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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels Apps
I bought my wife a new iMac last week, in part to use Windows and a specific Windows application that she works with occasionally, and to get rid of the aging PCs we have for that purpose. I wanted to install Parallels, and tried doing so with a version of XP Home that I had on one of our PCs. I tried on her iMac, but the Windows installer kept rebooting shortly after it started. It would start the installation, then restart to the black screen, the restart the installation, and so on. I then tried the same thing on my Mac Pro, to no success.

Nothing on the Parallels web site provided any solution, nor did a post to the forum. But today, a colleague told me that he had a similar problem installing Vista in Parallels on a Mac that only had 512 MB of RAM. Both the iMac and my Mac Pro have 2 GB RAM, so that didn't seem to be the problem.

So, I saw that there was an update to Parallels today. I downloaded it and tried again, but to no avail. Then I wondered if the RAM could be preventing the installation. After the installer rebooted, I shut down the virtual machine, then set its RAM to 1024 MB (by default, when running an "express" installation, Parallels allocates only 512 MB to the VM).

I then tried installing XP Home. At first, the installation went further than my previous tries, but then it stalled again. I ended up relaunching the VM and restarting the installation about ten times -- using the custom install method -- and finally got it to work, but in the process saw all kinds of errors: some related to memory (read or write errors), others saying certain drivers couldn't be found or installed, and one showing a blue screen with a lot of text, talking about a specific error which I just managed to get a screen shot of before Parallels switched back to the VM configuration screen. So, allocating more memory did work, but did not seem to resolve the problem entirely. Perhaps there's a sweet spot for memory that I didn't find?

Curiously, when I installed a first VM on my Mac Pro last year - with the previous release build of Parallels - I had no problem. I assume that something in this build is managing RAM differently. If you have this problem, try increasing the RAM during the installation; you can always lower it, if necessary, once the VM is set up. You may or may not have similar installation problems as I did--in fact, if others have had this problem, do mention it in the comments.
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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: dan55304 on Mar 13, '07 08:21:40AM

Where's the hint here? Keep trying more memory for an error ridden install?

I thought the Home Edition license agreements prohibit installation on a VM.



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: jcbeckman on Mar 13, '07 08:32:45AM

Vista, not XP, license prevents the low-end versions from being virtualized.



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: BogeyMan on Mar 13, '07 11:13:00AM

AFAIK, there's no EULA restriction on installing XP variants in a VM, it's Vista that added the EULA restriction.



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: ddauerbach on Mar 14, '07 04:34:23PM

A another Parallels installation quest: DOS. Any ideas how to install DOS (yes DOS) and have the DOS system be able to see a some drive or other (if only a USB, though a shared drive of some sort would be great.)



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: müzso on Mar 13, '07 11:13:43AM
I had also problems installing Windows XP Pro in Parallels ... just until a friend suggested that I try it with an install CD that has SP2 (Service Pack 2) integrated into it. This helped, I could install XP without any errors. However this was with a beta version in the past, but this might help with problems with current version too.
I've added some links here to pages describing how to make an SP2 install CD from a standard (no SP) install CD and the downloadable SP installer.

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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: kirkmc on Mar 13, '07 12:01:42PM

The copy of XP Home I have doesn't have SP2, but my Pro does. I wasn't able to install Pro either when I started this whole mess. (I gave up, because I really needed to install Home.)

Kirk

---
Read my blog: Kirkville -- http://www.mcelhearn.com
Musings, Opinion and Miscellanea, on Macs, iPods and more



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: ershler on Mar 13, '07 12:03:44PM

From the beginning, the Parallels documentation for installing XP clearly stated that one must use an SP2 disk. Using an SP1 disk and then updating with SP2 would not work.



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: kirkmc on Mar 13, '07 12:55:13PM

From the Parallels manual:

The current version of Parallels Desktop officially supports the following guest operating systems:
Microsoft Windows Guest Operating Systems:
<snip>
Windows XP SP2 Professional
Windows XP SP2 Home
Windows XP SP1 Professional
Windows XP SP1 Home

And, as I said, my attempts to install with the latest release of Parallels included trying with an XP Pro SP2.

Kirk

---
Read my blog: Kirkville -- http://www.mcelhearn.com
Musings, Opinion and Miscellanea, on Macs, iPods and more



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: axyercat on May 03, '07 01:09:35PM

My (printed) documentation reads that XP "SP0/SP1/SP2" are supported. page 10. Is this different from online dox? (yes I'm lazy)



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: rspeed on Mar 13, '07 02:29:38PM

You're confusing it with Boot Camp. That requires SP2.



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: Little Neddy on Mar 13, '07 01:20:47PM
Had the same problems on a couple of machines.

One had a dodgy drive; replaced that and problem fixed.

The other I did an apple ][ trick as the drive was new: copy the cd on that machine and it worked. (I guess something to do with alignment...)

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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: siriusbeat on Apr 06, '07 05:34:06AM

I had this problem as well with Parallels build 3186. Every time I tried to install Windows XP using the automated install it would crash part of the way through the install and then try to restart the installation from where it left off. I eventually setup a custom VM accepting all the defaults, except that I used bridged networking rather than the shared networking that the automated install uses. That seemed to do the trick for me. After that I started the VM and was able to do the standard Windows XP install and had no problems installing the Parallels Tools.



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: daa on Apr 20, '07 05:55:53AM

Same problem with build 3188. Buried in the instruction manual is a short quip about using a disk image if you have problems installing the guest OS from a disk. It's not too painful & quick once you create the image:
1) Use the Parallels Image Tool that comes with build 3188 to make an image of the XP install disk and save it somewhere on your hard drive.
2) Run the "Windows Express" installation
3) Under the window "Insert Windows XP Installation CD..." click "more options" and select ISO image and find the file you made in 1)
4) Remainder of the install is normal
5) After the install, go to the configuration editor and click "CD/DVD-ROM" then under "Emulation" select the "Use CD/DVD-ROM" button so Parallels/WinXP goes back to using CDs/DVDs in the drive rather than the image you created for the install.



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: palmharbor on Apr 28, '09 04:02:39PM

Well, I have been working on installing 3.0 for about 4 days now.
This is the worst software I have ever used in my 15 years of
using Mac OS. I tried what you said but it did not do it for me.
I get to Bill Gates license agreement on XP where you have to
say, "yes Bill I accept or agreement" Or no and what happens
is that the cursor disappears. When control and option together
it comes back but the page is stuck on that f_ ______ agreement
and it does not go anywhere. I have exchanged e mails (12) with
Gupta who works for Paralles in India to no avail. I would like to
see the FTC crack down on these firms that sell software that has tons of bugs.



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A possible fix for an XP installation problem with Parallels
Authored by: palmharbor on May 06, '09 12:15:19PM

Well, I have been trying to get Windows 7 with Paralles 3.0.
I had no luck, finally I get the last of 10 e mails from tech
support who said to download a mac application so they
could remotely install it plus my phone number. Last night
I got a call from the company located in Siberia! After
2 hours of trying...she was unable to make her product
work!!!!!
The mfg. of this software turns out to be a Russian firm.



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