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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

Windows not starting!

I installed Fusion a few weeks ago and then installed Microsoft Money. I am trying to start windows with Fusion now, but it is not finding Windows and instead is starting the Windows installation process. When I look at my external drive that I am using for Fusion I am not finding my Money database file which is of course freeking me out.

I am amazed that Vmware charges $49.00 for a single support call!! Even Microsoft isn't that expensive. I won't use expletives, but as you can imagine, some come to mind.

I would sure appreciate some help getting to my critical information.

Richard Garneau

richard@grghome.com

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borisdusek
Expert
Expert

Please have a look at and provide more information (like is this Bootcamp installation? How was the Windows virtual machine created? and so on).

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MandarMS
Expert
Expert

>>I am trying to start windows with Fusion now, but it is not finding Windows

What Exactly the error message you are getting? what is "Finding Windows"

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

Boris:

Thanks for your attention, I am sorry I am not more of an expert. I am

getting very close to taking it to a local company that will attempt to

recover it for me.

Thanks again,

Richard Garneau

Fusion Version 1.0 (51348)

MacBook Pro

If I start Fusion, it goes to the Windows installation screen and prompts

for the Product ID.

There are no condition where it works.

It never starts up properly.

It worked just fine since I installed it, but suddenly I am having the

problem.

I am not an OS X expert (version 10.4.11) and not comfortable with the

command line.

Windows version = XP Ultimate

I am unsure what a Boot Camp virtual machine is. I simply installed using

Fusion.

Everything (Fusion, Windows and Microsoft Money) were installed using the

original CD's.

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borisdusek
Expert
Expert

Hi Richard,

Fusion Version 1.0 (51348)

as a side note, you can upgrade to the currently latest version (1.1.1) for free

If I start Fusion, it goes to the Windows installation screen and prompts

for the Product ID.

  1. Which version of Windows is it installing (XP, Vista)?

  2. Are you sure some Windows installation disk is not attached to the virtual machine (then what you are describing would be expected behavior)? To make sure, when the virtual machine is open, click on the CD icon in bottom right of the virtual machine window. Select "Disconnect CD/DVD". Restart the virtual machine. See if it works.

It worked just fine since I installed it, but suddenly I am having the

problem.

Anything special or suspicious you were doing at that time?

Windows version = XP Ultimate

XP can be only Professional or Home. Only Vista can be Ultimate (apart from being Home Basic/Premium, Business, Ultimate, Enterprise). Did you mean you have 2 virtual machines, one with XP, one with Vista (Ultimate), or did you mean that you have only 1 virtual machine, with XP Professional?

I am unsure what a Boot Camp virtual machine is. I simply installed using

Fusion.

Then you are not using Boot Camp (which is good - less possibilities of how the problem could get introduced).

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

Sorry, I have already gotten an email about the vagueness of my question:

There is no error, when I start Fusion, select my Virtual Machine and press

Run, it goes to the Windows XP setup prompt for my User ID.

Thanks for your attention,

Richard Garneau

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borisdusek
Expert
Expert

When I look at my external drive that I am using for Fusion I am not finding my Money database file which is of course freeking me out.

Could you tell us more about how exactly you use the external drive for Fusion? Is the virtual machine bundle located there (usually Windows XP Professional.vmvwarevm, the .vmwarevm suffix is usually ommited in Finder, and the bundle has a Fusion-like icon associated with it)? Or did you use VMware Shared Folders mapped to some folders on the external drive to store your MS Money files on the Mac (and work with them from the Windows virtual machine)?

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

Please don't think I am goofy, but for some reason, it started working,

YEAH!!!

Richard

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

Boris:

Sorry, I thought I would check if you know the answer to two more quick

questions. If I am not supposed to ask another question to someone that

answered a previous question, just let me know and I will post it on the

Community.

1) As I mentioned to you earlier, for some reason Fusion, Windows and Money

just started working all of a sudden. If this happens again and I am left

with no alternative but to reinstall Windows, do you happen to know if I

will still have access to my Microsoft Money database? Since Finder does

not show Windows files, I can't see where it is or anything.

2) I have a large external drive that I have used to backup my Mac hard

disk. Now that I am using Fusion, do I need to backup Windows and my Mac on

two separate hard drives, or is there a way to back up both of them in one

sweep on the same drive.

