I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
I converted it to a VDI with:

$ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi

Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".

Anybody know of a fix?

--
Mint 20.3, kernel 5.4.0-95-generic, Cinnamon 5.2.7
running on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition processor with 16GB of DRAM.

On 29.01.22 18:20, pinnerite wrote:
> I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> I converted it to a VDI with:
>
> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
>
> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
>
> Anybody know of a fix?
>
>
>
>
>
Sol 1: dont do that .
Sol 2: Restore from backup.

On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
> I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> I converted it to a VDI with:
>
> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
>
> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
>
> Anybody know of a fix?

Disk geometry?

https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=97511

Goggle "VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system""

--
Adrian C

On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
> I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> I converted it to a VDI with:
>
> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
>
> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
>
> Anybody know of a fix?
>
>
>
>
>
Have you tried opening the vmdk file with virtual box?

--
Chris Elvidge
England

On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:38:34 +0000
Chris Elvidge <chris@mshome.net> wrote:

> On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
> > I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> > I converted it to a VDI with:
> >
> > $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
> >
> > Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
> >
> > Anybody know of a fix?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Have you tried opening the vmdk file with virtual box?
>
> --
> Chris Elvidge
> England

Yes. Not recently though

--
Mint 20.3, kernel 5.4.0-95-generic, Cinnamon 5.2.7
running on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition processor with 16GB of DRAM.

On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:38:34 +0000
Chris Elvidge <chris@mshome.net> wrote:

> On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
> > I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> > I converted it to a VDI with:
> >
> > $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
> >
> > Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
> >
> > Anybody know of a fix?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Have you tried opening the vmdk file with virtual box?
>
> --
> Chris Elvidge
> England

I just got and still get "Error opening operating system"

--
Mint 20.3, kernel 5.4.0-95-generic, Cinnamon 5.2.7
running on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition processor with 16GB of DRAM.

On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:38:32 +0000
Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:

> On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
> > I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> > I converted it to a VDI with:
> >
> > $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
> >
> > Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
> >
> > Anybody know of a fix?
>
> Disk geometry?

How does one translate that into a strategy?

>
> https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=97511
>
> Goggle "VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system""
>
>
> --
> Adrian C

--
Mint 20.3, kernel 5.4.0-95-generic, Cinnamon 5.2.7
running on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition processor with 16GB of DRAM.

On 1/29/2022 12:20 PM, pinnerite wrote:
> I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> I converted it to a VDI with:
>
> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
>
> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
>
> Anybody know of a fix?

"Error loading operating system"

The Windows flavour MBR scans for the first Active flag.
That means some amount of initial loading, is identified by
the active flag.

Perhaps MBR --> Active --> PBR --> NTLDR, boot.ini ?

I'd have to look it up somewhere.

In any base, boot.ini must then point to the final partition
(known as C:\ ), using the ARC path in the boot.ini .

There's nothing particularly inspirational in here.
It's just a sample. One of the few VMDK files I've got.

[Picture] If the frame is empty, right-click and select "Reload"

https://i.postimg.cc/FzP0PHgP/sample-vmdk-winxp.gif

I used PTEDIT32.exe to display disk particulars. It must
be run as Administrator or Error 5 will result.

You can mount a VMDK in a Virtual Machine that already has
a Linux OS in it if you want, and get the particulars with
FDisk or similar. At least some VM hosts, allow three hard drives
and a virtual optical disk, as an example of a "mostly compatible"
hardware capability. That would allow you to boot Windows 98 for
example (because some OSes only understood IDE drives).

Disk 1 = Linux disk
Disk 2 = WinXP Suspect disk

Paul

On 1/29/2022 5:56 PM, Paul wrote:
> On 1/29/2022 12:20 PM, pinnerite wrote:
>> I had a  Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
>> I converted it to a VDI with:
>>
>> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
>>
>> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
>>
>> Anybody know of a fix?

I think the boot flag ("Active") is not set on
the WinXP partition.

