Installing OS to VPC

[Jhay116]

Ok, I've been having a small problem installing an OS onto my Virtual PC (On the other computer).

I've easily gotten the program itself installed, but I can't get it past the "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device" screen.

Any help?

[agrarianmonk]

so when you boot the virtual machine up, you need to have a disk to install windows (like your windows xp or 2000 disk). then the screen will ask you if you want to boot from cd (or it will directly boot from the cd)

installing windows on your virtual machine is exactly like installing it on a regular machine.

[Jhay116]

Hmm, I tried that.

I also tried setting the CD/DVD Drive as the Primary controller (the default is secondary).

Also, I tried running it with the CD already in, and tried it entering the cd when it asked for it.

Lastly, I tried hitting 'Del' and trying to set it to boot from CD, but that didnt seem to have an effect.

By the way, thanks for the quick response agragarianmonk

[agrarianmonk]

hmm...is your VPC not detecting your CD drive? that appears to be the problem.

[Jhay116]

Well I think it is,, on the upper bar, the 'CD' part isn't blanked out, and it allows me to "use physical drive E:", which i've done every time--otherwise, it skips over it.

[Jhay116]

I guess I sort of solved it.

VPC worked on my Apple, so I just moved the hard drive image to my pC. (gigantically big=very long time to move )

But yes, if anybody has any other ideas, I'm still game.

Thanks.

[hillbillycj]

What OS are you trying to install?

I have been playing with this for a few days, installed Dos 6, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98SE, Windows ME, and Windows 2000. I encountered a couple of problems, symptoms exactly like yours.

The only ones I had trouble with were Win95 and ME. After tinkering with them for a while, I got Win95 installed by installing DOS first then Win3.1 and upgrading. WinME Was a problem to start with, gave me similar trouble to that which you describe.... until I decided maybe I needed to format the virtual hard drive first, instead of having the installer do it as part of the install. That overcame the obstacle. The OS installed without a hitch after that.

Another quirk I discovered was clicking on "Action" then "Install or Update Virtual Machine Additions." That loads a virtual ISO image to your Virtual CD. If you did that (like I did):roll: you can't use the virtual CD for anything else until you unmount that image or release it. That's the other problem I discovered while trying to install ME.. got there in the end though.

Hope that helps...

HCJ

[kao321]

I did mine by doing this:

open VPC; wait till the boot with CD part and THEN put the CD in... dont put it in before i think