Problems migrating to a new system - guest OS won't run

[dsalomon]

I have been running VMware Player on a Win 7 64-bit laptop.  I have 3 client machines, one of which is 32-bit Win XP.  I just set up a new machine, also running Win 7 64-bit, but a newer processor (i7) and more memory (32GB).  I am running the same version of Player on both machines (4.0.1 build-528992).  I copied all the files from the laptop to the new desktop.  The Ubuntu and MacOS X Lion clients run fine.  When I try to run the Win XP client, I get the following message:

File not found: Windows XP Mode base.vhd

This file is required to power on this virtual machine.  If this file was moved, please provide its new location.

I don't have a VHD file, I have a VMDK file (again, which runs just fine on the laptop).  I have tried powering off the virtual machine on the laptop, then copying the files to the desktop, and I have also tried suspending it, both with the same results.  When I attempt to edit the virtual machine settings on the new desktop, clicking on the Hard Disk (IDE) setting results in the following message:

The parent of this virtual disk could not be opened.

The VMDK file is 19.2GB.  I have searched and searched trying to find out why this may be happening, and can't find anything.  The XP machine has a good bit of software loaded that I use on a daily basis.  As a last resort, I could create a new XP virtual machine on the new desktop and reload all the software, but would strongly prefer not to do that - it would be a very time consuming task.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be happening and how to fix this?  I have recopied the files several times to ensure that it's not something simple like a corrupted copy.  I'm stumped.  The XP machine was NOT originally a WIndows XP Mode machine, even though the message indicates that VMware Player seems to think that it is (and, again, it works fine on the laptop).  The name of the virtual machine is "WIndows XP Mode" - maybe that's why it's complaining.  Is it possible to rename all the files and references to the files to fix this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Community,

we may be able to find out whether the VM is an imported "Windows XP Mode" VM or not by taking a look at the VM's VMware.log. Please attach the latest vmware.log file from the XP VM's folder (the one from the Notebook as well as the one from the PC) to your next post.

André

[dsalomon]

Thanks for the reply and the assistance.  I've attahced the log from the laptop (the working machine).  I never get a log created on the new machine.  A lockfile is created, then I get the error message.  When I click cancel I am returned to the Player window, the lockfile is deleted and no log.

Is there anything else I can do to provide better diagnostic information?

Thanks again.

[dsalomon]

OK, I should have done some investigation into the log file before I just posted.  Looking through the logfile from the laptop, I found a reference to the XP Mode.vhd file.  I did find a directory on the laptop, C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode, that contained that file.  I copied the entire directory to the desktop, and now the machine runs just fine (after the typical messages that the hardware is different).

I assume the existence of that directory and file means that thie WAS originally a Windows XP Mode machine that I converted and I just remembered wrong.

Thanks again very much for pointing me in the right direction to help figure this out!!