new virtualized pc shuts down after 4 minutes

[jcsf]

New virtualized PC boots, allows login, but shuts down after 2-4 minutes.

I have just virtualized an older PC running XP Pro, following "Migrating a Windows PC to Run in VMware Fusion" . Virtual system boots properly, allows login, but logs user out and shuts down after 2 minutes, with "Microsoft Windows Logging Off" screen. Physical PC runs fine.

I converted the PC to vmdk using VMware-converter-4.0.0-146302 . (Instructions in link appear to be for 3.x of VMware Converter, but translate to current 4.0 Converter.) A copy of the conversion runs successfully under VirtualBox 2.1.4, but required a Windows repair from installation disk followed by a Windows Update before it would boot. Importing a clean copy of the conversion (not opened with VirtualBox) into Fusion, it did not go through a repair/update, but booted up, allows login, then shuts down,

Host is Imac (2.4 GHz, Core2Duo, 3 GB mem, OS X 10.5.6.

Server is Fusion Version 2.0.3 (156731)

Physical PC is generic 1.9 GHz P4, 640 MB memory, OS is up-to-date XP Pro SP3. Via motherboard.

Virtualized PC doesn't exhibit shutdown problem if brought up in Safe mode (or Safe mode w/ networking).

A clean install of Windows XP Pro works fine.

(I've been using VirtualBox for some time, just trying to switch to VMware, so not too familiar with the software.)

Any suggestions? Do I need to do a Windows Repair/Update ?

(update: tried Windows reinstall/Repair/Update; problem persists after reinstall; can't keep machine alive long enough to complete Windows Update.)

[cdc1]

When you have that guest booted up in safe mode, go into Control Panel and open up the Add/Remove Programs thingy. Then, check to see if the VMware Convertor Agent is installed. If it is, uninstall it, reboot in normal mode, and cross your fingers.

[jcsf]

Thanks. That wasn't it, but it pointed me in the right direction -- look at the Windows services which were not loaded in Safe Mode.

The culprit was a UPS service which would shut down the system upon notification of a power failure. The package was from an old UPS system no longer attached to the physical machine, whose absence didn't bother the physical machine, but did trouble the VMware virtualization.

For those with similar problems, here's how I tracked it down. In Safe Mode > Control Panel > Admin Tools > Services, I identified the services which were marked to load automatically, but not running under safe mode. I disabled them all, rebooted back to normal mode, then selectively re-enabled them until the problem recurred. There were 50 services I disabled, and using a binary search it took me 7 tries to identify the culprit.

This points out one of the big pitfalls of virtualizing legacy machines, rather than starting from a clean OS install and rebuilding the system from scratch. In an older system, where hard disks, peripherals, video cards, etc.. have been added and removed over time, Windows retains all the drivers, services, DLLs, registry entries, etc., and it's hard to predict how they will all transfer to a virtual client.

In my case, neither the physical machine nor the VirtualBox's virtualization minded the missing UPS, but the VMware's instantiation thought it was receiving a shutdown signal from the non-attached UPS.