Unable to install Windows XP Home

Hodgepodge posted the same message on another thread where I was complaining of the same problem with the same blue screen messages. This evening I followed that Knowledge entry, and less than an hour later I had a working virtual Windows XP system.

 

The problem I was experiencing wasn't related to the installation media.

 

Windows XP installation problems

I, too, have had installation problems with any version of XP other than SP2 -- freezing and BSOD's are common. I think I've solved it, though.

I started a new VM and rather than selecting Windows Express or Typical, I selected Custom and designated the OS Type as Other and the OS Version as Other. I set the RAM and hard drive size to suit me and pointed the CD to my Windows ISO file.

Windows XP SP1 installed without a hitch; no blue screens or freezes! I did run into a bit of a hurdle once installed and that is that the "Install Parallels Tools" menu item is unavailable. I got around that by booting up my already-working XP SP2 VM, selecting Install Parallels Tools from the menu and using ISO Recorder (http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm) to create an ISO file from the virtual CD drive.

Now that I have Parallels tools installed on my XP SP1 VM, everything is working as it should be. Hopefully Parallels reads this thread and corrects the problem in the next public build they release.

Chris

 

Just an update. I tried changing the type of OS back to Windows / Windows XP from Other / Other after the successful installation and encountered a blue screen when I right-clicked on My Computer and selected Manage. So I went back and set the OS type to Windows 2000 and all seems well. I'll update again if I run into problems.

Chris

 

A 2nd update - the Windows 2000 setting eventually blue-screened as well. I would go back to Other / Other except that I can't get 32-bit color at 1600 x 1000 like I can when I select a flavor of Windows for the OS type. I tried Windows 95 but ran into networking problems so now I have it set to Windows / Other. The networking problems are gone but time will tell if it's stable or not.

What I'd like to know is why are there different "profiles" for different OS's? Why can't Parallels just emulate the hardware once and let the OS take care of the rest???

Chris

 

Unable to install XP Home

Add me to the list of people with installation issues - I purchased a MacBook, Parallels software (3.0), and Windows XP Home last week. I am now trying to install the Parallels software and Windows XP on the computer - I think I have installed the Parallels software, but have not been able to install XP - I keep getting the following 2 messages: (i) File acpi.sys caused an unexpected error (512) at line 5964 in d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\setup/c, and (ii) INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 512. Given all I had read (clearly not at this forum!), I was hoping for a smoother process with all this. I've e-mailed Parallels support - let's see what comes back ...

 

Because chipsets have changed a lot between MS DOS 6.2 and Windows Vista. I assume that the the different Windows profiles in Parallels are because there are subtle changes in chipset drivers that need to be emulated. Parallels emulates an Intel i815 logic board. Intel supplies slightly different drivers for that chipset depending on whether one is running Windows 95, Windows 98, etc.

Plus, each Windows version interacts with the logic board (emulated or otherwise) in a slightly different way. This is yet another reason for the different versions within Parallels. This may also be a the reason that Apple's Boot Camp will only work with Windows XP and Vista, but not any prior versions of Windows.

Additionally, each Parallels "profile" represents a slightly different BIOS configuration tuned to the specific OS and its capabilities.

Think about it this, Parallels (and possibly VMWare's Fusion) is trying to emulate an Intel i815 chipset on an (at least) Intel 945 chipset platform. There are likely significant differences in how they each chose to approach this task.

 

I had more than 20 hours of frustration with this issue and Parallels told me I needed to buy another copy of Windows XP. Thank you for posting http://kb.parallels.com/entry/30/458/. It appears to be working well so far.

 

OK...I've been futzing with this "boot from hard drive" issue for the past hour and I think I have found the problem and solution. To me, it's a bug, but here's what worked for me. It's a simple solution.

1. Stop the virtual machine.
2. Go to the configuration manager (Edit --> Virtual Machine)
3. Select "Options" under the resource column and then select "Booting" in the tabs to the right.
4. Change the boot sequence to CD-ROM, Hard Disk, Floppy.

The reason I consider it a bug is because the initial default should be this order, not boot from the Hard drive first.

I hope this saves someone else some time!

Randy (the tester)

 

The installation procedure at http://kb.parallels.com/entry/30/458/ worked very well. I don't know why that is, though -- all it really does is make an image of the XP OEM disk on the hard drive and install from that.