[Picture] If frame is empty, right-click and select "Reload"

https://i.postimg.cc/wjgDKBVT/MBR-PBR-error-messages.gif

You can use a Windows installer CD, and use "diskpart.exe"
utility on the CD/DVD to emit the "Active" command. You
select the partition, then make it active.

diskpart
list disk
select disk 1
list partition
select partition 1
active
exit

Something like that, would be a Windows solution. I
suppose FDisk probably has a capability like that too.

Active flags are not policed as such. You can set
the Active flag on two partitions if you want, but
the booting logic might not like that, and might
select the wrong one on you. Usually on tools, an
"active" command is a toggle, and turns the flag on
and off if used twice in a row as a command.

Occasionally when physical or virtual disks are cloned,
that Active flag goes missing, so it's not like this
has not happened before.

Paul

On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 22:14:32 +0000, pinnerite wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:38:34 +0000
> Chris Elvidge <chris@mshome.net> wrote:
>
>> On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
>> > I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
>> > I converted it to a VDI with:
>> >
>> > $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
>> >
>> > Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
>> >
>> > Anybody know of a fix?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> Have you tried opening the vmdk file with virtual box?
>>
>> --
>> Chris Elvidge
>> England
>
> I just got and still get "Error opening operating system"

I have had problems is the past trying to open a saved guest during
new VirtualBox releases. Fix was to close/shutdown the guest
the open it.

On 29/01/2022 22:15, pinnerite wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:38:32 +0000
> Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
>>> I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
>>> I converted it to a VDI with:
>>>
>>> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
>>>
>>> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
>>>
>>> Anybody know of a fix?
>>
>> Disk geometry?
>
> How does one translate that into a strategy?

Hmmm...

Do you have the vmdk descriptor file? It's a text file that shows the
original geometry of the virtualised hard drive.

The (rather wordy!) article mentions then using a tool (vbox-img) to
edit the VDI file with those particulars. The author has gone to length
telling about how he came to his conclusions. All you are interested in
is the command vbox-img and what parameter you use.

Don't forget backup before this step!

--
Adrian C

On Sun, 30 Jan 2022 15:14:59 +0000
Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:

> On 29/01/2022 22:15, pinnerite wrote:
> > On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:38:32 +0000
> > Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:
> >
> >> On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
> >>> I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> >>> I converted it to a VDI with:
> >>>
> >>> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
> >>>
> >>> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
> >>>
> >>> Anybody know of a fix?
> >>
> >> Disk geometry?
> >
> > How does one translate that into a strategy?
>
> Hmmm...
>
> Do you have the vmdk descriptor file? It's a text file that shows the
> original geometry of the virtualised hard drive.
>
> The (rather wordy!) article mentions then using a tool (vbox-img) to
> edit the VDI file with those particulars. The author has gone to length
> telling about how he came to his conclusions. All you are interested in
> is the command vbox-img and what parameter you use.
>
> Don't forget backup before this step!
>
> --
> Adrian C

The vmdk file at 40Gb plus in size is the virtual machine file.
I was able to open it (once) in the text editor and bits are in text fomat.

What it showed was cylinders "0", heads "16" and sectors "63".

"0" cylinders is clearly wrong.

So I went to the article:

1) heads x sector x 512 = 8225280

2) ls -l "Windows XP Professional.vmdk"
-rwxr-xr-x 1 alan alan 41232367616 Jan 31 01:34 'Windows XP Professional.vmdk'

gave the file length.

3) 41232367616 / 8225280 = 5012.883162154

5012.883162154 is cylinder value. The article says "round off" but means round down so
the correct cylinder value is 5012.

If I am correct so far that is.

Now my concern is, should I try to "repair" the vmdk or convert to a vdi and then do it?

