"No boot device" message

Parallels worked great until I put my Macbook Pro to sleep while it was running. As I couldn't wake the mac, I had to power down and restart. Once I did that, I have been unable to restart parallels ever since. When I try and start paralles, I get a message saying "no boot device available" I've tried to contact their support but never heard back. Finally I got someone that gave me authorization to download a new copy, which I did. but I still get the same maessage and cannot start the vm. Any ideas out there? Thanks for any help.

 

Re: No Boot Device

I also get this message when I go to install Windows2000Pro. All the items are grayed out and I can't select the CD or anything else. I have the install CD in the drive and have selected CD/HDD/floppy as the boot sequence. Anybody got any ideas on how I can proceed with the installation? Al in Newman Lake, WA

Mac Mini, 2G memory

 

The CD must be IDE device 0,0 to boot. After install, you should switch to the .hdd being 0,0 and the CD being 1,0

 

I did that and it still says no boot device available. Do I have to shut down the Parallels and restart it?

 

No, but the disk must be bootable, and must be connected. If you are using a physical disk, you need to connect the real device to the VM. The best way is to set it to enabled and autoconnect. Start the VM, then insert the disk so the VM will grab it rather than OSX. Another approach is to create an image on your hard disk and connect the image.

 

I am still not getting there. Here are my settings so far:
CD/DVD-ROM
Configuration Editor
Device Status:
enabled checked
connect at startup checked
Emulation:
Use CD/DVD-ROM
Drive:
Default (there is only one)
Attachment Options:
Connect to: IDE 0:0

Options: VM Flags
Emulation flags:
Acceleration Level High
Enable Intel VT-x support checked, but this fails and says it is blocked by firmware
Autostart VM when configuration is loaded is NOT checked

Back on the main window:
Autostart is OFF and grayed out as are all the other selections.
When I click on the green run triangle, I get the DOS window that says no boot device whether I have the CD in the drive or not.

What do I do from here? Since the CD drive is grayed out how do I connect it?
Thanks for the help so far. Al

 

If something happens to the MBR of the virtual harddrive Parallels will not boot at all and you will have to either delete the VM and make a new one (including the virtual harddrive,) or stop the VM, goto the property view, click on the harddrive for that VM and hit recreate to have it create a clean hard drive.

This may or may not be your issue (this has happened to me a few times while I have been attempting different linux installs, where it will fail at some point and the MBR will be f'd and I have to recreate the VM's hard drive before being able to try installing again.)

 

I created a disk image of my Windows2000 installation disc, but cannot figure out how to connect it. The image is grayed out. I did discover that the disc is not bootable.

I have only 4 days of this trial left. I cannot see any reason to buy a program that I cannot get to work.

 

1) If the disk isn't bootable, I'm unclear on why you expect it to boot no matter what you do.

2) Parallels does work for me and many others, so it will eventually work for you once you get your startup problems solved.

If you have a Win2k install that isn't bootable, it will have four floppy images (and a program to make floppies) in a directory on the CD (I forget its name). Copy those 4 image files to your Mac HD, and rename them to the extension .fdd. Then connect the first one to your emulated floppy (you set one up, right?), set Parallels to boot from the floppy, and start your VM. It should boot. When the Windows install asks for the second disk, leave the VM running, release the mouse and keyboard, and connect the second floppy image to the emulated floppy. Then click inside the DOS window and press enter. Repeat for the other two floppy images.

After you go through the setup dialog, the installer should be able to read the CD or CD image. If you're on a laptop, remember that you will probably need to press and hold the fn key and then the function (such as F8) to get the actual function keystroke rather than the laptop control function (F1 decreases brightness, etc.)

Hope this helps.

 

No boot device

I have a client who experienced this. What has happened, and I dont know why, is that parallels attempts to create a second VM, but, because there is no os disk in the drive, cant load and therefore doesnt complete the installation. I know this because in the parallels folder where the vm folder is, there is now 2 VM folders, one labeled vm0.0, and a second one 1.1. Try launching the first one and see if you get the no boot sdevice message. If so, try booting the second one and you will see that it works. Now, can you just delete the bad one without any issues...I do not know.

