2

I am setting up a virtual machine to host a Windows XP environment with specific legacy software to replace a customer's broken Dell MTC2 desktop. I used Disk2vhd to generate a VHD from the customer's IDE hard disk and created the virtual machine with VirtualBox. The system begins to boot but then stops with the following BSOD error:

enter image description here

If I copy the C:\WINDOWS directory from a different Win XP installation to this same drive and boot from it, everything works with no issues. I suspect that somewhere in the C:\WINNT directory is there is a corrupt file or registry entry. I tried running chkdsk /r, bootcfg /rebuild, and fixboot in the recovery console, but the OS still fails to boot.

This tutorial mentions that "Windows memorizes which IDE/ATA controller it was installed on and fails to boot in case the controller changes." It says that the solution "is to perform several modifications to the Windows registry" to disable these checks, using a tool called MergeIDE. Unfortunately, this approach requires the original computer to be functional, which it is not. It also provides a link to an MS Docs page, but I cannot find anything that details how to disable this checks.

How can I resolve this issue?

Improve this question
1
  • A possible workaround would be to get an old version of VMware Vcenter Converter and make a VMware VMXD disk file. Then see if it opens in VMware Player. This may help you - I am not sure.
    – anon
    Commented Sep 11, 2022 at 22:06

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

For future reference, it looks like the MergeIDE utility is just a .reg and .bat file. For anyone who is unable to start the original machine, try downloading MergeIDE, extracting the files, and looking at the registry keys and batch script. Every change you need to make is already defined for you in these files.

Improve this answer
-1

Older versions of the Hiren's BootCD provide a Fix hard disk controller (fix_hdc.cmd) tool that can fix the 0x0000007B (0x...,0xC0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000) BSOD.

  1. Download an older version of the Hiren's BootCD.
  2. Attach the Hiren's BootCD ISO to the VirtualBox machine.
  3. Start the virtual machine. Remember to click any key while booting to boot from the ISO.
  4. In Hiren's BootCD menu select Mini Windows XP.
  5. Wait for Mini Windows XP to boot and for desktop icons to load.
  6. Start HBCD Menu by clicking the desktop icon.
  7. From the menu bar select Programs > Registry > Fix hard disk controller (fix_hdc.cmd)
  8. Press T and enter the path to the Windows folder (typically C:\Windows).
  9. Press M and wait for the process to finish.
  10. Reboot to Windows.

Note: If you have a Multiboot configuration you need to run the Fix hard disk controller (fix_hdc.cmd) tool for every installed system instance you want to fix. So e.g. you would need to run the tool for C:\Windows and C:\Windows.000.

It worked for me with a Multiboot Windows XP Professional system dumped from an old broken laptop.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .