Windows XP Mode VM not booting

[Varela]

anyone know how I can repair or get the data out from a unbootable VM file for Windows XP Mode. I have tried to reinstall xp mode and it will not allow me to use usb to repair windows. any software out there that can repair the VM file or extract the data. thanks

 

[nerd2u]

Boot from a bootable Linux and just mount the virtual hard drive then copy it off

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[Varela]

This maybe a dumb question but I don't use Linux but which version should I use or does it matter which one.

 

[kurros]

IIRC WIndows XP Mode uses .VHD files for its virtual hard disk, which can actually be mounted right in Windows:

In Windows 10 you can right click on a .VHD and choose Mount. I'm not sure if that is out of the box or if it requires OptionalFeatures like Hyper-V to be installed. You can right click on the drive in Explorer and Eject to unmount.

In Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) there is an Attach VHD menu item under Action. You can right click on the drive in Management later to Detatch (unmount).

You can also use PowerShell: Mount-VHD -Path C:\file.vhd

 

[Varela]

Thanks kurros I will try that.


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[Sky-Knight]

Yep, it's a .vhd, Win10 just reads it. It'll show up as a hard disk on any Win10 system just by right click mount.

 

[Varela]

I got an error with mounting it.

 

[nerd2u]

You don't have the virtual machine running do you

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[Varela]

Yes, VM Box but the VM I'm trying repair came from windows 7 - windows XP mode. The user had issues booting up. So far I tried the options above but no luck. As far as the client said money is no object, they just need it fixed. Anyone know any software or other tricks or can work with me repair the VM file. Of course I will pay


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[Alexey]

Can you post a hex dump (screenshot of a hex dump) of the first and last 512 bytes of the VHD file?

 

[Sky-Knight]

Hmm apparently 7-zip can "extract" .vhd files too...

Is there any container that silly app cannot open?

 

[Alexey]

Another question is if the customer needs data back or a bootable virtual machine back.

 

[Varela]

Another question is if the customer needs data back or a bootable virtual machine back.

They need it to boot preferably but data can be last resort


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[nerd2u]

I'm lost is this a windows 7 virtual machine or a windows XP virtual machine?

Create a new VM and mount the existing drive.

What error are you getting from virtual box?

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[Varela]

Was able to mount it in R-studio and recovered 13GB of data. Still working on trying to repair the file to boot into windows used has old software, that they can get anymore.


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[Alexey]

If it is a fixed (thck-provisioned) VHD, then it is a plain disk image with 512-byte or 511-byte footer at end. You can try writing it onto the blank physical disk to see if it boots.

 

[Sky-Knight]

VirtualBox can use .VHD if you want to try to build a new container, attach the .VHD and image the virtual disk to a new virtual disk for repairs. But the fact that Win10 cannot mount it tells me very bad things happened to that host.