--
Mint 20.3, kernel 5.4.0-95-generic, Cinnamon 5.2.7
running on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition processor with 16GB of DRAM.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2022 15:11:48 +0000
pinnerite <pinnerite@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, 30 Jan 2022 15:14:59 +0000
> Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:
>
> > On 29/01/2022 22:15, pinnerite wrote:
> > > On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:38:32 +0000
> > > Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:
> > >
> > >> On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
> > >>> I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
> > >>> I converted it to a VDI with:
> > >>>
> > >>> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
> > >>>
> > >>> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
> > >>>
> > >>> Anybody know of a fix?
> > >>
> > >> Disk geometry?
> > >
> > > How does one translate that into a strategy?
> >
> > Hmmm...
> >
> > Do you have the vmdk descriptor file? It's a text file that shows the
> > original geometry of the virtualised hard drive.
> >
> > The (rather wordy!) article mentions then using a tool (vbox-img) to
> > edit the VDI file with those particulars. The author has gone to length
> > telling about how he came to his conclusions. All you are interested in
> > is the command vbox-img and what parameter you use.
> >
> > Don't forget backup before this step!
> >
> > --
> > Adrian C
>
> The vmdk file at 40Gb plus in size is the virtual machine file.
> I was able to open it (once) in the text editor and bits are in text fomat.
>
> What it showed was cylinders "0", heads "16" and sectors "63".
>
> "0" cylinders is clearly wrong.
>
> So I went to the article:
>
> 1) heads x sector x 512 = 8225280
>
> 2) ls -l "Windows XP Professional.vmdk"
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 alan alan 41232367616 Jan 31 01:34 'Windows XP Professional.vmdk'
>
> gave the file length.
>
> 3) 41232367616 / 8225280 = 5012.883162154
>
> 5012.883162154 is cylinder value. The article says "round off" but means round down so
> the correct cylinder value is 5012.
>
> If I am correct so far that is.
>
> Now my concern is, should I try to "repair" the vmdk or convert to a vdi and then do it?
>

Well, I had made a copy of the vdmk and proceeded.

$ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/WinXP_Prof/WinXP_Prof.vdi

followed by:

$ vbox-img geometry --filename WinXP_Prof.vdi --format VDI --cylinders 5012 --heads 255 --sectors 63

Result? No change.

--
Mint 20.3, kernel 5.4.0-95-generic, Cinnamon 5.2.7
running on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition processor with 16GB of DRAM.

On 1/31/2022 11:35 AM, pinnerite wrote:
> On Mon, 31 Jan 2022 15:11:48 +0000
> pinnerite <pinnerite@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 30 Jan 2022 15:14:59 +0000
>> Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> On 29/01/2022 22:15, pinnerite wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 18:38:32 +0000
>>>> Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 29/01/2022 17:20, pinnerite wrote:
>>>>>> I had a Windows XP virtual machine (vmdx) running under VMware.
>>>>>> I converted it to a VDI with:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/Win_XP_prof/Win_XP_Prof.vdi
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Now when I try to open the VDI from VirtualBox, I get "Error opening operating system".
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anybody know of a fix?
>>>>>
>>>>> Disk geometry?
>>>>
>>>> How does one translate that into a strategy?
>>>
>>> Hmmm...
>>>
>>> Do you have the vmdk descriptor file? It's a text file that shows the
>>> original geometry of the virtualised hard drive.
>>>
>>> The (rather wordy!) article mentions then using a tool (vbox-img) to
>>> edit the VDI file with those particulars. The author has gone to length
>>> telling about how he came to his conclusions. All you are interested in
>>> is the command vbox-img and what parameter you use.
>>>
>>> Don't forget backup before this step!
>>>
>>> --
>>> Adrian C
>>
>> The vmdk file at 40Gb plus in size is the virtual machine file.
>> I was able to open it (once) in the text editor and bits are in text fomat.
>>
>> What it showed was cylinders "0", heads "16" and sectors "63".
>>
>> "0" cylinders is clearly wrong.
>>
>> So I went to the article:
>>
>> 1) heads x sector x 512 = 8225280
>>
>> 2) ls -l "Windows XP Professional.vmdk"
>> -rwxr-xr-x 1 alan alan 41232367616 Jan 31 01:34 'Windows XP Professional.vmdk'
>>
>> gave the file length.
>>
>> 3) 41232367616 / 8225280 = 5012.883162154
>>
>> 5012.883162154 is cylinder value. The article says "round off" but means round down so
>> the correct cylinder value is 5012.
>>
>> If I am correct so far that is.
>>
>> Now my concern is, should I try to "repair" the vmdk or convert to a vdi and then do it?
>>
>
> Well, I had made a copy of the vdmk and proceeded.
>
> $ VBoxManage clonehd --format VDI "Windows XP Professional.vmdk" /home/<me>/"VirtualBox VMs"/WinXP_Prof/WinXP_Prof.vdi
>
> followed by:
>
> $ vbox-img geometry --filename WinXP_Prof.vdi --format VDI --cylinders 5012 --heads 255 --sectors 63
>
> Result? No change.