I dont know or understand why this happens, but you will see that the second folder does exist. I am an Apple Consultant who wants so badly to put this in front of all my clients and yet with the lack of good support...I am cautious.


The frustrating thing is that this product is very good, but the lack of support is so frustrating. Constant printer issues, and now this. What options do we have? At this point, Im not sure.

 

Parallels didn't attempt to create any VMs for me that I didn't tell it to create. It named the one I created Windows2000 because I selected that OS type on creation. AFAIK, the only way to create a VM is via user interaction, telling it to create a VM.

I have Win2k running just fine on a MBP and the installation went as I described in my previous post. When the floppies have been read, and you go through all the user dialog including formatting the virtual HD, the installer will look to the CD (real or image -- image will run a lot faster) and install Windows. At the point where it asks you to remove all removable media, you can just disconnect the floppy image, and the new installation should boot and finish the install.

When the install is finished, you probably want to set the boot order to start with the hard disk, and make sure the boot disk is controller 0 master (0,0).

To be any more helpful, I'll probably need a lot more detailed description of the environment and the steps you took to get where you are. I'm assuming you did this install yourself rather than reporting what your client told you since playing the "telephone game" usually loses information in the process.

And yes, you can delete a VM without affecting any other VMs that don't share host files with the VM you are deleting.

 

Thank you Joem, that did the trick after a couple of hickups. First my mouse would not activate the save button. I switched to a trackball and then it worked, why I do not know.
Second, I had to go to the manual to figure out how to connect the second floppy image with the program running. Once over those hurdles, it loaded just fine.

Now a couple of simple questions if I may? Can I make the window inside OS-X another size other than the default which is very small or the full screen, which is very large. Also can I change the colors to anything higher than 16 colors? I changed the screen resolution to 800x600 OK, but there is no other selection for the colors. This in Control Panel/Display. Once again, thanks for getting me going. It has been a frustrating experience. Al

 

Install Parallels tools. (RTFM, it's in there)

 

help

every time i try to start my vm i get the following message. problem with network adapter is detected. please check if network cable is connected to the physical network adapter attached to the virtual machine. im on a macpro. also get the no boot device abailable on a black screen. any help would be a help. im new to mac's and very frustrated right now.

 

Mac Pro support has been promised in a future release RSN.

 

does that mean i have a $2500 paperweight as far as windows goes right now? tech at the store assured me it would work.

 

mystery VM?

So, being that Parallels didnt create this mysterious VM thast appeared and neither did my 65 year old client, is it going to cause more problems than already exist by deleting the VM folder of the incomplete VM?

 

Well, someone or something created it if it exists. Since this is not normal procedure, I'd have to see what the "good" VM uses, and what files are in which directories to give you a definitive answer.

You could always move the questionable files to an external drive, disconnect it, and see if all your apps work.

And I don't think that unless your client entered his/her age into the system somewhere that it could be relevant, and even then, I'd be doubtful. Is 65 old or young?

 

mystery vm

So what would you recommend at this point? Sorry for the sarcasm earlier, just a very stressful client. It just seems that about a week after the initial install it all started going crazy. This client wouldnt know how to create a vm and she lives alone. I know I didnt do it so my thought process was that something created a "ghost" VM. Mistake on my part, I guess. Anyway. The parallels folder located in the library has a winxp folder. In that folder there are 2 XP folders. 1 contains the xp.hdd and the xp.pvs. the second folder contains the xp01.hdd and the xpo1.pvs. If I erase the folder of the one that doesnt launch, will it effect the other?

 

I'll have to guess probably not, but if it were me, I'd move the folder somewhere else, and try it before deleting. I'd also guess that your client may have been playing around trying to get something to work and created the extra folder without realizing it. Random button pushing could , in theory, recreate the works of Shakespeare if it went on for long enough, they say.

I'm really guessing because that's a non standard folder setup and I don't know how it got created.

The standard would be ~/library/parallels/VMdirectory
where VMdirectory would be whatever you named the VM when you created it. VMDirectory would contain all the VM files.

As I said, I'm guessing, and I really can't validate any assumptions so please don't get mad at me if it doesn't work since I've said I really don't know for sure.