Virtual WindowsXP won't start after adding parallel port

[Voxik]

Hello.

Host System: Windows 7 Pro, 64bit
VirtualBox: 5.1.8 r111374 (Qt5.5.1)

I am trying to run WindowsXP as to run legacy CodeWarrior and load the Motorola MCU via the parallel port.

After the first try (new clean installation), the Windows XP started normally within seconds, so according to Enabling and Configuring Parallel (LPTx) Ports i tried to add parallel port. On the host it is LPT1 at 0x0378.
When I start the guest system now it just goes to the "starting virtual machine ... 0%", in Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager, there is "starting virtual machine... (2/2) " stuck at 20%, after several minutes I got bored

If I kill the process via task manager and try

Code: Select all

--lpt1 off

then the virtual starts again normally

If I try

Code: Select all

--lptmode1 LPT2

it quits with Parallel#0 could not open 'LPT2' (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND). Parallel device 0 cannot attach to host driver (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND). which is understandable as there is no LPT2 on the host. So I pressume that the LPT1 was OK

Am I missing something?

Thanks for the reply

[mpack]

So I presume that the LPT1 was OK

You shouldn't have to guess. Is LPT1 correct or is it not? Look in the "Ports" branch of your hosts Device Manager to find out what serial and LPT devices are currently present.

LPT1 is usually either not present, or it refers to the first LPT on the host motherboard. Is that what you intended?

Incidentally, it is normal practice to add a colon to a legacy windows device name, as technically speaking LPT1 is a disk file, "LPT1:" is the first LPT device. The tutorial example shows this, and also shows quotes around the device name, otherwise some hosts might have a problem with the colon.

[Voxik]

There indeed is just one LPT port named LPT1 residing at 0x378 at host.

When I add the semicolon to --lptmode1 "LPT1:" it gives me HostParallel#0: Could not get direct access to the host parallel port!! (rc=VERR_INTERNAL_ERROR_3) (VERR_INTERNAL_ERROR_3).
Parallel device 0 cannot attach to host driver (VERR_INTERNAL_ERROR_3).
Návratový kód:
E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Komponenta:
ConsoleWrap
Rozhraní:
IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}

[mpack]

We don't actually care what I/O address is used on the host - that fact was covered in the tutorial. The only thing we care about on the host is the name of the device, i.e. "LPT1:" if you are correct.

I would interpret "Could not get access" as meaning that the port is already in use. Obviously legacy devices such as COM and LPT can't be shared. Make sure you haven't installed something like a printer driver on the host which grabs that port on host boot.