unable to start from bootcamp partition.

[dcmedic]

VMware has been running like a champ for the past 2 months. The computer became unstable and froze last night while WMware was running Windows XP Pro from the bootcamp partition. I was forced to restart the computer with the power button. Ever since then, I have been unable to access my BootCamp partition in VMWare. It stated that the Windows was not shut down correctly. I've booted into Windows, shut down, and restarted in the Mac OS, but each time I get an error message that states "The Boot Camp partition is not prepared to run as a virtual machine. It appears that Windows did not shut down cleanly the last time it was used." I also get this error message :"To shut down Windows cleanly, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and set Windows as the startup operating system. Restart your system. Once in Windows, use the Startup Disk pane in the Control Panel to select Mac OS X as the startup system, then click the Restart button to return to OS X."

I've deleted vmware's plist, I've deleted the bootcamp directory in /home/Library/Application Support/VMware/

nothing helps, any ideas?

[WoodyZ]

VMware has been running like a champ for the past 2 months.

VMware is a company not a product and the company has been running fine for many many years not just the last 2 months!

Now if you're having a problem with one of VMware's products then which product? Fusion 1.x or Fusion 2.x? It also can be helpful to include other relevant information so have a look at as a guideline.

Try the following...

With OS X set as the Startup Disk I'd suggest you boot the Boot Camp partition natively by shutting down the Mac and then press the Power Button and when you here the Startup Chime press the Option key and select the Windows Hard Drive.

Once at the Windows Desktop run CHKDSK /F in a Command Prompt and schedule it to scan on next boot and then shutdown and start the Mac using the option key and selecting the Windows Hard Drive again and let it scan and after it's back at the Windows Desktop shutdown, not reboot. Then start the Mac and boot directly to OS X and then delete the "/Users/$/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines" folder so you get rid of both the Helper and Boot Camp folders at that location and then run Fusion again and try running the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine. This time if it fails then archive and attach the "/Users/$/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper/naos-1.0.vmwarevm/vmware.log" file to a reply post.

[dcmedic]

Fusion Version 2.0.1 (128865)

Unibody MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz, 2 GB RAM

Same result, same error message. Even if Windows precipitated this problem, it's still believe it to be a Fusion bug because Parallels Workstation 4 is able to boot from the same Boot Camp partition without a problem.

Steps I have done to trouble shoot: Deleted preference files, deleted the boot camp folder, ran chkdsk /F on Windows XP Pro, repaired permissions on the Mac, verified the Mac partition. The only basic trouble shooting step I've haven't done is to reset the PRAM which I will try after this post

I am unable to attach a copy of the Users/$/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper/naos-1.0.vmwarevm/vmware.log. The only file in the Helper folder is a file named: naos-1.0.vmwarevm. The finder reports it as a 87.7 MB file, not as a directory. A spotlight search for vmware.log returned no results.

In the meantime, I'll uninstall Fusion and will re-install to see if they helps.

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

[WoodyZ]

I am unable to attach a copy of the Users/$/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper/naos-1.0.vmwarevm/vmware.log. The only file in the Helper folder is a file named: naos-1.0.vmwarevm. The finder reports it as a 87.7 MB file, not as a directory. A spotlight search for vmware.log returned no results. The naos-1.0.vmwarevm is the Helper Virtual Machine and all you need to do is ctrl-click it and select Show Package Contents however you can also just copy the file directly to you desktop in Terminal. cp "/Users/$/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Helper/naos-1.0.vmwarevm/vmware.log" ~/Desktop

[dcmedic]

Thanks again for the help. I'm attaching the log file.

[WoodyZ]

Thanks again for the help. I'm attaching the log file.

There is no log file attached.

[dbrothers]

I was having a problem similar to this, after upgrading to a larger hard drive (and fighting my way through a bunch of other issues related to that).

What finally fixed it was to boot from a Vista install DVD, select Repair then Startup Repair, and let it do its thing. Despite a clean bill of health from the Vista disk utility and chkdsk, the install-disk repair function claimed to find and fix some disk corruption. Restarted into OS X, deleted the Fusion Virtual Machines folder, ran Fusion, and everything worked.

YMMV.

- Dennis Brothers

P.S. - I think at least some of the problems I had with this upgrade are a result of previously having Parallels installed - uninstalling its tools from the PC still leaves a fair amount of "debris", with some impact on system integrity and stability.

[dcmedic]

Let's try this again with the log file.

Ok, log file didn't upload again. But I did get it to work with Firefox vs. Safari, please see below.

thanks.

[dcmedic]

ok, doesn't seem to work well in Safari, let's try Firefox.

log file.

[wajeremy]

I am having the same error, and my log file is similar in that VMWare also complains about not being able to mount the NTFS disk.

However, the reason for mine is a little odder, it reports:

SCSI (ide0:0): SCSI-3 16-byte CDB format not supported (LUN 0).

and is then unable to mount as FAT for the same reason, after which it gives up and exits.

I just got this new machine and now I have a totally useless copy of VMWare Fusion 2.0.1. I also tried all the above suggestions to no avail. This is definitely a Fusion bug.

[dcmedic]

Thanks for the hlep, my issue is solved, repairing the disk from the Windows XP CD did the trick.