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

Symptoms

  • Blue error screen when booting to Windows
  • Cannot boot into Windows
  • NTLDR is missing
  • You receive an AGP440.sys error

Purpose

This article provides steps for mounting the SCSI drivers needed to have a hard drive recognized in the virtual machine, and perform a repair on Windows XP when Windows is not booting.

Resolution

To mount the SCSI drivers needed to have a hard drive recognized in a virtual machine, and perform a repair on Windows XP:
  1. Download the SCSI driver floppy at http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp so that Windows Setup sees your hard disk from.
  2. Create a backup of your virtual machine bundle:

    1. Right-click the virtual machine in question from the Virtual Machine Library.
    2. Click Show in finder.
    3. Right-click the package that is displayed.
    4. Click Duplicate.

  3. Add a floppy drive to the virtual machine and mount the floppy image:
    1. Click Virtual Machine > Settings > Other Device.
    2. Click + and choose Add Floppy. A dialog appears asking you to choose a floppy image file.
    3. Browse to the location of the file that you downloaded in step 1 and click the file.
    4. Deselect Connected.

  5. Mount your Windows ISO or put the Windows disk in the drive and make sure the CD drive is connected by looking in Virtual Machine > Settings > CDs & DVDs and selecting Connected.
  6. As soon as your virtual machine starts, press ESC to get the Boot menu. Choose the boot from the CD-ROM drive option.

    If you can not press ESC fast enough, add a delay to the BIOS screen:

    1. Right-click on the virtual machine from the Virtual Machine Library window and click Show in finder.
    2. Right-click on the virtual machine package that is highlighted and click Show package contents.
    3. Right-click on the .vmx file and click Open with > Other and select TextEdit.
    4. Paste bios.bootDelay = "5000" at the bottom of the .vmx file.

  7. When the Windows repair starts, press F6 when prompted.
  8. Press Control + to release the mouse from the virtual machine.
  9. Press S to specify additional devices.
  10. Click on the picture of the disk image in the USB icon tray and select connect the floppy drive.
  11. After connecting the disk, press Enter on the insert a floppy screen.
  12. Choose VMware SCSI Controller and press Enter.
  13. Press Enter again to continue past the Specify additional devices screen.
  14. Press Enter on the Welcome to setup screen.
  15. 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.
  16. Select the Windows install that you want to repair if there is more than one. Press R to start the repair.
  17. When the Setup is restarting screen appears, press Control + to release the mouse and disconnect the floppy drive.

    Note    : If you do not do this before rebooting, you may receive an NTLDR is missing error.

  18. Continue with the Windows install wizard until complete.

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1013846
  • Updated: Oct 27, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware Fusion
  • Product Versions:
    VMware Fusion 2.x
    VMware Fusion 3.x