[GRLUG] Windows XP from dualboot to VirtualBox

[Eric Beversluis]

On Sat, 2011-07-30 at 16:44 -0400, Eric Beversluis wrote:
> On Sat, 2011-07-30 at 15:31 -0400, Dan Taylor wrote:
> > On 07/30/2011 03:18 PM, Eric Beversluis wrote:
> > > I've got an old computer with an old Fedora and Windows XP in a dualboot
> > > setup.
> > >
> > > I want to move the XP to a VirtualBox VM on a Windows 7 box.
> > >
> > > I made a .tib of the XP C:\ partition with Acronis (older version) onto
> > > an external HDD.
> > >
> > > I then connected the HDD to my Win7 box used a current version of
> > > Acronis to convert the tib to a vhd.
> > >
> > > I then used that vhd to create a VM in VB on the Win7 box. 
> > >
> > > When I tried to start the new VM I got this error: "GRUB Geom Error_".
> > >
> > > It came to me that this may have to do with the dual-boot setting of the
> > > XP partition. But what would be the workaround?
> > >
> > > I'm thiking that I should uninstall the Fedora and get the Windows
> > > install free of GRUB. But how would I do that? I want to save this
> > > installation because of old programs running on it.
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > Mount an XP CD in VirtualBox with that XP vhd mounted and get into the
> > recovery console and use fixboot / fixmbr
> > 
> The VM I'm trying to create I'm calling 'Sony.'
> 
> Not sure I'm understanding what to do. I put the XP installation disk in
> the host CD drive and in the settings for the 'Sony' VM I set the CD/DVD
> drive to "Host Drive D." But when I try to start it, thinking it should
> boot from the CD now, I get the error message "Cannot open host drive D:
> \ for read only access. Check the permissions of that device. Verr
> Access Denied."
Well, I punted. Rather than try to fix the VHD, I went into the old
computer, used Disk Management to delete the Fedora and the boot
directories. Sure enough, all I got was the GRUB prompt. So I inserted
my PCMCIA CD drive (no built in CD drive; wouldn't boot from a USB CD
drive) and booted from the XP installation disk, ran fixboot and then
fixmbr and the XP is coming up fine. 

So I'll just make a new tib/vhd and hope that that was the correct fix.

Thanks.



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