Importing a Bootcamp install as a VM issues

[Wayne Morgan]

installed Pd6 on Mac - all installed ok and it upgraded an Existin XP VM - that works well

PD6 then froze my mac while loading an existing Win7 Vm so had to hard Boot the mac -
since then i cannot load that VM.. so i thought I would try and create a new Vm -
the only Error in the parallels.log I can find is

HOST_IOCTL_VM_MAIN_REQUEST IOCTL_GET_SMBIOS SuCCESS(code 0, ffffffff) ... mainrequest failed with status ffffffff..


cannot seem to fix that VM

so to try and move on...

I then setup Win7 Pro as a bootcamp partition (in addition so i had a clean install of Win7) - all works well when booting to that partition

I then create a Bootcamp VM within parallels which also boots from the HD partition drive correctly and Runs

i installed the transporter to this VM and ran the transporter

i then wanted to create a new local VM based on that Bootcamp Install - so i imported and it located the network item - ran the import and when it gets to the 'completing configuration' process it tries to Boot the Vm and cannot saying that it cannot find the sata drive 1 with message "you need to login to window sto complete configuration of your virtual machine -

I have tried this process 3 time and cannot get past that point

the BC VM points to the actual hard Disk on my Mac - (hitachi ...)
the Imported VM points to SATA 0:1

2 problems -
How can i fix the corrupted Original Win7 partition
Why doesnt the Import from a bootcamp partiion then locate the VM drive that it installed it to !



Win macbook Pro - 4GB 2.66 dual core intel
Parallels 6
Win 7 Pro

 

[joevt]

The original Win7 Vm was from Parallels 5? Did it use a Boot Camp partition or a virtual hard disk?

Why do you think the original Win7 partition is corrupt? You didn't give any evidence. You only say the original VM is broken. So just remove that VM and make a new one and point it at the original Win7 partition. Removing a VM does not affect the Boot Camp partition. It also won't affect virtual hard disks either except to move them to the trash if they are inside the virtual machine but you can always move them out of the trash again.

If it used a virtual hard you can do the following:
1) Make a new VM: File -> New -> Continue without Disk -> Windows 7 -> Like a PC -> Customize settings before installation.
2) Hardware -> Hard Disk 1 -> [-] and Move to Trash
3) Then add a new Hard Disk by clicking on [+]
4) Select Type: Existing image file, Location: Choose a file, navigate to the old VM and inside should be the old VM's hard disk file (.hdd).

If it used a Boot Camp partition then do the same except change step 4 to Select Type: Boot Camp.

You don't need to use Transporter to create a VM based on a Boot Camp VM. There's an Import Boot Camp menu item in the File menu that you can use when a Boot Camp VM window is in front and not running.

If you want to fix the VM you created with Transporter then check the Hard Disk 1 settings. Make sure it points to an existing .hdd file (probably inside the VM .pvm file) which you can see by right clicking the .pvm and selecting "Show Package Contents". You can then right click the .hdd and select Open with Parallels Mounter to see the contents without running the virtual machine. Parallels Mounter also works with the .pvm if you want to examine all hard disks that a .pvm may have.

 

[Wayne Morgan]

Suggestion - problem with boot device

Yes - original VM was PD5

I alo have a XP VM (also that was PD5) that boots correctly and points to IDE 0:0


I tried your suggestion -

It defaults to SATA 0:1 - odd as the VM originally pointed to IDE 0:0 - so I tried Both sata and IDE - and the boot sequence when windows starts just cycles on the black screen looking for a device to boot from

I have verified the Disk with the mac disk utility and it shows all as ok

Even if I Create a NEW VM and re-install Windows from a CD - I get to the same point - it cannot find a boot device -

if I boot from the CD all works and it goes through the install but then eventually fails when trying to Boot from the disk

Any further ideas appreciated

 

[joevt]

I alo have a XP VM (also that was PD5) that boots correctly

Is XP a Boot Camp partition?

I tried your suggestion

I made a couple suggestions. You should explicitly state which steps you took.

