Unable to use Transported XP Machine to VM

Parallels 3.0 build 5608. Host OS: Mac OS 10.5.4, MBpro 2.4 Ghz, 4 GB RAM.

I have my Windows XP Pro machine at work which I am trying to virtualize because I am going to replace it on my work machine with Vista and I want to keep XP Pro for software testing on my MBpro under parallels. Using transporter and transporter agent on the XP machine I successfully copied the XP machine over to a VM image through the network. 1 GB of RAM is allocated to the VM Guest. It boots up no problem, but when I get to the login screen, I click inside the window, I can't move the mouse, I can't type or CTRL-ALT-DEL. I CTRL-ALT to get the mouse back and try to send a CTRL-ALT-DEL and nothing happens. If I let it sit long enough the screen saver on the guest OS starts but I can't move the mouse to bring it out of screen saver. I followed the instructions for Transporter properly but I can't send any keyboard or mouse commands to the guest XP OS. Please advise.

 

I suppose you were asked to provide CD, but provided not version with the same Service Pack level, as installed on PC.
Try to perform repair as described in http://kb.parallels.com/en/5138
Just make sure, that you are using the smae SP level as installed on PC, otherwise you can perform Service Pack slipstream
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/winxp-sp2-bootcd.html

 

Actually, I never once was asked to provide a CD. I installed the agent on the XP machine, and then ran the transporter on my Mac. It coped all 77 GB's over to a new VM machine. When the transfer finished I simply ran the VM of my newly copied Guest OS. I will though try to follow the steps included in the Parallel's KB article. I'll repost tomorrow.

 

The repair is going right now for the past hour now and it is still on intalling devices with 37 minutes reported remaining since it started. I'm not sure if this is going to be successful. One thing of note, when I click in the window, I have the mouse pointer but I can't move the mouse at all, it is still frozen in the screen. I'll let the install continue and report back.

One thing I didn't note in the first post which I should have is that the computer I'm copying is a member of a domain. I doubt this matters but I should include that just in case.

EDIT:

I've run into a snag. A prompt appeared for me to choose a disc for an HP driver for a printer. Again, I'm dead in the water because when I click inside the window to move the mouse, it doesn't move, won't click. If I try to hit enter or escape, the Guest OS does not respond to any keyboard inputs I give. What should I do? The keyboard and mouse are non-responsive within the Guest OS.

 

ops, it looks you meet problem,
If repair is still on 37, stop it, disable hardware acceleration and Intel VT-x in Configuration Editor-Configuration - Options-Advanced

 

Okay, I appreciate the help John. I turned off acceleration and VT-x. This is where I've been at since the last time I post and it's just sitting there with no VM Guest hard drive activity.

 

No luck. The mouse pointer is still suck on the screen in the Guest OS and I can't get any response with the keyboard either. The guest is running just fine, it is still moving forward, images move on the screen but I can't give the Guest OS any input. Any ideas?

 

Ok, let us check again,
Check can you get access to keyboard if you start Windows in Safe mode - during start Action Send key -f8
You can try to create new VM, and add this existing HDD there

 

Hi John: Here's what I came up with today. I did a fresh copy of my desktop to VM using transporter (the latest version that comes with Parallels 5608. I booted up by hitting F8 immediately on the screen and got the boot menu. I chose Safe Mode and hit enter. When I click inside the screen after I get the login, the mouse and keyboard do not respond. Eventually the Guest OS will go into screen saver mode but I can't make it do anything.

 

Ok,
So, if you have additional keyboard and mouse, attache it to Vm, when connected to Mac , login to WIndows and install Parallels Tools

 

Hey John! That worked. Thank you very much. It doesn't make sense but then I realized the HAL has changed. What also made me realize why I couldn't grab input with my mac keyboard and mouse was when Windows wanted me to re-authorize the machine. Thank you again for your help.

 

Updated: So here's what I did. I took a OEM Windows XP and slipstreamed SP3 onto it as that was what level of Windows I had on my Dell. I ran the repair to fix the HAL. After a lenghty upgrade/repair I was able to reenter my key and authorize. After that I was still unable to grab the keyboard/mouse with my laptop keyboard or my trackpad. I plugged in an external keyboard and mouse and had the Guest OS recognise the USB connection. I was able to enter the key and continue but the problem still remains. I reinstall parallels tools but it didn't help. I still can't grab the guest OS with my built in keyboard/mouse.

Any ideas why this would be? The only way I can put input into the Guest OS is if I force an external keyboard to connect directly to the Guest OS.

 

I suppose you have special drivers for keyboard and mouse, you need to delete those drivers in VM, please try to check in Device Manager, also you can try to delete mouse and keyboard devices in there

 

No luck John. I removed the keyboard and mouse devices from device manager. I don't have any custom keyboard/mouse drivers that I can find. I noticed the following though when I rebooted the guest OS.

 

It looks that OEM disk install some additional software preventing to recognize keyboard.
It is not good idea to use OEM disk for Parallels repair.
You need to try boxed or VLK version

 

Ahh! Okay, I will test with my Technet copy then redo it using a purchased VLK version. Thank you for the advice John. I'll give it a try and report back. Sorry for all the trouble.

 

Hey John,
Still no luck. Same thing. I tried something new. When I transported a copy I chose instead to copy just the data, not make it a bootable disc. I made this into a new Guest OS. Then when I started up the new Guest OS I boot from the CD and did a repair. Same issue, I can't grab input or use the built in keyboard. And I can't attach a USB keyboard unless I'm quick enough to make it attached before the CD boots. I just don't know what to do to make this work but no matter how I try, I can't get a transported P2V Windows XP to let me grab mouse input or keyboard input.

On a side note, on my original transported Guest OS, after I installed the parellels tools, I still could not grab input with the mouse or keyboard.

 

Could you try Windows transporter?
from http://www.parallels.com/en/download/file/v3/en/GA/Parallels-Tsp-3.0.1456-Win.exe
and perform inplace migration and copy created vm to Mac

 

Hey John, I tried an inplace migration on the windows machine. I then copied it over to the Mac (65 gb in size). I then proceeded to boot from the Guest OS. Same issue. Can't grab input. I'm going to attempt to repair using a technet Windows XP but I don't think this will be any different.

 

Hey John, no I tried the repair and still no luck. I'm wondering if it's probably just not going to happen. I don't see how else to get it to work. I'd really like to get this transport to work so I don't loose my current machine's configuration.