Professional help needed

[LandyMan]

After not being able to work for almost 2 days now, and reading through multiple pages on the web, I decided to come here and ask the professionals

I had a major failure on my || VM on Wednesday. Managed to repair quite a few things, but the last issue seems to be a Parallels Tools issue.

The VM boots, shows the Windows Logo, and goes blank after that. Same applies for the Safe Mode options (although it does display the 4 Safe Mode indicators in the corners).

From what I can pick up, it appears that the || Tools video driver is not loading properly (probably killed it with the standard Windows repair process).

I have two options (but I don't know how to actually do it):
[Keep in mind, I have a backup VM with the exact config, not software, as the one that died]

1. restore the registry points from the backup into the broken one - not even sure if it is possible.
2. Reinstall || Tools from the Recovery console somehow?

Oh, when I run the Backup VM, the other VM hdd is connected as second hdd, so I can get to all the files and what not - which actually brings us to a third option: reinstall || tools with the second hdd as target - also don't know how to do this

Thanks guys,
May the frogs be with you

 

[The_Unbeliever]

ribbit?

Can you make a backup of the VM hard drive?

If so, do make a backup copy.

Then : Restart in safe mode and try restoring from the backup points.

If you can't do that, then do a reinstall from the XP CD. This will overwrite the corrupt drivers (hopefully). Don't run the Console, just a plain reinstall without formatting. (That's what the backup is for - incase windows messes up).

Hopes it helps.

Ribbit.

 

[LandyMan]

Libs, been there done that.

I did a repair install, which got it to the point that I can actually boot again, but into a blank screen. Safe mode also boots into blank screen, so does Last known good config.

So, if I cannot use the recovery console or the backup XP VM to get the video drivers removed/reinstalled, I will have to rebuild my system from the backup VM

 

[LandyMan]

Is there a way to get to another installations registry?

 

[Random717]

If you've made a backup, perhaps try copying the windows directory and the registry files from the VM that works?

 

[LandyMan]

If you've made a backup, perhaps try copying the windows directory and the registry files from the VM that works?

Backup was basically a "blank" backup .. just after creating the VM and loading all the patches. So a copy of Windows directory will impact quite a bit.

Registry files ... where can I find those? A manual hack might do the trick

 

[Random717]

i have new respect for wikipedia

Try replace the %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\system file. It contains all the hardware registry settings, so it should be identical to the working VM unless you've added extra hardware somehow?
I think copying the contents of the working %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\ might be useful as well...