Thanks for the feedback Clyde. I guess I'm doing it differently to you in a couple of ways
- firstly I don't have the stand-alone version of Windows, I have the XP Pro that came with VPC7 (all legit though). - I know that to install from scratch you generally need the stand alone windows installer but one of Parallels features is it's ability to import VPC virtual machines. And it did import it, and the SP1 version is working fine. - At the first boot up of the newly imported virtual machine I got the message that my hardware had changed significantly and I needed to re-activate Windows - I did this with no problems however so I think my system is recognised as a valid version. - The second difference is that rather than downloading the SP2 upgrade from the MS website myself I let the Upgrade Windows application do it (I thought this would give less problems!). As I say it seemed to download and install OK and told me the upgrade was complete - it's just that after restarting it fails to start Windows. I've a fair amount of time & effort already invested in my (working) virtual machine so I'd rather stick at SP1 than start again from scratch. I'd just be happier if I could figure out how to actually make the upgrade work (or at least the reason it isn't working!) Cheers Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on 23/12/07 5:36 PM, Clyde McLennan at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hi Neil, > I'm running parallels (V3) on my new iMac and all is fine. > I started from installing Win XP (home) SP1 from my install > disc. I then applied the SP2 update file (downloaded from the > internet - which I stored on a disc). > > Everything worked fine and no problem. The SP2 download is large > (about 80mb) and the update takes about 1/2 hour to apply at most. > > I assume you are aware that Microsoft have a lot more built in > protection to stop pirating the software is SP2, so it should all > work as long as the versions are valid. If not, then then you will > find that their checks will fail and you could end up with problems. > As part of all that updating and applying of SP2 you may have to > actually phone Microsoft for them to register your version on the new > computer. They will ask you some questions, but the answer "I'm > installing it on my new computer, and this is the only computer it is > installed on" seems to keep them happy. > > Don't know if that helps - apart from saying it all works fine. > > Cheers ... Clyde > > > On 23/12/2007, at 4:02 PM, Neil Houghton wrote: > >> I've posted this to the parallels forums but I thought I'd see if >> any of our >> WAMUG gurus had any suggestions/answers: >> >> ---------- >> POST 1: >> ---------- >> I just installed parallels 3 (build 5582) on my 24" 2.4 GHz intel iMac >> running 10.4.11. >> >> I imported a vpc virtual machine (running a fairly old version of >> xp pro) >> that I had been using on my old (G5) iMac. >> >> This all went well and I had the machine up & running and fired up >> some >> windows software (the reason I need windows on my mac). >> >> VPC had been such a dog on the G5 that it had been a LONG time >> since I had >> updated windows, so I thought before I put too much time/effort into >> inputing all my data I should bring my virtual machine up to speed. >> >> I set the windows auto update going (but with it set to ask me before >> downloading and installing - in case I needed to stop for a while!) >> and many >> hours of downloading, installing, downloading, installing ensued. >> >> It was all going fine until I got to the SP2 upgrade. I got a bit >> nervous >> when, for the first time, the installer warned me to back up all my >> data. >> So, since I already had several hours invested in the updates to >> then, I >> backed out of the installer, shut the machine and cloned it.... >> that's the >> good news! >> >> So I restarted the machine and proceeded with the upgrading - the sp2 >> upgrade seemed to take a real long time but finally it said the >> installation >> was complete and prompted me to restart - which I did. >> >> Only now I get the black screen which says "We apologize for the >> inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. ........" I >> have >> tried all the options of safe starts and the "last good configuration" >> option but all just come back to the black screen. >> >> My cloned pre-upgrade SP1 machine still starts up OK. >> >> So now I'm trying to work out my next step. I desparately need to >> get on and >> actually do some work - so do I: >> >> 1) just stick with my (working) SP1 configuration (which MS says is >> out-of-date & not supported) >> >> 2) clone my working machine again and try the upgrade again - my >> instinct >> say this would just be a waste of many hours and lead to another >> broken >> virtual machine >> >> 3) is there a way to actually access/troubleshoot/fix the broken >> machine >> which has the hours of SP2 intallation invested in it. >> >> The only variable that comes to mind is that during the SP2 >> installation >> there was a message along the lines of ... some of your hardware >> has been >> changed by third party do you want to let the installer overwrite >> this... if >> you do, the third party applications may not work correctly... if >> you don't >> very bad things will happen (I don't remember exactly what but it >> sounded >> bad enough to make me say go ahead - do what you have to do!!) >> >> Only now I'm wondering if the third party application was parallels >> and if >> this is what the problem is (on the other hand the message implied >> that >> windows might self-destruct if I DIDN'T let it have it's way) >> >> The only other posts I've seen seem to all refer to installing via >> stand-alone windows licences - but the whole reason I got parallels >> was it >> said I could import my VPC virtual machine which is my only valid >> windows >> licence (and, to be fair, it did successfully let me import and run >> said >> machine - its just updating windows that's proving to be a problem) >> >> Since lots of people did use VPC and must prefer to now go to >> parallels, I'm >> hoping that someone has already encountered (and fixed!!) this >> problem. >> >> TIA >> >> --------------- >> POST 2: >> -------------- >> Replying to my own post... >> >> I decided to see if the installation warning/writeover was the >> problem so I >> cloned the working sp1 machine and went through the upgrade process >> again - >> but this time said NO when it wanted to overwrite - nothing quit or >> died and >> the installation completed. >> >> However, as before, when the machine restarted I got the same >> Windows did >> not start black screen. Again tried all safe start modes and "last >> good >> configuration option but all gave the same outcome. >> >> So I guess I'm stuck with using my working SP1 machine until I work >> out what >> the problem is. >> >> Any suggestions? Help please! >> -------------------------- >> >> So, anyone on WAMUG gone this route (import VPC machine and upgrade >> from SP1 >> to SP2 using the windows update application) & if so how did it go. >> >> Am I missing something obvious here? >> >> TIA >> >> >> Neil >> -- >> Neil R. Houghton >> Albany, Western Australia >> Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 >> Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- >> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> >> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> >> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
