, nope, still black.. XP via Parallels worked fine but Windows just refused to start natively, no BSOD, nowt. Had to Repair my Windows installation, which was fun (aaagh!), got it working eventually but daren't launch Parallels incase it screws it up again.

I had no problems following the steps in your post, and everything I needed to do worked, but I'm still getting the 0x0000007B BSOD when I try to start XP thru Parallels. No idea why since I followed the M$ page, merged the registry entries etc., even confirmed that the .sys files it mentions actually existed in the right place.

I know diagnosing computer problems is like performing brain surgery whilst engineering a long distance space probe, but does anyone have any ideas why i'm still getting the 7B BSOD?

Checked for viruses, none found, fortunately I can still get XP via Boot Camp but even so, I bought Parallels Desktop for a reason and given the "Support for Boot Camp." feature I expected it to work in tandem whilst encountering bugs because of BC's Beta status but nothing this big that actually stops Windows starting up!

 

SORRY!

ok ok, hands up, my mistake - had a little dig in the Registry and found under CurrentControlSet, the folder "Contro l".. yep, with a space..

It seems when i copied the registry entries from the post it carried along some spaces with it, which meant the entries didn't go where they should have done. Got the ones of the M$ site and now everything works perfectly, two hardware profiles and all.

Only a few programs have moaned about activation data being incorrect but i am unlikely to run them under Parallels, so no biggie there. Restarted a couple of times now in each environment and no trouble so far (fingers crossed).

Thanks bulletproof and logan_barnett, you're legends!

Now if the external USB drive & mouse problems could be sorted out, we're laughing

 

I'm shocked that no Parallels team members have commented on this topic, thanked bulletproof for his efforts, and weighed in on how they will be integrating these fixes. I'm still not convinced that I trust Parallels with my pristine Bootcamped Vista installation when it works "good enough" under VMware Fusion.

Can anyone comment on whether the 5160 build incorporates any of these many steps?

Thanks again, bulletproof.

 

So far logan_barnett's suggested setup seems to be working great.

My first run with parallels (prolly my ignorance) ruined my bootcamp.
So after reinstalling OS X and Windows thru Bootcamp, I created images with WinClone CopyCatX and SuperDuper (yea, I'm a little paranoid now).
And then again, after 3 days of running, making sure all was well, I made more images. ( I can't afford to start all over again)
My hope is that if anything goes wrong again, I can just 'go back' to the images before parallels.

I should mention, I currently have a 500Gb External for all my images.
(Like I said; 'I'm paranoid')

Thanks Bulletproof & logan_barnett

 

I still had to 'Activate' twice.
Both in Bootcamp and Parallels.

But the issue that I see is going to become bigger and bigger, and that Parallels will have to address, is more and more software Activates in relation to a single computer.
I just had this with 1-Click DVD Pro. You can only register (Activate) it in one or the other (Bootcamp or Parallels) Not both. 1-Click thinks I'm trying to run it on 2 different computers.
Someone may say; 'I need to take that up with the makers of the software that gives the Activation Issue, not Paralles'
Someone said something similar about someone complaining about Parallels, that the problem isn't Paralles it's Windows. My Reply; Not Windows, Software for Windows, or even Bootcamp say you can run it on a Mac thru Parallels. Paralles is making those claims.

But I guess in reality, I really need to get away from using anything Windows anyway.