XP mode fails to show on screen when running

Carlos K · 28 Jun 2010

I've been using XP mode on windows 7 for some time and it has worked fine. Suddenly I am not able to use XP mode.
The program starts, and the virtual icon appears in the bottom task bar, and when I mouse over the icon a tiny window appears. When I click the window, the window just disappears, that is it doesn't come up on the full screen. Previously upon starting XP mode, it would automatically open as a full screen.
I suspect that the problem may have been created when I attempted to shut down the computer (in Windows 7 mode) before hibernating the XP mode.
I have tried windows restore, going back to a point before the time of this incidence, but without success. I have also redownloaded XP mode over the top of the existing version, but also without success. Using various options in control panel, I have come across a message that says "XP mode was closed with a user logged on", upon which I have hit the continue button. No success.
Any suggestions?

Kari · 29 Jun 2010

Hello Carlos, welcome to the Seven Forums.

I think you are right, the problem is most probably caused by shutting down the host before closing XP Mode.

Something you could try is to delete XP Mode's hibernation file XP Mode.vsv in folder C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines.

Delete it, and try to run XP Mode again. IF it does not help, you should uninstall XP Mode before reinstalling it.

Kari

Carlos K · 29 Jun 2010

Thanks Kari. Managed to delete XP Mode.vsv, and then restart, but unfortunately it didn't work. I tried it twice!
Uninstalling XP mode is my last and desperate option as presumably I will lose all my data and programs held in XP mode though fortunatley I have a back up for most of it.

Carlos K

Kari · 29 Jun 2010

Let's try to save your data and programs.

Before uninstalling XP Mode, copy the vhd file (C:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines\XP Mode.vhd) to a safe location.

Uninstall XP Mode and Virtual PC as told in this post. Reboot, reinstall. Run new XP Mode once. Shut it down, do not hibernate.

To avoid having to to reinstall XP Mode second time, open first XP Mode settings and mount your backup, old XP Mode.vhd as hard disk 2. Run XP Mode, copy your personal files and folders from the old vhd (hard disk D) to new vhd (hard disk C). Shut down, do not hibernate. Copy the new XP Mode.vhd to a safe location.

Replace the new XP Mode.vhd with your old one. Run XP Mode. If it works, both your data and programs are safe and should appear. If not, replace XP Mode.vhd with the copy of the new one you moved to a safe place in last step. Your data should be there, apps and programs are lost and must be reinstalled.

Confusing but should work.

Kari

Carlos K · 01 Jul 2010

Unexpected things happen! While investigating your proposal, I noticed that windows provided a restore option for the vhd file, so I tried it. The result was that the vhd file disappeared (perhaps vapourised). I couldn’t find any trace of it.

As this file contained all my XP mode content, I subsequently decided to reload everything from scratch, after removing the remaining XP mode parts. All is back to normal now – I think.

I’ll retain a copy of your recommendations in case the problem happens again. Computers are good when they work, but very difficult and demanding when they don’t. It’s good to know there is help out there. Thanks for your assistance.

Carlos K

Kari · 01 Jul 2010

Sorry to hear that. Anyway, main thing is you have it running now.

I would like to recommend you to do something I'm doing: Every now and then, about two to three times a month, I copy all the vhd files from C:\Users\Kari\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines\ to an external HD, replacing the ones from last time. This simply means, that I always have a quite recent backup of every Virtual PC vhd, so if something unexpected happens, the worst possible scenario is that I have to reinstall Virtual PC and remount the vhd's.

Kari

Carlos K · 03 Jul 2010

Thanks