XP Mode from previous build will not run on rebuilt PC.

[Jeff Friend]

Hi,

I have an XP Mode PC running on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit PC all the time as it runs a small mail server and a Telnet BBS (the BBS requires an 8bit program hence the need for an XP Mode PC).

Yesterday (and a few times in the past), I rebuilt my PC and installed all updates etc and then installed Virtual PC. I went to start my XP Mode PC that was working perfectly 4 hours earlier and it would not start. Cannot find boot sector, NTRL file is missing.. It is just a VHD file same as other VHD's that run perfectly. It is JUST the XP Mode VHD that will not run.

Is this normal? Do I have to rebuild an XP Mode PC everytime I rebuild my PC? The BBS AND mail (20 accounts) will both have to be reinstalled and configured as well if that is the case..

 

[Kari]

Hi Jeff, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Have you tried to create a new Virtual PC virtual machine selecting the option to use an existing vhd (step 10 in this tutorial), using the old XP Mode vhd as the "existing vhd"?

Kari

 

[Britton30]

What do you mean by "rebuild"? Why do you have to do it so often?

 

[Jeff Friend]

Hi Jeff, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Have you tried to create a new Virtual PC virtual machine selecting the option to use an existing vhd (step 10 in this tutorial), using the old XP Mode vhd as the "existing vhd"?

Kari

Yes Kari, I have tried that. When I first did that, it took a long time to accept the VHD file at first. But it eventually did. Then when I opened it, I got the errors.

 

[Jeff Friend]

What do you mean by "rebuild"? Why do you have to do it so often?

About once a year I like to do a rebuild. This time was because my 250GB SSD had less than 500MB free, so a good cleanup was in order. My VHD WAS on C drive for the extra speed of an SSD, so I copied it to a USB HDD, rebuilt and copied back and now this..

 

[Britton30]

OK, it's a RAID array you rebuild.

 

[Kari]

After rebuilding and reinstalling Virtual PC, did you also reinstall the XP Mode?

By default the XP Mode uses two vhd files, the base which contains the system core and your personal XP Mode vhd which contains the installed software, your personal files and so on.

If the base vhd is missing, as it is if Virtual PC is reinstalled without reinstalling the XP Mode, and you create a new vm using your old Windows XP Mode.vhd as an existing vhd, you only have (to put it very simple) half of XP Mode, the personal half, while the system core is missing. It's about the same than trying to boot Windows 7 machine after deleting the Windows\System32 folder.

   Information

By default, XP Mode virtual machine consists of five files when installed and run first time, plus two additional files if XP Mode is hibernated or the Undo Disk feature is enabled. The file names, extensions and default locations are:

• Windows XP Mode base.vhd
  • XP Mode base disk
  • default location C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode
• Windows XP Mode.vhd
  • Virtual Machine virtual hard drive image
  • default location C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines
• Windows XP Mode.vmcx
  • Virtual Machine description and registration settings
  • default location C:\Users\Your_Username\Virtual Machines
• Windows XP Mode.vmc
  • Virtual Machine settings file
  • default location C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines
• Windows XP Mode.vmc.vpcbackup
  • Virtual Machine settings backup
  • default location C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines
  Additional files, only exist when certain criteria is met:​
• Windows XP Mode.vsv
  • Virtual Machine saved state file (hibernation data)
  • default location C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines
  • This file exists only when XP Mode is hibernated or is running. It is deleted automatically every time XP Mode is shut down
• VirtualPCUndo_Windows XP Mode_X_Y_ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.vud
  • Virtual machine Undo-disk (X, Y & Z in the file name are replaced with digits)
  • default location C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines
  • This file exists only if so called Undo Disk is enabled in XP Mode settings

(Source: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/21904-virtual-xp-machine-copy.html.)

 

[Jeff Friend]

Hi Jeff, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Thank you Kari.

OK, it's a RAID array you rebuild.

No, This is a 250GB SSD (But I do have a 4X2TB RAID5 as my D drive)

After rebuilding and reinstalling Virtual PC, did you also reinstall the XP Mode?

Yes I did. Of course

Eventually, it worked. But was extremely slow on my Sata drive, so I moved it back to the SSD and this has sped it up again.

Thanks for your help People.

 

[Womprat56]

Hi,
I am in the middle of having to restore a users XP mode to a new system, and if I am reading your instructions correctly Kari, after installing Virtual PC I MUST install XP Mode to have the base files setup, otherwise copying the vhd is pointless.
Forgive my confusion, but after installing XP Mode how do I get the old vhd added, and is it just the vhd file or do I need vmc etc.
I am not clear on if after installing XP Mode do I then create a new machine?
Can you distill into simple steps please? Very much appreciated!

 

[Kari]

You can think the XP Mode base vhd as the system core of XP. To simplify, let's say it contains the Windows folder and startup data. The personal XP Mode vhd of a user contains then the Programs and Users folders, all user specific data (notice: not de facto explanation, but a simplified example).

All software installed by user, all personal files and folders, all individual content is stored on this personal vhd. Another user on same computer uses the same XP base system, customizing his own XP Mode again using the personal vhd.

XP Mode base cannot be used alone as it has no user, nothing but core XP. The personal vhd cannot be used alone as it has no Windows core.

Let's say I would need to reinstall Seven but save my XP Mode from old installation. The procedure is quite simple:

• I'll back up my personal XP Mode vhd
• Reinstall Seven
• Install XP Mode first
• Install Virtual PC
• Create a new virtual machine using my backed up XP Mode vhd as existing vhd per instructions in this tutorial (Step 10): http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8254-windows-virtual-pc-create-virtual-machine.html

That's it.

Kari

 

[Womprat56]

Thanks for the fast reply!
Ok I think I am ready, got everything copying to the host machine and then I can start. Thanks for the clarification!!
I'll update if either I hit a snag or it goes smoothly(hopefully the latter).
Womp