Re: XP Reinstall - an important lesson for all VPC users

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Barry D. Brown (beesqr_at_sbcglobal.net)
Date: 07/22/04 

Date: 22 Jul 2004 01:05:50 -0700

Michael
I read both yours and Mitch's E-mails. I have a different reinstall
problem. I was running VPC 6.1.1 on a G4 17" Powerbook, 1 gig memory,
1.33G CPU, OS 10.3.4. I use it only for Explorer 6 and my wife uses it
for the Internet Backgammon zone game. When Windows XP failed to boot
properly today (I got the same screens as Mitch did), I asumed that
the C: drive was corrupted and trashed the virtual C: drive by
clicking edit>move to trash. I then reinstalled a new drive using my
original VPC 6.1 disk but still have the same 6.1.1 version installed
according to "About Virtual PC..." . The XP OS just boots in slow
motion. After 25 minutes of fitful disk reading, the screen turns from
black to featureless blue with the XP logo on a darker top blue band,
slowly stuttering music emanates from the speakers. After 20 more
minutes, I get "Welcome to Microsoft Windows. Let's spend a few
minutes setting up your computer". I click "Next" button and after 2
minutes, it dims and I presume that it will go to the next screen in
another 10 minutes.

Wow! It just did sfter 15 minutes. Ig got to the time zone setting
screen. And a MINUTE MORE TO GET TO THE EULA SCREEN! I

It' like the emulator is really an an Intel 80286 with 64 K memory
trying to run Windows
I suspect that other files need to be trashed to do a clean reinstall,
but I need to know which ones. One thing I don't want to do is trash
whatever file Microsoft has put on the disk to validate my
registration.
Barry Brown

Michael Paine <mpaine@tpgi.com.au> wrote in message news:<Odbx8RXWEHA.2340@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl>...
> Mitch
> I just tried an idea but it didn't work. With VPC you can create a d:
> drive which is a separate file in your Virtual PC List (in OS X). If you
> store data on this d: drive you can access it from other copies of VPC
> (Settings Drive 2...) or directly from the OS X Finder (double click and
> it is mounted on the desktop). I have just found that this trick doesn't
> work for the c: drive image - so I cannot help you recover data from
> the c: drive. Hopefully others on this newsgroup will be able to help you.
>
> I switched to Mac because of frustrations with Windows crashes. VPC does
> not protect you from these crashes and, going by postings on this
> newsgroup, data recovery can be more difficult than with a dedicated
> Windows PC. Therefore see the tips about backing up and using d: drives at
> http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/aoaug/mac_osx.html#vpc
>
> Michael Paine
>
>
>
> MIG wrote:
>
> > I was running VPC6 on my G4 Pwrbk for about a month with no problem. All
> > of a sudden when I went to start VPC, it would load, bit XP Pro would
> > not. I just keep looping through the black screen asking me to select
> > "Last Known Good", Safe Mode and others options. None of these work! I
> > just keep coming bqck to the same screen. Having not found a way to
> > reinstall XP, I created another VPC and that runs fine.
> >
> > I really have 2 questions....
> >
> > 1. Is there a way to reinstall XP to salvage the none working one?
> >
> > if not,
> >
> > 2. How can I access the HD from the forst PC install to get some
> > important data files so I can use them in the new VPC I installed?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Mitch

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