Windows update breaking guest OS

S

stray cat

Bit poster
I'm running Windows XP SP2 guest OS, and I've found at least two critical updates that are breaking Windows under Parallels 3 build 5160.
One of them is Security Update for Windows XP (KB885835) and it deals with LSASS, and I haven't figured out what the other is yet.
The first one will halt during update process and if I kill the process by restarting the Host OS (which is the only way to kill the process) on restart of the guest OS I get a error:
"The System can not log you on to the due to the following error:
The program issued an command but the command lenght is incorrect.
Please try again or cunsult your system administrator"
I can't log on even with the local admin account, or in safe mode. I have to do a revert to snap shot, and of course the update runs again......

The second update (yet to be determined), once applied, will make the kernel (explorer.exe) continue to restart over and over. The desktop icon dissapear then reappear over and over. Onwe again I have to revert to a snap shot, and the whole update process starts over again....

The native XP machines get these updates and work fine. Obviously there is something within Parallels that these updates are breaking. But what???
 
the only time I had update problems was when I was out of HD space

Since then I use as a VM 30 gb HD 20 gb used 1024 RAM out of 2 gb

Hugh W
 
Hello,

it seems that this issue (i mean problems with logging on) is rather common with this Microsoft update (KB885835). There are two ways to avoid it - either to remove this update if it's removable or (when it's already installed) enter in a safe mode, log into administrator account, change your user password and settings (set Password Never Expires). It's so bizarre that you couldn't have entered the safe mode.
But is's sure that this problem occurs both for native Windows and for VM's OS as well.

Concerning the second update,
To stop the explorer restarts hit ctrl+alt+delete and go to the task manager. Then you’ll have to react quickly - if you click on the constantly respawning explorer.exe task and end the process before it kills itself, it’ll stop restarting.
Then install Service Pack 2 (it would be better if you download it and have it on a CD before performing that task-game.

So try this and if the problem still exists write me back here or via PM.

Best regards,
Alicia.
 
Alicia,
If I reapply SP2, it will wipe out all the updates that have been applied after (such as the ones that are causing the problems) and our sus server will push them out again, will it not?

Thanks
 
Okay I did kill the explorer process, and tried to install SP2, but it errors out saying that I have to uninstall the current SP2 first, which I can't do because it's part of the original Windows install.

8-( there has to be an answer for this. I can't beleive I'm the only one that has this issue!?!?
 
stray cat, it really seems that the issue's cause is not Parallels. There are some mentions about it all over the web, so you're not the one.
You can look through this and this threads and see if the solutions from there can be helpful.

Best regards,
Alicia.
 
We have aprox 20,000 PC's in our environment running XP, but the only ones that broke from this update are the ones running under Parallels.
Now I've got another that after an update, isn't recognizing the virtual drive and asking me to install the guest OS.
I'm just playing wack-a-mole keeping these running. I think it's time to find another solution, such as VMWare.

Those links aren't helpful at all. They don't show a trend, just one guy that had an issue. Show me several thousand links that show the same issue, and then I'll pay attention. I can show you 20,000 plus machines here that are working fine that aren't running parallels.

Sorry Alicia, Parallels just isn't getting the job done, and the support isn't really helpful at all.
 
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I was able to do a work around for the original problem by using an updated syspreped image that has the offending updates already installed. However there is another update that is causing Parallels to not recognize that there is an installation at all! When I go to start the virtual machine up, it just prompts me to install the guest OS.
I'm not 100% sure which update it is, but I think it might be Windows-KB890830-V1.35.exe malicious software removal tool.
 
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