Cannot open my XP in VMware Fusion

[lmeece]

I have a Mac Book Pro with VMware Fusion installed. I have an image of XP Pro that I use for my work. I was running out of disk space and was adding more drive spce to the XP image. It said I had to restart and will not load my image. Can someone please help. Sorry, but I,m desperate! This has everything I need for work. Thank for any help I can get!!!

[WoodyZ]

I hope you backed up the Virtual Machine or at the very least the User Data before attempting a resize.

Anyway you're going to have to provide more details as what you've presented so far is very general and ambiguous so have a look at and provide exact details and error messages etc.

[lmeece]

Sorry, I did not do any kind of backup! I'm using VMware Fusion 2.0.1 (128865) on a Mac Book Pro. I'm fairly new to both Mac and VMware, but can follow instructions well. After doing the resize and it telling me to restart, the following took place. Restarting of XP Pro, I received the message "Do not forget to install the VMware Tools package inside the virtual Machine..." (I had VMware tools installed in the XP image!) Then I click on OK and there is nothing but black screen. Are there some kind of log files or any other information I can provide that would possibly help. Just give me the path and what you need.

Thanks.

[WoodyZ]

After doing the resize and it telling me to restart, the following took place. Restarting of XP Pro, I received the message "Do not forget to install the VMware Tools package inside the virtual Machine..." (I had VMware tools installed in the XP image!)

This is still general and ambiguous because Fusion does not provide a mechanism to resize a running Virtual Machine and therefore Fusion would not be asking you to to restart the Virtual Machine since it can only resize the Virtual Hard Drive when the Guest OS isn't even involved in the process.

So if your using some 3rd party product to resize a partition after Fusion resized the virtual hard drive then provide the details! We are not mind readers so if you're not explicit and specific about exactly what you've done and how you've done it I'm not sure what help you expect to get

Then I click on OK and there is nothing but black screen.

Is the screen totally absolutely black or is there as small white cursor, blinking or not in the upper lefty hand corner if the Virtual Machine's Display? Screenshot if necessary.

Are there some kind of log files or any other information I can provide that would possibly help. Just give me the path and what you need.

You can archive and upload the vmware*.log file from within the Virtual Machine Package and have a look at "Collect vmware.log files" section in

[lmeece]

Sorry, I'm not trying to be vague. I did miss a step - I was in the XP Pro OS after increasing the disk size for 50 to 101GB. I formatted the new section to NTFS with Norton Partition Manager and was directed to restart to complete this operation. That's when I experienced the problem in my previous post.

On the blank screen there is a non-blinking cursor.

Attachment(s)

vmware.log   75 KB 1 version

[WoodyZ]

Sorry, I'm not trying to be vague. I did miss a step - I was in the XP Pro OS after increasing the disk size for 50 to 101GB. I formatted the new section to NTFS with Norton Partition Manager and was directed to restart to complete this operation. That's when I experienced the problem in my previous post.

Sorry I'm not familiar with Norton Partition Manager. Is this a stand-a-lone program or part of a Norton or Symantec Product? Anyway this next part is critical... Fusion resized the Virtual Hard Drive however this does not change the size of the partition on the virtual hard drive and why one needs to use another program to either dynamically expand the existing partition or create a new partition within the free space on the newly resized virtual hard drive...

So which is it that you did? If one dynamically expands the existing partition there is no formating of the existing structure thus retaining existing OS/Applications/User Data intact and is only enlarging the existing partition to take up the additional space provided by the disk being resized. That additional space is formated whatever format the existing space was without touching the existing space and of course a reboot is required for the OS to recognize the changes.

I'm going to assume for the moment that this is what was done with Norton Partition Manager and not creating a separate partition in the free space.

On the blank screen there is a non-blinking cursor.

