Windows Server 2012 VM won't boot » cyberfella ltd, since 2012.

Having reluctantly agreed to spending £260 of company funds on a Microsoft Action Pack subscription, I thought I might as well familiarise myself with Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8. What more convenient way than to use Oracle Virtualbox on my Ubuntu powered Dell XPS 13? sudo apt-get install virtualbox took care of installing that.

I created a new VM and pointed the virtual optical device at the Windows 8 .img file (that I had to rename to .iso) and it booted and installed fine, and was ready for use in literally a few moments which I found impressive (I shall delve deeper into the OS later and try to appreciate its merits rather than look to criticize its faults)

Windows 2012 Server however did not, throwing its toys in the air at the first opportunity with a cryptic oxc0000225 error.

This is easily fixed by powering the VM off, and ticking the Enable IO APIC setting.

Once this is enabled, the VM can boot fine and you’re soon prompted to “Install now”. The installation wizard is almost identical to that of Windows 8, and completes just as rapidly.