Problems with Floppy Drivers

[pthfdr]

There is a problem when I run FreeDOS on VirtualBox.I boot the system from (virtual) Drive A:,However,when I add another image for Drive B: and trying to switch to B: it says insert a floppy into B: and press a key. I pressed space and it switched to B: but the contents are the same as A:.

Code: Select all

FreeDOS HIMEM64 3.11 [Sep 11 2005] (c) 1995, Till Gerken 2001-2005 tom ehlert
HIMEM - BIOS A20 method used
EMM386 2.05 [Sep 19 2005] (c) tom ehlert 2001-2005 c't/H.Albrecht 1990
selected page frame e000 not available, searching automatically
using PAGEFRAME d200:0000

XDMA V1.5, 22-Aug-2005.
UltraDMA controller at I-O address D000h,Chip I.D. 80867111h.
Primary-master disk is VBOX HARDDISK, ATA-33.
Kernel: alocated 40 Diskbuffers = 21280 Bytes in HMA

FreeCom version 0.84-pre XMS_Swap [Sep 03 2005 16:11:40]

CuteMouse v1.9.1 alpha 1 [FreeDOS]
Installed at PS/2 port

A:\>dir
(a list of files)
A:\>

(Insert a blank formatted image to "floppy device 1",now both "floppy devices" is occupied)

Code: Select all

A:\>B:


Insert diskette for drive B: and press any key when ready

B:\>dir
(the same content,Volume name and serial number as drive A:)

So that thing makes installing softwares from B: impossible.To make things worse,it seems that every system that involves floppies has the same problem:Drive B: is ignored and displaying the contents of Drive A:.

[mpack]

That sounds like standard DOS behaviour: if the PC only has one drive then DOS emulates two drives and prompts you to change disks when the program accesses the "other drive".

Shut down your VM and add a second floppy drive.

[pthfdr]

No.I have both "Floppy Device 0" and "Floppy Device 1" enabled under "Controller:Floppy" in Storage settings.
It has TWO drives:"A:" and "B:".

[mpack]

Well, maybe FreeDOS doesn't know that, because as I said the behaviour is normal for a single floppy drive DOS system. In fact you can see for yourself that it's the guest itself that gives you the prompt.

[pthfdr]

No.That FreeDOS floppy image supports two floppy drives.
That "press any key" prompt happens AFTER I insert a second floppy.
I tried to start the VM with two floppies already attached,but it does not work.
I think this is a problem of VirtualBox itself,because I have a Windows 98 VM and and there is the same problem.

[dlharper]

I have found this problem with MS-DOS as well. I have not found any way to use two floppies, and gave up trying some time ago. It means you cannot run DOS 1 sensibly under VirtalBox, but otherwise there is usually a way round.

[michaln]

This will be fixed in some upcoming maintenance release. VirtualBox does not correctly set CMOS byte 14h.

[ak120]

That sounds great. I had the same problems with old IBM PC DOS versions. I'm not sure about CP/M-86 and CCP/M-86. Another strange problem is with file names for floppy images, I need to rename them to *.img extension otherwise GUI is complaining.

[pthfdr]

And .DSK names works too.

[michaln]

Another strange problem is with file names for floppy images, I need to rename them to *.img extension otherwise GUI is complaining.

Rename from what?

[ak120]

From any filename thats not "recognized" by extension the DOS-way.

Just an example to reproduce this behaviour:

Die Diskettenabbilddatei D:\Virtualbox\VM-NDIS2.vfd.720 konnte nicht geöffnet werden.

Could not get the storage format of the medium 'D:\Virtualbox\VM-NDIS2.vfd.720' (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED).

Fehlercode:VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80BB0005)
Komponente:Medium
Interface:IMedium {05f2bbb6-a3a6-4fb9-9b49-6d0dda7142ac}
Callee:IVirtualBox {fafa4e17-1ee2-4905-a10e-fe7c18bf5554}
Callee RC:VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)

[socratis]

From the source code, /VirtualBox-5.0.12/src/VBox/Storage/RAW.cpp, lines 88-98:

static const VDFILEEXTENSION s_aRawFileExtensions[] =
{
    {"iso", VDTYPE_DVD},
    {"cdr", VDTYPE_DVD},
    {"img", VDTYPE_FLOPPY},
    {"ima", VDTYPE_FLOPPY},
    {"dsk", VDTYPE_FLOPPY},
    {"flp", VDTYPE_FLOPPY},
    {"vfd", VDTYPE_FLOPPY},
    {NULL, VDTYPE_INVALID}
};

So, it would seem that the extensions recognized as floppy disks are the 5 mentioned above: .img, .ima, .dsk, .flp and .vfd. I guess .720 is not one of them. You could rename "VM-NDIS2.vfd.720" to "VM-NDIS2.720.vfd" and be all set, or change the source code and recompile VBox. I don't believe that the devs would allow any arbitrary file extension (like .bmp or .exe) to be treated as a floppy.

[mpack]

Bear in mind that VirtualBox only supports raw floppies images, whereas some of the floppy formats you see online are compressed. Additionally, since floppy formats are raw there is precious little validation that VBox can perform, so having an acceptable extension is more important, along with the file having the exact expected size (for the drive type in the VM recipe).

In this case I assume .720 indicates a single sided 3.25" floppy image.

IMHO, while it isn't strictly necessary to abide by DOS naming constraints, I would find it peculiar for a DOS related file to have a double extension. I assume that ".vfd" was the actual extension.

[Yoda]

In this case I assume .720 indicates a single sided 3.25" floppy image.

Really ? I have seen 3" and 3,5", but never a 3.25" floppy

[ak120]

In this case I assume .720 indicates a single sided 3.25" floppy image.

720K DD is a double sided encoding used by 2", 3" or 3,5" floppy drives. But that's not the topic. Limitations of file names for floppy images should be at least mentioned somewhere in user documentation?