Okay here is what I think happened... Because you have a black screen with a white non-blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the Virtual Machine's Display I believe if Norton Partition Manager didn't wipe your entire disk when formating that at the very least it has corrupted the MBR (Master Boot Record) and or Partition Table and one way to attempt to fix this after you first make a backup of the Virtual Machine Packaged with Fusion closed you would then boot the Virtual Machine with the XP Install Disc to the Recovery Console and run the FIXBOOT and or the FIXMBR commands in an attempt to repair this.

Make sure you make a backup copy of the Virtual Machine before doing anything else!

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console for advanced users

To boot the Virtual Machine from the Windows Install Disc or ISO Image have a look at my reply in:

Message was edited by: WoodyZ

[lmeece]

Norton PartitionMagic is a stand-a-lone program. I'm backing up my virtual machines and will try the repair in the morning.

Thank you Woody for your patience and help. I'm going to call it a night and will do as you've suggested first thing, in the morning. I will post back as soon as I can.

[WoodyZ]

Norton PartitionMagic is a stand-a-lone program.

You originally said "Norton Partition Manager"... Anyway I'm familiar with Norton PartitionMagic because it used to be PowerQuest PartitionMagic before Norton/Symantec bought it from PowerQuest. I'm still using PowerQuest PartitionMagic 8.x and it still works fine.

[lmeece]

I've tried to do the XP repair and It will not boot the CD. It looks as if I sank the ship without a backup. I really appreciate your help and have one last request. Is there any way to recover my files from the image, like I can do on a regular install? Will look forward to hearing your reply. (I'll give your points at that time, because you have answered my question.)

[WoodyZ]

I've tried to do the XP repair and It will not boot the CD.

Did you follow the directions in ? Because if you do you should be able to boot the Virtual Machine from the CD or ISO Image if you follow the directions.

It looks as if I sank the ship without a backup.

Well a hard lesson to learn however I bet you'll be backing up from now on.

I really appreciate your help and have one last request. Is there any way to recover my files from the image, like I can do on a regular install? Will look forward to hearing your reply. (I'll give your points at that time, because you have answered my question.)

If you didn't actually format the drive wiping it out then you can use VMDKMounter to mount the Virtual Hard Drive.

Ctrl-click the Virtual Machine Package and select Open With > VMDKMounter and then look on your Desktop for an icon of a white drive labeled "Untitled".

[lmeece]

Woody,

Again, thanks for your timely response. I've been trying all

morning to create an ISO Image using Disk Utility. No matter where I

try and save the image, I get an error - Unable to create "Windows XP

Professional". (File name too long) I'm following your steps exactly

as stated in the "How can I repair XP in VMware Fusion 2".

Attachment(s)

lmeece.vcf   322 B 1 version

[WoodyZ]

For completeness of the thread I was able to Remote Desktop using TeamViewer and boot the Virtual Machine from the Windows CD and run the FIXBOOT and FIXMBR commands and it was specifically the FIXMBR command that did the trick.

Also while the BIOS was correctly set to boot the CD first it didn't even though it was a known good bootable CD. What was interesting was even though the Boot Menu was showing it was first I went into the BISO and looked at the Boot Order and it was indeed first in the BIOS. Nonetheless I decided to exit saving changes, even though I didn't make any, and it was after this that it would boot from CD. So while it should of booted anyway based on the settings and it wasn't I have to assume that saving the settings for a second time is what enabled it to boot afterwards as nothing else had changed from what had already been set or tried. So if one finds themselves in this situation, not booting from a known good bootable CD and the BIOS being set to boot he CD first, maybe saving the BIOS settings for a second time will help in getting it to boot from the CD. This of course assumes that the CD/DVD is connected and being grabbed from the Host. Which it was in this case even thought it wouldn't boot until saving the BIOS settings the second time.

Anyway problem solved, lessons learned and all is well. :smileyhappy:

Larry it was nice talking to you and glad the issue was able to be resolved painlessly. Have a good one! :smileyhappy:

[lmeece]

Woody,

Thank you for your much needed help. My problem is resolved and I now have a machine with a current snapshot that will be updated often. Thank you for not giving up and keeping me focused on this issue. I going to try and give back as much as was given to me. Again, thanks.

Larry