Could not create image for Boot Camp

[D_Lewis]

Hi, I have a Boot Camp partition with Vista Home Premium, and whenever I try to load it in VMware, I get the error:

"Could not create the virtual disk for your Boot Camp virtual machine."

I've tried re-installing VMware by following these instructions: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/118740 but it still happens.

I can create a new virtual machine fine, but it just wont load the Boot Camp partition.

Does anyone know of a solution? Thanks.

[sweetpummello]

Here's VMware Fusion's reply this morning:

"If you are unable to launch the boot camp partition as a Virtual Machine from

Virtual Machine Library, please follow the below mentioned steps to

trouble shoot this issue.

Deleting the Boot Camp Meta data might help in resolving the reported issue.

Please perform the tasks in the same order as described in the steps below

for clearing the Boot Camp Meta data.

1. Shut Down Boot Camp Virtual Machine

2. Quit VMware Fusion Application

3. Delete 'Boot camp' and 'Help' from /Users/, but as you can see in screen shot 1 there is no "Virtual Machines" folder in the VMware Fusion folder, so there is also no "Boot Camp" and "Help" folder.

After the above, I launched VMware Fusion and as you can see in the library list in picture 2, there is now no listing for Windows Vista as there had been previously, so there now no virtual machine to access thru VMware.

After reading your help discussion forum postings, apparently, I am not the only one having this difficulty. With my new MacBook Pro, I ordered a larger HD (250) and so also made the Boot Camp VM larger (1st one on old MacBook Pro was 38, and the partition for Boot Camp VM is now 65). Does VMware Fusion have a limit on the size virtual machine it will work with in Boot Camp? I originally tried to create the partition using Vmware Fusion directly without Boot Camp, but the Windows Vista was so unstable and crashed all the time, so I went back to the Boot Camp partition. The Vista Business (32 bit) is an OEM version. Does this make a difference? I believe it should not.

What should be the next step please?"

I'll continue to work with the tech support to resolution. If you like, I'll post what process actually works. My previous experience has been that it can be long and drawn out, but hopefully not this time. I was quite surprised that the Vista didn't show up in the VM library list, and I think it's very telling that there is not Virtual Machine folder in the VMware folder according to the string of go to's tech support advised. If you try VM tech advice and see something different on your HD, I'd appreciate knowing.

[admin]

"I am attaching screen shot 1 which shows that there is no "Test" folder to match your instructions.

"Test" was an example, you're supposed to use your username as in the actual instruction.

Does VMware Fusion have a limit on the size virtual machine it will work with in Boot Camp?

There is no limit on the size of a Boot Camp virtual machine.

[ElCamino]

Thanks for posting what to do; but didn't work for me. I followed the instructions and still get the error "Could not create the virtual disk for your Boot Camp virtual machine." I didn't have the "help file" in my VMware but did remove the boot camp one. Hopefully someone can figure this out; tried all and still no go.

[sweetpummello]

Subsequent VMware tech support instructions that I followed in the last few days:

Please uninstall and re-install the VMware Fusion application by following

steps

1. Uninstall VMware Fusion application (double-click

VMware-Fusion-1.1.1-72241.dmg and then double-click "Uninstall VMware

Fusion")

Or

Uninstall VMware Fusion application from Macintosh HD -> Library ->

Application Support -> VMware Fusion folder.

2. Delete the following folder

/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

_{/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion. (} = user home folder)

3. Delete the following file (If the files are existed)

~/Library/Preferences/com.vmware.fusion.plist

/Library/Receipts/Install VMware Fusion.pkg

4. Restart the System

5. Install VMware Fusion 1.1.1 version (double-click

VMware-Fusion-1.1.1-72241.dmg and then double-click "Install VMware Fusion")

6. Restart the system

7. Open VMware Fusion application and Power on the Boot camp partition

as a Virtual Machine

8. Check whether the boot camp partition is launching or not as a VM

After this process I still have difficulty; however, the next set of instructions were to make a new user folder (test user folder, Apple tech support told me to use an easy password such as "test", which I did. Then VMware tech support's next set of instructions were:

Please follow the below suggested steps to create a new User in Host Mac OS X

1. Shutdown/power off Boot camp Virtual Machine, and quit VMware Fusion

application

2. In Mac OS X, Go to Apple Menu -> System Preferences -> Accounts

3. Click on '+' button to add a new User (if the + icon is disabled,

please click on Lock icon and enter to password to unlock)

4. Select 'Administrator' in 'New Account' Drop down menu

5. Enter the Username and select 'Create Account'

6. Close the System Preferences window

7. Log out from the Current user, and login into the newly created user

8. Open VMware Fusion application and initialize the boot camp partition

as a Virtual machine

9. Check whether Boot camp partition is running as Virtual Machine or

not.

