>I never imagined that this would be so difficult. Once I
> get this figured out, is doing the same for the Win 2K Server OS going to
> be
> painful too?
> I've been putting off replacing my 700 MHz Pentium 2 for a few years
> because
> of the applications (professional tax preparation software) on the machine
> that can't be reinstalled on another machine (they were updated via the
> internet and are no longer supported). I also have other applications
> that
> won't run on this machine because they simply can't deal with the fact
> that
> the partition that the OS is on has been assigned drive letter "G".
>
> After discovering VPC, I bought a 3 GHz P4 system with 1 GB RAM. I
> thought
> it would be easy for me to virtualize my old system , but after a full
> day
> of trying it still doesn't work. Unfortunately, Ben Armstrong's "Tips for
> migrating a physical computer to a virtual machine" has't helped me.
>
> Here's what I'm dealing with:
> - Old physical system has a two OS: Win 2K Server, Win 2K Pro on one
> physical hard drive
> - I would like each OS to on separate virtual machines
> - I pulled the old computer's hard drive out and connected it to the new
> computer
> - I connected a spare hard drive to the new computer
> - Using Partition Magic, I copied the old Win 2K Pro partition to the
> spare
> hard drive
> - I created a virtual PC and virtual drive linked to the hard disk
> containing the copied Win 2K Pro partition
> - Upon booting the Guest, I see a black screen and a underscore cursor
> blinking indefinitely
> - I tried using the Windows Repair Console as well as every other Repair
> option available from the Win 2K Pro install CD - nothing worked
> - In desparation, I deleted the copied partition and performed a clean Win
> 2K Pro Guest install - worked fine
> - I began to think that perhaps the boot partition had been the culprit
> earlier
> - From the Host , I assigned drive letters to the old Win2K Pro drive and
> the spar drive containing the clean Win 2K Pro install
> - Using Windows Explorer, I copied all files and folders from the old
> Win2K
> Pro drive to the spare drive containing the clean Win 2K Pro install
> - Upon booting the Win 2K Pro guest, I am prompted to choose which OS I
> want
> to run, I choose Win 2K Pro (I think this is a clue - I've overwritten the
> file on the clean install with the file from my old dual-boot system)
> - I get the following message: Windows 2000 could not start because of a
> computer disk hardware configuration problem.
> Could not read from the Selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk
> hardware....
>
> I think I need to figure out which files I shouldn't have overwritten.
> Fortunately, I created a copy of the partition containing a clean install.
>
> It seems that using VPC to virtualize old physical machines would be a
> common use.
>
> Any suggestions? I never imagined that this would be so difficult. Once
> I
> get this figured out, is doing the same for the Win 2K Server OS going to
> be
> painful too?
>
> Thanks,
> Paul

>>Any suggestions?
>
>
> The steps to do a conversion like this are to copy the old host partition to
> the new VPC partition, then do an "Upgrade" install of W2K over the top.
>
> In the Win2K setup, you press Enter on the first prompt from the install
> instead of taking the repair option there, W2K will then find the old system
> install and will ask you if you want to "Upgrade" this install, take that
> option. There still may be some issues after this, but it should get you
> started.
>
>
>>I never imagined that this would be so difficult. Once I
>>get this figured out, is doing the same for the Win 2K Server OS going to
>>be
>>painful too?
>
>
> Yes, it'll probably be painful, just as painful as if you were trying to do
> the same thing with another physical computer. Hardware differences and the
> complexity of the OS's and the way they interact with the hardware, it's
> always going to be tough. That said, it is doable.
>
> - Bob Comer
>
>
>
>
> "Paul DeLeo" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>>I've been putting off replacing my 700 MHz Pentium 2 for a few years
>>because
>>of the applications (professional tax preparation software) on the machine
>>that can't be reinstalled on another machine (they were updated via the
>>internet and are no longer supported). I also have other applications
>>that
>>won't run on this machine because they simply can't deal with the fact
>>that
>>the partition that the OS is on has been assigned drive letter "G".
>>
>>After discovering VPC, I bought a 3 GHz P4 system with 1 GB RAM. I
>>thought
>>it would be easy for me to virtualize my old system , but after a full
>>day
>>of trying it still doesn't work. Unfortunately, Ben Armstrong's "Tips for
>>migrating a physical computer to a virtual machine" has't helped me.
>>
>>Here's what I'm dealing with:
>>- Old physical system has a two OS: Win 2K Server, Win 2K Pro on one
>>physical hard drive
>>- I would like each OS to on separate virtual machines
>>- I pulled the old computer's hard drive out and connected it to the new
>>computer
>>- I connected a spare hard drive to the new computer
>>- Using Partition Magic, I copied the old Win 2K Pro partition to the
>>spare
>>hard drive
>>- I created a virtual PC and virtual drive linked to the hard disk
>>containing the copied Win 2K Pro partition
>>- Upon booting the Guest, I see a black screen and a underscore cursor
>>blinking indefinitely
>>- I tried using the Windows Repair Console as well as every other Repair
>>option available from the Win 2K Pro install CD - nothing worked
>>- In desparation, I deleted the copied partition and performed a clean Win
>>2K Pro Guest install - worked fine
>>- I began to think that perhaps the boot partition had been the culprit
>>earlier
>>- From the Host , I assigned drive letters to the old Win2K Pro drive and
>>the spar drive containing the clean Win 2K Pro install
>>- Using Windows Explorer, I copied all files and folders from the old
>>Win2K
>>Pro drive to the spare drive containing the clean Win 2K Pro install
>>- Upon booting the Win 2K Pro guest, I am prompted to choose which OS I
>>want
>>to run, I choose Win 2K Pro (I think this is a clue - I've overwritten the
>>file on the clean install with the file from my old dual-boot system)
>>- I get the following message: Windows 2000 could not start because of a
>>computer disk hardware configuration problem.
>>Could not read from the Selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk
>>hardware....
>>
>>I think I need to figure out which files I shouldn't have overwritten.
>>Fortunately, I created a copy of the partition containing a clean install.
>>
>>It seems that using VPC to virtualize old physical machines would be a
>>common use.
>>
>>Any suggestions? I never imagined that this would be so difficult. Once
>>I
>>get this figured out, is doing the same for the Win 2K Server OS going to
>>be
>>painful too?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Paul
>
>
>