Thanks so much for your attention today Boris. You have been a big help!!!

Richard

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borisdusek
Expert
Expert

If I am not supposed to ask another question to someone that

answered a previous question, just let me know and I will post it on the

Community.

Not sure why such a rule would exist, moreover you are posting it publicly, so while you are replying to (and asking) me, anyone can answer, not just me Smiley Wink

1) As I mentioned to you earlier, for some reason Fusion, Windows and Money

just started working all of a sudden. If this happens again and I am left

with no alternative but to reinstall Windows, do you happen to know if I

will still have access to my Microsoft Money database? Since Finder does

not show Windows files, I can't see where it is or anything.

I wondered about the "what if it happens again" as well. I can't answer the question without knowing what was the cause.

You can't simply access the files inside VM from Mac OS X (i.e. using Finder). But you can definitely circumvent this by storing the MS Money files not inside the virtual machine, but on the Mac side, and enable access to those files from inside the Windows VM using some file sharing method. This way, even if you delete/screw up the virtual machine, you will still have the MS Money files lying on the Mac side. The sharing methods you can use are:

  1. There are VMware shared folders, but they are known to be buggy (I am sure Quicken has some issues with its files stored on VMware Shared Folder, I think MS Money might have as well - this post - but it's the only one I found, nobody else complained - your mileage may vary). So you might need to try the next method.

  2. File sharing in OS X - Apple logo > System Preferences > Sharing > File sharing, in Options use "SMB". This will enable to Windows-share specific folders from your Mac. However be aware that this enables anyone to view (and possibly write) the files who is on the local network. So unless you are at home where you can trust people, you should protect the shares by password. Often when VMware Shared Folders have issue with a specific app, standard Windows sharing from Mac OS X to Windows VM often fixes the issue.

2) I have a large external drive that I have used to backup my Mac hard

disk. Now that I am using Fusion, do I need to backup Windows and my Mac on

two separate hard drives, or is there a way to back up both of them in one

sweep on the same drive.

If you mean backing up the entire Windows virtual machine, the virtual machine is just a file (or bundle, to be more precise) stored on Mac harddisk which you can copy anywhere. Only thing you must make sure is that the virtual machine is powered off when you are backing it up (=copying it to backup location). This is also the reason why you should not use Time Machine for backing up virtual machines - Time machine backups happen in the background and you might not have the virtual machine powered off during backup, so the state in which it is captured in Time machine might be inconsistent.

Note that if you use the sharing methods above, then the virtual machine does not contain the data files. Some folder on the Mac side will contain the data files, so make sure you back them up as well.

Also make sure you know about snapshots - Fusion menubar > Help > VMware Fusion Help > Using snapshots, and consider reading relevant parts of to have better idea what a virtual machine is (i.e. that it is a file/bundle).

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

Boris:

Thanks again for your attention. I used to think I was somewhat PC/Mac

literate, but this is making me feel like a neophyte all over again!

Sorry I am such a novice with this stuff. I used Windows for a long time

and switched to Mac in '04 and never went back. I recently installed Fusion

and Windows just to use Money and Neat Receipts (receipt scanning hardware

and software) and I am struggling right now as you can see:

- I like your idea about keeping my Money data file on my Mac, but it is

already saved in Windows on the external drive I am using. How would I move

the file to my Mac? This is where my challenge starts since I am not up on

file sharing and your steps listed included:

So you might need to try the next method. # File sharing in OS X - Apple

logo > System Preferences > Sharing > File > sharing, in Options use "SMB",

This is confusing to me since there are no, "Options" on the Sharing window.

I should probably read up on the steps after that because I am a little lost

at this point on how to choose which folder will be set for "Windows

Sharing" (I do use my computer at home, so security is a non-issue).

Before I go any further, I will read the, "Using Snapshots" at your

recommendation.

Thanks again Boris,

Richard Garneau

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borisdusek
Expert
Expert

Hi Richard,

I like your idea about keeping my Money data file on my Mac, but it is

already saved in Windows on the external drive I am using. How would I move

the file to my Mac?

Could you explain more exactly in which way are you using the external drive for your MS Money files? Do you mean by this that the entire virtual machine is on that drive and that's it? Or do you somehow explicitely put the MS Money files there? How is the drive formatted - FAT32, or HFS+ (Mac OS X filesystem), or something else?