I still had crashes in the new administrator User folder. I logged out of the new test administrator user folder and went back to my 1st administrator folder and did a restart. VM tech support told me to boot VMware Boot Camp partition, and when Vista launched and completed it's boot, make sure that VMware tools were installed. I was unable to install them previously because the OS would crash before I could install. This time, however, the OS did not crash immediately, and I was able to install the VMware tools. Their instructions were as follows:

Please install the VMware Tools in Virtual Machine by following steps

1. Open VMware Fusion application

2. Select and Run the Boot camp Virtual Machine from Virtual Machine Library

3. Select "Disconnect CD/DVD" from CD icon bottom of Virtual Machine window

4. Go to Virtual Machine Menu -> Select Install VMware Tools

5. Select "Connect CD/DVD" from the Virtual Machine Taskbar at the bottom far

right hand corner of VM window.

6. CD drive is now mapped to the Installer ISO Image and the installation of

VMware Tools in Guest OS is triggered.

If the VMware Tools installation setup will not triggered automatically,

please go to Start -> Computer window, select and open the CD/DVD drive, and

install VMware Tools.

After installing the VMware Tools, please restart the Virtual Machine, and

connect the one-by-one USB device to the virtual Machine,

Each time I connected the USB devices, the message box told me that it was already connected to another virtual machine (the one in the Test Administrator User previously created according to VMware instructions) and that connecting the device to this VM would detach from the other Vmachine. I clicked yes for each device. and did the restart of Vista. This time Vista came up, and I worked in the Vista, could drag-drop my Word document into PC window, open my doc with Word, open data library and copy paste needed info into the Word doc, and drag-drop back to the Leopard side with no hitches. I don't know whether something in the process of creating the Test Administrator User folder, or what has made the Vista run as I originally had on the other MacBook Pro, but ITS WORKING.I had previously done the uninstall and install prior to purchasing the VMware support, but it appears that something in the process I went through helped. I am going to delete the Test Administrator User folder, and hope the Vista continues to work. I called Apple support and had them walk me through creating the Test Administrator folder, and also asked if there was any possibility that the new HD could be the problem. He denied that it could be. In any case. If you decide to go through this process good luck to you.

[ElCamino]

Thanks Sweetpmmello for posting the instructions you got on VMware; but it didn't work for me. I think the problem in my case is 1. I installed a larger hard drive 320GB 2. I created the boot camp partition then installed Vista 3. Once I installed Vista I made the partition larger; because my original partition was 34GB. This time I made it 80GB using boot camp from mac. I created a image disc using Vista and reloaded that. Well I deleted everything and started over, but this time before I ran the image disc to restore my Vista install I installed Vista like as if new. Once that was finished I booted up to OSX and ran VMware. Well this time it started and found my Vista Partition. So I thought well everything is good to go, so I went back and restored Vista Ultimate again from the disc I created and when I finished and booted back to OSX and ran VMware it said it couldn't find the drive for Vista. So I think that's my problem. Something gets broken when I extended the drive from the first install which was with 34GB partition. Well I'm going to see if I can find out any other way to make this work. If I don't then I either have to make up my mind to reinstalling everything from scratch so I can use VMware. By the way I also tried Parrallels and that didn't work either.