I have verified the Disk with the mac disk utility and it shows all as ok

Is Windows 7 a Boot Camp partition? Probably yes since you say you used Disk Utility to check it but you should be more explicit. Are you able to boot your Mac into the partition?

Check the disk with the following commands (replace 1234 with the start block of the Windows 7 partition):

diskutil list
sudo fdisk /dev/rdisk0
sudo gpt -r show -l /devdisk0
sudo dd if=/dev/disk0 count=1 | xxd
sudo dd if=/dev/disk0 count=1 skip=1234 | xxd

Post the results here between [code] and [/code] to preserve the spacing.

Even if I Create a NEW VM and re-install Windows from a CD - I get to the same point - it cannot find a boot device

Are you installing Windows to a virtual hard disk or to a Boot Camp partition?

 

[Wayne Morgan]

Importing a bootcamp and vm issues

The xp vm is not a bookcamp partition and work ok

The win 7 vm that Isa bootcamp partition works fine and will boot and I pointing to sata0:1

The win 7 vm that will not boot is not a bootcamp partition and is just a .hdd file

Even new .hdd files created with pd 6 do not boot - even after all the windows files are copied

 

[Wayne Morgan]

Disk check

When performing the Disk Check - I used the Mac disk utility to check the single Disk that I have in the Machine - the Bootcamp partition has no errors and boots correctly to the BC Win 7 partition -

Any help?

 

[joevt]

The Win 7 vm that will not boot is on an .hdd file. To examine the contents of the .hdd file you could create and install a Ubuntu or Fedora Linux VM, then when that is working, shut it down, add a Hard Disk 2 and point it at the Win 7 VM's .hdd, then boot Linux then execute these commands (b is the 2nd disk of the virtual machine and 1234 is the Windows 7 partition start block):

sudo fdisk -lu /dev/sdb
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sdb
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb count=1 | xxd
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb count=1 skip=1234 | xxd

Installing Windows 7 to a new virtual machine should be quick and painless:
Insert the Windows DVD
File -> New
Select DVD drive containing the Windows DVD -> Continue
Enable express installation, Enable "This version requires a product key", Enter product key.
Click "Like a PC", Continue
Name: Windows 7, Location: /Users/You/Documents/Parallels
Unselect "Customize settings before installation", click Create.
Then Windows installs. It takes about 15 minutes to do it from DVD. Much less time if you used an .iso image.
Then Windows boots the new installation to complete the installation. This takes another 5 minutes. Parallels Tools are installed automatically at this time. Then the VM restarts from the virtual hard disk installation again. All this happens with no user intervention.

I used a retail version of Windows 7 64 bit Professional for the above test. What version are you using? Can you post some screen shots of the errors?

 

[Wayne Morgan]

OK - am including images..

DiskConfigProblemVM - shows Disk config of Original Win7 VM that wont start

NoBootDevice - shows Windows/VM Boot screen that cannot find a bootable partition to load Windows 7 from

RebootConfig shows when Installing a new VM that PD6 copies all the Win files to the VM and then tries to Boot and continue the config process - but eventually ends up with the screen NoBootDevice

WinXPfromNEWCDFailed - shows even a new instal as per your instructions File/New/boot from DVD (win32 Retail) loads the CD and then tries to boot to continue Setup and gets screen that cannot find the boot device

WinXPGoodDiskConfig - Shows the Disk Config of a WinXPVM that was converted from PD5 (as was original Win7 VM) that Loads and finds a boot partition in the VM and Loads

WinXPLoadingok - shows that XP VM loading after finding the Boot Disk

Win7BCOK_DiskConfig - shows the dosk config of the BC Win7 VM that loads correctly
Win7BCLoadingFromSata - showsthat Win7 BCpartition loading after Finding the Bootable disk

so any new VM I create fails to find a Boot device after the initial copy of the filed from the DVD and therefore cannot continue the Windows Install

the Old XP (from .hdd) and BC Win7 Partition (BC partition) Boot correctly

 

[joevt]

Check the permissions of the new .pvm and .hdd files. Can you right click them in the Finder and select Open with Parallels Mounter?