"Non-System disk" error when starting Windows, requires a Mac reboot

R

RussJ

Junior Member
At least once a day, when I try to start either Windows XP or Windows 7, I get an error indicating that Windows can't start due to a "Non-System disk or disk error. Replace and press any key when ready" at which point I have to reboot my Mac. After rebooting, Windows starts fine.

It doesn't always happen; I frequently boot Windows without issue. However, when it does happen, it always applies to both Windows VMs, i.e. if one won't start, neither will the other. I haven't been able to ascertain any specific precipitating conditions.

Can anyone suggest what the root cause of this problem might be, or where I might look to get more information on what might be causing this issue? It's getting to be enough of a problem for me that if I can't get it resolved soon, I may have to try an alternative product, which I'd rather not do.

I'm running:
- MacBook Pro 15" retina
- OSX 10.8.2
- Parallels Desktop 8, build 8.0.18354

I never experienced this problem on my older MacBook Pro 17", but I can't say whether the problem is specific to the newer hardware, the newer OSX, the newer version of Parallels Desktop, or something entirely separate.

I appreciate any help.

Best regards,
..Russ
 
Hi Russ,

Please try to do the following with each of your Virtual Machines one by one:

1.Shutdown Windows but do not quit Parallels Desktop (PD)
2. Click on VM menu > Configure > Hardware > Boot Order
3. Make sure Hard Disk 1 is on the first place. If not - place it there.
4. Make sure no images are connected by both CD-ROM and Floppy. Just point the CD-ROM to your Mac real CD-ROM (make sure you don't have any system disks inserted) and you can disable Floppy.
5. Start Windows and see if the issue ever comes up again.
 
Problem still occurs

Hi Andrew...thanks for replying.

I did as you instructed, but the problem occurred again this morning.

When I went to configure the boot order, Hard Disk 1 was already the first item on the list for all my VMs. I disabled Floppy, and I ensured I did not have any other images mounted. But it happened again about an hour ago.

One thing I noticed...it did NOT affect all of my VMs this time. When I tried to boot Windows XP, I got the "Non-system disk..." error, so I wondered if my Linux VM would have a similar failure, but I was able to boot it without difficulty. So then I tried my Windows 7 VM, and it too came up without problem. I tried again to bring up Windows XP but it kept giving me the same "Non-system disk..." error until I rebooted my Mac, at which point I was able again to boot Windows XP (as well as the other OSes). (Usually it seems that when XP won't come up neither will Win 7, but to be honest I'd gotten to a point where once I saw the error with any VM, I'd just reboot the entire machine without necessarily trying the other VMs.)

I hope you can help me to resolve this problem.

Best regards,
..Russ
 
Problem report sent

This problem happened again this morning. I just sent a problem report, number 21803281.

Please let me know what you find out as this issue is causing me significant difficulties.

Thanks.

..Russ
 
Does this system have more than one hard disk, or has a an external drive?

Maybe due to how the drives are enumerated at boot time not always being the same order. Just an hypothesis.
 
One disk only

Good thought but no, this machine has only a single internal hard drive, and no external drives.

..Russ
 
Happened again

The same problem happened again this morning. I submitted another problem report, number 21865032.

..Russ
 
Happening almost daily

Submitted another report today, number 22042771. Is nobody else experiencing this problem??

..Russ
 
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