[sweetpummello]

After I thought I had success and things fixed, I deleted the "Test Administrator User". Everything crashed again as before and even worse because this time VM would not boot at all. I created another "Test Administrator User" and opened VM and everything crashed-dumped again. I'm sending the debugging zip files to their tech support. I have been having other issues with the new MacBook Pro. I don't know whether it's the hardware, or the OS version. I called Apple Care and he suggested doing the Test Administrator also, but since that's not working I am thinking of using Apple's TechTool Deluxe to check the HD, and going back to the Genius Bar at the local Apple. When I got my new MacBook I created a virtual machine using VMware, but that wasn't stable, so I went back to creating the Book Camp partition, and reloaded all the software from scratch on the PC side. Previously, on the old MacBook Pro, I loaded all the software except Vista on the VMware virtual machine. I don't think that difference should be the problem. Thanks for letting me know Parallels didn't work either. I was thinking of purchasing it and trying that. My frustration (like yours) is that everything worked and was stable until I got the MacBook Pro with the larger HD. If you like, I'll post if I find a solution. I'm still working on it.

[rcardona2k]

Can you expand on what is not stable with your Boot Camp partition running under Fusion? I have Vista Enterprise SP1 running in my Boot Camp partition and it is very stable and reliable. Are you getting blue screen reboots or other errors from Windows? What application(s) are you using in Boot Camp?

[sweetpummello]

I am running Vista Business with whatever auto upgrades they have suggested. I have a 2007 MS Office loaded and a data library I use often (primary purpose for Boot Camp and VMware). I am also using Bit Defender for my anti-virus program. I have not installed anything else because VMware virtual machine has been so unstable. When I partitioned with Boot Camp on my new MacBook Pro w/250g HD I partitioned to 55g, I loaded the Vista Business, then the MS 07 Office, then Bit Defender on the partition. Previously, when I had a stable running VMware virtual machine, I had loaded the other software running VMware's virutal machine rather than Boot Camp native. I get both a blue screen with the crash-dump error messages, as well as the black screen stating unable to open Windows and the default is "open normally". I have been told by VMware tech support to use the "Start" to shut down guest OS, and I have been told to use VMware's pull down menu to shut down the guest OS. I have had so many crashes that I could not install VMware's tools for quite a while, but finally managed to get it accomplished. The last time I tried to use VMware the software would not boot at all. If you have read my entire string, I have done uninstall/reinstalls of VMware as well as create another user folder per tech support (both VMware and Apple) to access VMware. VMware software crashes on both administrator user folders and so does Windows Vista.

I went to Apple's Genius Bar yesterday and they have my laptop to check to see if this one also has a hardware problem. I have had many frustrating glitches with this laptop, i.e., MSOffice 2004 (Genius Bar said I probably need the newer MSOffice 2008 for Apple or to use their text edit or purchased Pages programs), Apple Mail, Time Machine, etc. Genius Bar is frustrated with my coming in and I am frustrated with having to go in. I use the PC side a great deal, but always liked Apple's stability and OS until now.

Any help you can give would be appreciated. Thank you.

[bluc]

I have similar problems than others in this thread.

I followed the instruction above and uninstalled- reinstalled, rebooted x times.

I get this error when I try to launch the Boot Camp Partition:

Could not create the virtual disk for your Boot Camp virtual machine.

I see the boot camp partition.vmwarevm created in me/library/application support/vmware fusion/virtual machines/boot camp/%2Fdev%2Fdisk1 but it is empty.

I have been trying for month to get this working and no luck.

My boot camp is launching Vista x64 from a 500GB disk. It runs fine under boot camp, but I'd love to be able to launch that version of vista through fusion.

I don't think it is a vista problem because I am not going far enough. I suspect it is either that fusion is confused by the disk layout/mapping or by the size of the disk.

any suggestions?

Thanks

Luc

[sweetpummello]

I was informed that you can't use 64bit for Boot Camp, but perhaps others have found a work around this. I am using 32 bit Vista. Interesting that you have a 500g HD. What version of Apple OS are you using? I have Leopard 5.2 preloaded on my MacBook Pro laptop. Are you using a laptop or iMac or tower? Interesting that the common denominator for at least 3 of us at this point is the larger HD we have installed. My MacBook is currently in the Apple store where the Genius Bar people took it to double check hardware since I have so many problems besides VMware, but I am beginning to believe that it is more a software issue than hardware. They now tell me that if the hardware checks out, they want me to pay the $100 to get the 1-1/1 hr. sessions to work on the software solutions because I have spent so much time both at the Genius Bar (over an hr. each time) and the same with Apple Care on the phone. They also suggest that I use their text edit or buy the iWorks or iLife (can't remember which) trio and use that being that it is more stable because it's Apple made. If I find a fix, I'll post it. They (Apple Care on the phone and Genius bar) suspect that my user folder is corrupt in preferences. I'll have to get to the bottom of this because I really want to be able to use VMware Fusion as well. It's very handy.

