Performing a Windows repair on a Windows XP virtual machine in Fusion

Performing a Windows repair on a Windows XP virtual machine in Fusion

Symptoms

• You get a blue error screen when booting to Windows.
• You cannot boot into Windows.
• You see one of these errors when starting Windows:
  
  
  • NTLDR is missing
  • Hard disk not found.
    
    
• You receive an error about:
  
  AGP440.sys

Purpose

This article details how to repair Windows XP running in a virtual machine. The process has a few extra steps that aren't needed to repair Windows XP running on a physical computer.

For virtual machines running Windows Vista or Windows 7, no extra steps are needed. The process is the same as the process Microsoft provides for repairing these OSes on a physical computer. For more information about repairing Windows Vista or 7, see the appropriate Microsoft article:

• Windows Vista:Startup Repair: frequently asked questions
• Windows 7: Startup Repair: frequently asked questions

Note: The preceding links was correct as of March 21, 2011. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

Resolution

Any of these symptoms can be a sign that Windows needs to be repaired. In order to repair Windows, you need the original Windows installation media (CD or disk image file). You may need a special drivers file from VMware so that your installation media will recognize the virtual hard disk.

Caution: VMware recommends backing up the entire virtual machine bundle before making changes, to avoid possible data loss. For information on backups, see Best practices for virtual machine backup (programs and data) in VMware Fusion (1013628).

These steps are different, depending on your version of Windows XP. Click the link to view the directions for your version:

• Windows XP 32-bit
• Windows XP 64-bit
• All users
  

Windows XP 32-bit

To repair Windows, you must download a drivers file, mount the drivers, and then repair Windows:

1. Download the SCSI driver floppy image from http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp. (Do not try to open that link; instead, ctrl+click the link, and choose Save Link As... or Download Linked File As....).
   
   Note: When downloading in Google Chrome, the final extension may be doubled. Ensure that this file is saved as vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp and not vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp.flp.
   
   
2. Add a floppy drive to the virtual machine and mount the floppy image:
   
   
   • If you are using Fusion 4.x:
     
     
     1. Shut down the virtual machine.
     2. Go to Virtual Machine > Settings > Add Device...
     3. Choose Floppy Drive and click Add...
        
        A dialog appears asking you to choose a floppy image file.
        
        
     4. Browse to the location of the .flp file that you downloaded and select the file.
     5. Beside Enable Floppy Drive, change the switch to Off.
        
        
   • If you are using Fusion 3.x:
     
     
     1. Shut down the virtual machine.
     2. Go to Virtual Machine > Settings > Other Device.
     3. Click + and choose Add Floppy.
        
        A dialog appears asking you to choose a floppy image file.
        
        
     4. Browse to the location of the .flp file that you downloaded and select the file.
     5. De-select Connected.
        
        

3. Mount your Windows ISO (or put the Windows disk in the drive) and make sure the CD drive is connected by going to Virtual Machine > Settings > CDs & DVDs and selecting Connected.

   • If you are using Fusion 4.x:
     
     
     1. Go to Virtual Machine > Settings > Startup Disk.
     2. Select CD/DVD.
     3. Start the virtual machine, and press any key to boot to the CD when prompted.
        
        
   • If you are using Fusion 3.x:
     
     
     1. Go to Virtual Machine > Settings > Advanced. By default, the Startup Device tab opens.
     2. Select CD/DVD.
     3. Start the virtual machine, and press any key to boot to the CD when prompted.
        
        
   • If you are using Fusion 1.x or 2.x:
     
     
     1. As soon as your virtual machine starts, press ESC to get the Boot menu.
     2. If you can not press ESC quickly enough, add a 5-second delay to the BIOS screen by adding this line to the .vmx file:
        
        bios.bootDelay = "5000"
        
        For more information, see Editing the .vmx file for your Fusion virtual machine (1014782).
        
     3. Select Boot from the CD-ROM drive , using the arrow keys.
     4. Press Enter.
        
        
4. As soon as the Windows repair starts, press F6 when prompted (or fn+F6 if you have not set your keyboard to send function keys by default), to indicate that you need to load additional drivers.
   
   Note: There is no acknowledgement that this key has been pressed.
   
   
5. After the drivers have finished loading, when Windows prompts you, press S to specify additional devices.
6. Press Control + Command to release the mouse from the virtual machine.
7. Click the picture of the disk image in the Fusion icon tray and select Connect Floppy.
8. After connecting the disk, press Enter on the Insert a Floppy screen.
9. Choose VMware SCSI Controller and press Enter.
10. Press Enter again to continue past the Specify additional devices screen.
11. Continue with the directions for all users.

Windows XP 64-bit

1. Mount your Windows ISO (or put the Windows CD in the drive) and make sure the CD drive is connected by going to Virtual Machine > Settings > CDs & DVDs and selecting Connected.
2. Boot from the CD drive.
   
   
   • If you are using Fusion 4.x:
     
     
     1. Go to Virtual Machine > Settings > Startup Disk.
     2. Select CD/DVD.
     3. Start the virtual machine, and press any key to boot to the CD when prompted.
        
        
   • If you are using Fusion 3.x:
     
     
     1. Go to Virtual Machine > Settings > Advanced. By default, the Startup Device tab opens.
     2. Select CD/DVD.
     3. Start the virtual machine, and press any key to boot to the CD when prompted.
        
        
   • If you are using Fusion 1.x or 2.x:
     
     
     1. As soon as your virtual machine starts, press ESC to get the Boot menu.
        
        Note: If you cannot press ESC quickly enough, add a 5-second delay to the BIOS screen by adding this line to the .vmx file:
        
        bios.bootDelay = "5000"
        
        For more information, see Editing the .vmx file for your Fusion virtual machine (1014782).
        
     2. Select Boot from the CD-ROM drive , using the arrow keys.
     3. Press Enter.
        
        
3. Continue with the directions for all users.

1. Press Enter on the Welcome to Setup screen, to indicate you want to set up Windows. This will guide you to the automated repair, rather than the manual repair option through the Recover Console.
   
2. Press F8 to agree to the End User Agreement.
   
   You see a screen that says:
   
   If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it.
   
   
3. Select the Windows install that you want to repair, if there is more than one.
   
4. Press R to start the repair.
   
5. Continue with the Windows install wizard to repair Windows, until it completes.
   

Note for Windows XP 32-bit:

After the repair finishes, disconnect the floppy drive so that Windows does not try to boot from the disk. To do so:

1. When the Setup is restarting screen appears, press Control + Command to release the mouse.
2. Click the picture of the disk image in the Fusion icon tray and select Disconnect Floppy.
   
   Warning: If you do not do this before rebooting, you may receive an error: NTLDR is missing.