Migrated Windows virtual machine boots into the BSOD/System Repair screen

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Symptoms

After the successful migration a Windows virtual machine boots into the Blue screen of Death (BSOD) or System Repair screen:

Cause

Conflicting drivers/interface configuration.

Resolution

NOTE: Before proceeding with the further actions please create a backup of the virtual machine .pvm bundle.

  1. Launch Parallels Desktop but do not start a migrated virtual machine.

  2. Open your virtual machine's configuration > Hardware > Boot Order and add the following string into the Boot Flags field:

    vm.compat_level=2
    
  3. Boot virtual machine in Recovery mode:

     4. Using the Command Prompt switch to C:\Windows\system32\config folder.

Note: in some cases, Windows can be installed on a drive D:\ or some other letter. It depends on your particular setting.

The output should be similar to:

You need to find the drive letter where OS is installed (from the example above, this is drive E:).

     5. Load the SYSTEM registry hive:

reg load hklm\fix_SYSTEM SYSTEM 

     6. Launch Registry Editor to make necessary changes:

regedit.exe

and hit Return in order to start Registry Editor.

     7. Find and edit the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\fix_SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}

     8. Repeat step 7 for the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Class\{4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}

     9. Close Registry Editor, return to Command Prompt and unload the SYSTEM hive:

reg unload hklm\fix_SYSTEM

   10. Restart the virtual machine. Once you confirm that it boots fine, revert the changes performed in step 2.

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