For the person who is using a stable Vista Enterprise sp1, do you also have a larger HD? Do any of you see a difference loading additional software on Boot Camp native as opposed to loading on VMware virtual machine? When you have an OS crash, is it blue screen or black? I've had both. The last crash was test administrator user, Vista crashed with blue screen. On the primary user folder, VM crashed and wouldn't even boot and give me a VM library window. Seems to be getting worse rather than better. Tech support at Genius Bar was able to extract data from my PC data library and paste directly into Apple's text edit in the test administrator's folder. I could not do that on the primary user's log on and never understood why. Strange things happening...but then electronics can be very odd...and frustrating.

[admin]

I suspect it is either that fusion is confused by the disk layout/mapping or by the size of the disk.

The layout/partitioning is plausible problem, but I think the size of the disk is unlikely. How did you create the Boot Camp partition - did you use Apple's Boot Camp Assistant or some manual method? What version of Fusion are you using (1.0 was more strict about what it recognized as a Boot Camp partition)?

[bluc]

I am using leopard btw.

I do not believe it is a vista issue, since the errors happens so early in the process.

[rcardona2k]

My MacBook Pro has a 120 GB disk and the Boot Camp partition is 15 GB. I also have an external firewire LaCie Big Disk+ Extreme 1 TB with Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 VM that runs fine on that. My OS X runs one account that I migrated from a backup of my previous MacBook Pro.

[ElCamino]

I installed a bigger hard drive on my Macbook Pro (320GB) I used Bootcamp from Mac OS to create the partition which I made a 80GB for Vista. I then installed Vista then I used my restore image for Vista so I can have everything back. I booted up to Vista Business and everything runs good. I then boot up to Mac side and run VMware 1.1 and it shows the bootcamp, I then click on run and I get a error that it can't find or load the bootcamp. I can't remember exactally what the error is since I'm not home at the moment, but it does say something about not finding bootcamp. I hope I can find a solution since I do use Vista for my job apps.

[bluc]

I am using Version 1.1.1 (72241)

I believe I created my partition with boot camp assistant, but it was a while back, so I don't remember exactly how I did it.

, and I partitioned that disk (700GB) into a 500GB for vista and a 250GB for the mac.

Name : disk1s3

Type : Volume

Disk Identifier : disk1s3

Mount Point : Not mounted

File System : MS-DOS (FAT32)

Connection Bus : Serial ATA 2

Device Tree : /PCI0@0/SATA@1F,2/PRT1@1/PMP@0/@0:3

Writable : Yes

Capacity : 483.3 GB (518,957,907,968 Bytes)

[ElCamino]

Bluc, very intersting I see that the file system is FAT32. I know that anything over 32GB has to be NTFS for Windows or Vista to install. Also I notice that your disk shows writable is yes. I think my shows no for this. I'm going to have to check once I get home. I'm responding on my Blackberry for now. Maybe we can finally figure out the problem.

[bluc]

are there logs of what vmware fusion is trying to do when I press run? how could I findmore about the error?

thank you

Luc

[WoodyZ]

Mount Point : Not mounted

Was the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine running when you check this info in System Profiler?

The reason I ask is on my system in both Tiger and Leopard it reports the mount point when the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine is not running and when it is is just is blank and does not say "Not mounted".

[ElCamino]

This is what mine looks like.

[sweetpummello]

I used Apple's Boot Camp Assistant according to Apple's instructions. I am using the updated VMware Fusion 1.1. I don't know what the difference is this time. I used the same method last time on the laptop that had the hardware problem. The only difference this time is that I loaded the applications on the Boot Camp native boot rather than booting on the VM virtual machine, and I made the partition larger than before.