On my WinXP VHDK, I provided a picture. The install in this one,
is in the first partition. If the image frame does not render,
right-click and select "Reload" to load the image portion.

https://i.postimg.cc/wjgDKBVT/MBR-PBR-error-messages.gif

This page shows the partition table offset in an MBR.

https://wiki.osdev.org/Partition_Table

Partition 1 0x01BE (446) <=== mine is the first partition
Partition 2 0x01CE (462)
Partition 3 0x01DE (478)
Partition 4 0x01EE (494)

At my 0x1BE (in the PostImg), you can see the number "0x80" there.

Element (offset) Size Description

0 byte Boot indicator bit flag: 0 = no, 0x80 = bootable (or "active") <=== my 0x80 at 0x1BE means "Active"

Using a hex editor, with the container mounted in a VM,
check that you have at least one partition which
is active.

If you want to be crude and tool-free about it,
you can edit the MBR with your hex editor and
try changing it. But that's what I would use PTEDIT32.exe
for or try with fdisk, not wanting to be doing byte edits
like that. But when I've had to do them, I have done them
with a hex editor. It's not that scary.

The OS you've selected, has few enough options, that fixing
this should be (relatively) easy, compared to some of the
more complicated messes you could get into.

You can mount multiple virtual disks inside a VM, so you
can use one (rescue) OS to work on the second (buggered) drive.
When you unpack a freeVM here, for a VirtualBox series the
file extension should be .ova which is a virtualization appliance.
When you open that in VirtualBox, it unpacks to a new vm. Then,
you go into the settings of the new VM, and add your damaged disk
as the second disk, then use whatever tools you feel like on it.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140622005513/https://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads

These self-extracting winrar, usually the EXE part (the SFX engine) is a
10MB file, the other files are 1,048,576,000 bytes each, the very last
part file is the fractional one which is less than 1,048,576,000 bytes.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140503002932/https://az412801.vo.msecnd.net/vhd/VMBuild_20131127/VirtualBox/IE8_WinXP/Windows/IE8.WinXP.For.WindowsVirtualBox.part001.exe
https://web.archive.org/web/20140503002935/https://az412801.vo.msecnd.net/vhd/VMBuild_20131127/VirtualBox/IE8_WinXP/Windows/IE8.WinXP.For.WindowsVirtualBox.part002.rar
https://web.archive.org/web/20140622005513/https://az412801.vo.msecnd.net/vhd/VMBuild_20131127/VirtualBox/IE8_WinXP/Windows/IE8.WinXP.For.WindowsVirtualBox.part003.rar

MD5 Checksums (as shown on the web page) are
a8fa12af06c8cb9efe8096a7e513eba7
12e17181a5dd29d56f8d9e90a3a0d7b6
def485fb7cf8e303245e443430d1c2cb

The grace period is 30 days, there should be two re-arms
to give a total of 90 days usage.

Paul