can't boot from rescue zip disk in vrtual machine

[ginahoy]

For those with experience with MS Virtual PC...

I need to re-create my WinME machine in a virtual machine on my new XP computer. Since I use True Image 9 for backing up my WinME machine, my strategy is to boot the virtual PC from my TI rescue disk and restore the latest WinME backup onto the virtual hard drive. However, I've run into a snag...

Since my old system doesn't have a CD burner, I created the TI rescue disk on a 100MB zip disk. However, there doesn't seem to be a way to force the VM to boot from a zip drive. I tried disconnecting the physical FDD from the host machine hoping the virtual machine would then see the zip drive as a FDD. No go.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

David

PS: failing any possibility of booting from zip drive inside the VM, is there a software utility that would convert my existing rescue zip disk to a rescue floppy disk or ISO CD image?

Unfortunately I can't create a new rescue media because something happened to my TI installation and I get an error message "Rescue Media Builder is not installed." I don't have any way to reinstall TI9, because I opted to purchase via download and didn't keep the installation file on my HDD. Sigh.

[MudCrab]

If you registered TI with Acronis, you can download it from you Acronis Account. Then create an ISO to boot the VM.

You should be able to register TI if you still have your key.

Even you do get the restore to work, you may need to do a repair install to let Windows boot because of the hardware changes.

[ginahoy]

Thanks, MudCrab. Fortunately, I found the product key and was able to d/l the latest build from Acronis website and create a rescue ISO file. I'd completely forgotten about having set up an account with Acronis.

I am soo frustrated. The process of bringing up my new system has been fraught with peril. And each solution only reveals a new problem. I recall from a previous thread you have experience mounting a live OS in VPC, so I'm hoping you can help me with the latest challenge...

I'm able to boot my vm from the ISO Rescue image but TI can't see the backup (.tib) files or the virtual hard drive (destination). I put the tib's on the same logical drive as my vmc and vhd files.

Here is a complete list of what True Image sees:
Floppy (A:)
CD Drive (C:)
c:\Recovery Manager
Network
- computers near me
- NDAS Connections

What the heck is "CD Drive (C:)" and how do I copy the tib files to that location?? And even if I solve this problem, how can I recover the backup onto a virtual drive if TI can't see it?

BTW, I tried to use the Network connection to find the files, but the "computers near me" connection is empty. I have no idea how to make that work.

I don't think the folks in the Virtual PC forum are going to be much help since most people do a fresh install of the guest O/S. I sure hope you can get me unstuck...

Your assistance is greatly appreciated!
David

[MudCrab]

I've tried builds 3,677 and 3,854 and both of them see my VM drives and my network shares.
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In your case, it seems C: is being assigned to the CD drive because TI isn't finding a hard drive.

What version of MS VPC are you using? I'm using 2007.

Do you have network shares setup? Are the computers part of a Workgroup?

TI 9 should see your VM drive. Are you sure you have it setup properly? It should show in the VM settings for the OS and also if you enter the BIOS of the VM.
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You will need to get the VM's hard drive setup and detected, setup a network share and then you should be able to restore from the network share to the VM's hard drive.

[ginahoy]

Wow... there's got to be something basic I'm missing. To answer your question, I'm running VPC 2007, like you.

The problem with my network shares is apparently intermittent. After my last message, I was able to open a network share and navigate to my backup files. But now when I click on "Computers Near Me", nothing happens. I didn't change anything. Networks have always been frustrating to me.

Ok, I just rebooted and now I can see the network shares again. Oh, well.

Accessing my virtual hd is another matter. It shows up in VM bios, just like yours (except mine is set to 17GB). And when I check vm settings, the virtual drive shows up as Hard Disk 1.

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But when I boot from TI Rescue ISO, the CD ROM drive assumes drive letter C: and no other hd is listed.

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Now that I'm able to select an archive file, I can continue through the wizard. But when I get to the screen where I select the Partition or Disk to Restore, I notice there's a C drive with MBR. I think this is progress.

198380

But there's something weird going on. Look at the size of the drive. It's shown as 32GB, with 20.35GB free. Recall my virtual HD is set to 17GB. Is the drive shown here the CD ROM drive or my virtual hard drive??

Hmm... these are exactly the numbers shown when I do a restore on my old PC. Apparently TI9 doesn't recognize the actual size of the drive.

And if this is indeed my virtual hd, then why does it show up here, but not on the archive selection page?

David

[MudCrab]

The screenshot you show is where you select what you want to restore from the backup image. It is not showing the drive in the VM. It's showing your Windows ME C: drive image and MBR.

Check the C: partition box and proceed. Does the internal drive show up as a destination drive? It may not be showing up in the main list of disks because it hasn't yet been initialized (no partitions, no formatting).

[ginahoy]

The virtual HD has been formatted but has no data. That could be the reason it doesn't appear. I'll proceed with the backup restore.

I forgot to express how much I appreciate the screenshots. Seeing what you see allowed me to quickly narrow down the root cause(s) of the issues I was having.

Don't you think it's strange that Drive C would show up as 32GB with 20.35 free when the drive is only 17GB and has nothing written on it? And as I mentioned, TI shows exact same numbers (32GB, 20.35GB) when I do a restore on my old system, which has a 40GB drive. I'm curious to know if other folks running TI 9.0 experience this issue.

David

[MudCrab]

-{ Quote: "Don't you think it's strange that Drive C would show up as 32GB with 20.35 free when the drive is only 17GB and has nothing written on it? And as I mentioned, TI shows exact same numbers (32GB, 20.35GB) when I do a restore on my old system, which has a 40GB drive." }-
As I said in the previous post, that screen is showing your backup image not the VM's hard drive.

[ginahoy]

OK. I didn't understand your previous comment because I was totally expecting that screen to reflect characteristics of the destination drive. My bad. Also, the fact that the backed up drive is 40GB threw me off. I imagine the 32GB as displayed has something to do with the O/S file system. But I now realize the difference between the 20.35 and the 32 is pretty close to the used space on my drive.

UPDATE:
I now have my live install of WinME running in the vm!!!!! All software seem to be functioning properly. The only change I've had to make so far is to reset the function of my mouse wheel to vertical scroll.

Also, I should point out I didn't have to do a repair install. Windows found the necessary drivers when I first booted into my newly restored partition. I'm sure Microsoft designed the vm with that in mind. It only warned me to change the name of the computer since it already appeared on network under same name.

However, I'm still having intermittent problems accessing the network shares within and outside the vm, but that has nothing to do with VM or TI. It's a problem I've had as long as there's been more than one computer in my home. However, I was suprised to see this issue crop up when both "computers" are on the same physical machine. I guess that eliminates my router settings and the physical LAN as potential culprits.

Thanks again for all your help.

David