Cloned Windows XP VM unable to boot

[markwabbott]

Hello All,

   I am moving a physical Windows XP machine to a VM, and have tried half a dozen different ways without success.  The Windows Machine is updated to SP3, and the server is running in Ubuntu 20.10, Workstation Pro.  I have a Windows 10 and a Windows 11 VM running without issue.

I tried using the vmware-converter but had enough issues with VSS not behaving on the XP system that I moved on.

Both CloneZilla and AOMEI Backupper seem to work.  They create an image of the running hard drive (it's the boot drive and the only drive on the XP system), then with a bootable iso, they restore the image to the VM drive.  Barring some issues with the partition I was able to solve, they both put the image in place.

Once I try to book the VM, I cannot get the VM to boot from the drive.  The BIOS is setup to boot the hard drive first, and I can see the Virtual drive as the Secondary Slave.  However, it immediately drops to the network boot, which goes nowhere.

Any ideas?

Thanks!
--Mark

[continuum]

BIOS-boot-order:
1. harddisk SCSI0:0
2. floppy
3. cdrom
4. network

If you have configured a boot-order like the one above and the harddisk is NOT bootable you would get a screen like the one you reported.
Which disktype is your imported XP using ? IDE or SCSI ?
If IDE - make sure it use IDE0:0 and not the secondary slave.
By the way - using IDE is way trickier than using SCSI-buslogic.

Ulli

[markwabbott]

Thanks for the help.  Here is the drive assignment and the boot order:

Does any of the above look out of place too you?  or is using IDE just an all around bad idea?  (I did not force it to SCSI, I just left it as it came in.)  

[continuum]

Swich the vmdk to the IDE primary master port.
In the vmx you now have
ide1:1.present = "true"
ide1:1.fileName = "aunt-dorothys-favorite-sausage.vmdk"

switch that to

ide0:0.present = "true"
ide0:0.fileName = "aunt-dorothys-favorite-sausage.vmdk"

When done go into the BIOS again and change bootorder.

Generally speaking using SCSI is way easier to patch in the registry.
IDE may work - but it is more advanced to clean up all the stale registry entries for IDE-ports.

Try with IDE0:0 next and report.
Also use the VM as is with a gparted LiveCD and check if the first partition has the boot-flag set.

Ulli

[markwabbott]

Ulli,

   Thanks so much for you help.  I am learning a lot about configuring a VMware VM.   I created a new VM and reloaded the image...  After some tinkering, here is where I am at:

This did as expected and moved the hard disk to IDE channel 1, position and left the CD-ROM on channel 2, position 1:

I also booted my gparted bootable disc and set the boot flag on the hard drive.

Now the behavior has changed, it just gives me a blinking cursor on the top left.

Thoughts?

--Mark

[continuum]

Blinking white cursor in the top left usually is the result of a missing boot-flag or an invalid / missing ntldr.
Can you show a screenshot of the disk-layout ?
Can you read the content of the boot-partition with gparted or a WinPE ?
Do you have ntldr, ntdetect.com, boot.ini ?

As a shortcut download the attached archive - extract and attach it as floppy0.
Boot from it and report result.

Ulli

[markwabbott]

Okay, that started the windows XP system without issue.  Upon login is complained about having to reauthorize the software because the hardware changed a lot, but that's okay for now.

I had also previously used the Windows XP CD to fix the MBR, but it did not change the results.

[continuum]

that ? - please explain - did you use the floppy ?

[markwabbott]

yes, I did the following:

booted off the floppy you provided

Chose the first drive of 4

Windows XP launched.

[markwabbott]

This is the selection that works, I did not try any others.

[continuum · Accepted solution]

I created that boot-floppy to work around misconfigured boot.ini files - back in the days when I did p2v regularly.
It means that ntldr, ntdetect.com, boot.ini in your case are corrupt / missing or misconfigured.

Ulli

[markwabbott]

Thank you for the clarification.  Should I do a Windows Xp repair installation?  or is there an easier way to resolve it?  The boot.ini appears correct based on my understanding of how the nomenclature works.

[continuum]

I doubt that a repair install would help - it sure will not assume that bootfiles are on a floppy.
You may want to add the usual /fastdetect switch.
I think I used a different switch for easier troubleshooting.

By the way - if you think that this boots slower because floppies are slow - forget it.
This should boot as fast as a normal setup - especially if you remove the unused entries and the bootdelay.

If you want - show the boot.ini from the floppy for suggestions.

Ulli

[markwabbott]

This is the boot.ini from the running system:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Are the option used in the boot floppy substantially different?

[markwabbott]

The plot thickens.... now when I boot off the hard drive is shows the following:

[continuum]

boot.ini of the floppy uses:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="2k3 hd0 part 1" /noexecute=optout /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2k3 hd0 part 2" /noexecute=optout /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="2k3 hd0 part 3" /noexecute=optout /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="2k3 hd0 part 4" /noexecute=optout /sos