So you might need to try the next method. # File sharing in OS X - Apple

logo > System Preferences > Sharing > File > sharing, in Options use "SMB",

This is confusing to me since there are no, "Options" on the Sharing window.

Sorry, it should have been "Apple logo > System Preferences > Sharing > File sharing". The "Options..." button is then (after you click on the "File sharing" line) on the bottom right portion of the dialog. You add the shared folders with a plus sign under a list labeled "Shared folders" which lists currently shared folders. You change the permission for these folders (i.e. read/write) in second list on the right. Let us know if you get stuck Smiley Wink

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

I have no idea what is going on with either this crummy software or this

crummy machine, but I am getting pretty upset as you can imagine. I just

used Disk Utility to Verify the disk and it found errors so I ran the

repair, and now I am back to where I was yesterday. When I try to start up

the virtual machine, I get the Windows setup prompt for the Product ID and

the message, "Do not forget to install the Vmware Tools package inside this

virtual machine: wait until your guest operation system finishes booting,

then choose Virtual Machin > Install Vmware Tools... And follow the

instructions."

This thing is driving me crazy!!

Sorry for the griping!

Thanks for your time Boris,

Richard Garneau

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borisdusek
Expert
Expert

Could you post a screenshot? I don't remember when the first thing Windows want to ask upon installation is product key. (Applications > Utilities > Grab > Capture > Window). Is it like a Windows installation process, or is it as activation screen on the first run of Windows?

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

If I click on Applications on the Fusion menu, the only option on the menu

is, "Launch".

The Window window that shows up when I try to start my Virtual Machine is

titled, "Windows XP Professional Setup".

This thing is going to drive me crazy!

Thanks Boris

Richard

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borisdusek
Expert
Expert

One message from you shows as empty, if that was the screenshot, post again.

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

For some reason, when I ran the repair disk, Mac (Finder) stopped

recognizing the external drive where the virtual disk and Windows is

located, so Apple Care had me unplug all USB devices, restart the computer

and plug them back in. Finder is now recognizing my Maxtor external drive

(the one for Windows and Money), but when I try to start the Virtual

Machine, I get the window prompting me to put the Windows CD in the drive,

then I get a Fatal Error window, then a System Log window, then it starts

again. The only way I can get out of the loop is to do a force quit.

Keep in mind that everything worked fine yesterday.

Ugh!

Richard

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hotel_richieric
Contributor
Contributor

Well, at the Fusion startup window, on the Fusion menu up top, I went to

File > Open > (browsed to Windows XP Professional in the Windows Virtual

Machine folder on my external drive) and pressed and it started!

When I stopped it and started Fusion again, another Virtual Machine shows on

the Virtual Machine Library (Windows XP Professional - OneTouch4 Mini 1).

When I start using it, it displays a couple of error windows, but it

eventually works. The error windows that display when starting with this

new Virtual Machine includes:

1- It appears that other virtual machines are running. (I select OK)

2- Fail to connect to device 'cdrom0': The device is in use by another

application. (I select OK)

3- Windows then starts, but gives me the large play button in the circle on

a black screen and when I click on it, it starts windows.

4- When I select Turn Off Computer, it goes back to above and starts all

over again so it won't let me shut down Fusion.

The other Virtual Machine that was already there still gives me the same

problem.

Is this common that users have all these problems? Is Parallels better?

Should I change?

Thanks again Boris! Sorry to be such a pain here.

Richard Garneau

For some reason, when I ran the repair disk, Mac (Finder) stopped

recognizing the external drive where the virtual disk and Windows is

located, so Apple Care had me unplug all USB devices, restart the computer

and plug them back in. Finder is now recognizing my Maxtor external drive

(the one for Windows and Money), but when I try to start the Virtual

Machine, I get the window prompting me to put the Windows CD in the drive,

then I get a Fatal Error window, then a System Log window, then it starts

again. The only way I can get out of the loop is to do a force quit.

Keep in mind that everything worked fine yesterday.

Ugh!

Richard

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

No this isn't common - yours is the first I've heard of. If you hover over the Library listing, it should show the path to the virtual machine - are they the same? If not, can you figure out why you have two different ones?

I would suggest making a backup of your data and trying to figure out if anything is wrong with the hard drive. I would also check your primary drive and uninstall/reinstall Fusion just in case anything's wrong there. You're seeing some pretty strange behavior.

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