XP will not boot

I installed Parallels Desktop and XP about a week ago and have had no problems working in XP until today. Now when I attempt to run XP in Parallels I get stuck at "Boot from hard drive...". Any ideas?

 

Not without a lot more detail.

 

same issue

I purchased parallels and XP Pro today and am having the same trouble (MBP 2ghz core duo 1G ram) Everything installs fine it seems. When I start a VM, it freezes at "boot from hard drive..." and just sits. I let it run for a few hours, reinstalled parallels and Xp 4 times and verified hardware. help me out please.

t.

 

MacBook Pro 2.16 core duo, OSX 10.4.8, 80 G HD, 1 GB RAM, PD Build 1970 11/1/2006 current, Windows XP, worked perfectly for a couple of weeks but not stuck. Please be more specific about details that will help you.

 

I have experieneced the same problem. After Windows XP installed updates automatically, now XP will not boot. It is possible to get to safe mode, but rebooting in previous configuration, or safe mode, is ineffective. The start-up routine is stuck in some earlier step...

 

On the first occasion that Parallels froze at "boot from hard drive..." just before I was given a choice of bootiing to two different operating systems, both Windows XP, as if it were recognizing the original XP installed and a second updated XP. Since that first time, I have not been able to get it to duplicate that choice, so maybe the problem is with the Windows XP update.

 

I think you're actually referring to the Hardware Profile selection for either Bootcamp natively or Parallels. See, since Parallels uses it's own drivers, XP has to start up with a different profile. I wonder if your startup is stuck on selecting the wrong profile and so you're receiving that message.

If you can get into XP with either Bootcamp or Parallels, right-click on My Comptuer and select Properties. Then click the Hardware tab, and select the Hardware Profiles near the bottom. You'll see some different options that you might want to try, like forcing "this profile to be an option when Windows Starts" or making the sequence wait for you to make the choice, instead of choosing it for you automatically..

 

Don't have Bookcamp installed, and XP will not boot up for me to get to My Computer.

 

java2d wrote: "Perhaps that unsupported OS message you hadn't heard of was due to it being an NTFS partition?"
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OK. Try using the .hdd of your current VM in a new VM. You want to find out if your .hdd image is corrupt, or if your .pvs file is the culprit. Trying the .hdd file in a new VM is the safest step right now to determine .hdd's condition.

 

I believe you posted your reply to the wrong string. I did not write what you quoted.

 

!!!
Fascinating!

 

I emailed PD support and got my answer very quickly. Click on file, open recent, and there I found two "Windows XP". Clicking on the first one sent Parallels into the freeze at "Boot from hard drive...". However, clicking on the second opened Windows XP.