Software not running on Virtualbox

Jon R · Post by **Jon R** » 26. Nov 2008, 23:42

My PC is an ACER Aspire One, 120Gb hard drive, 1.5Gb ram, Windows XP Pro SP3.

I am using Windows XP Pro guests all at a minimum SP2. The hard disks are set to be dynamically expanding.

I have two network interfaces installed. NAT and also a host interace depending on what I need to use at the time. I also have USB support enabled.

I have recently tried to install some automation software on a Virtualbox guest, but it crashed Windows XP Pro on startup. The software I have been trying to install is Beckhoff TwinCAT, not the most popular I know.

At first I thought this may be due to the nlited version of XP I was using, so I found a normal version and tried using that instead, but the same issue occurs.

I know that TwinCAT modifies the Windows kernel as it is designed as an industrial PC automation system, would this be the cause of the issue?

I have got round the issue for now by using VirtualPC, with the same nlited verison of XP I tried under Virtualbox.

Obviously it would be nice if I could use Virtualbox, as it has more features than VirtualPC, but I just wondered if anyone could shed any light on the issue.

Jon.

Jon R · Post by **Jon R** » 8. Dec 2008, 17:57

Has anyone got any ideas for this?

I tried it again last night with IO APIC and PAE/NX enabled but still no joy.

Thanks,

Jon.

Post by **TerryE** » 8. Dec 2008, 18:06

How does Beckhoff talk to the PNCs? Are these through serial ports or through a special to purpose I/O board. In this second case, the VMM will not virtualise these and any attempt of the application to talk to their I/O ports will not be handled by the VMM.

Have you tried VMware Server? Does this crash as well?

Jon R · Post by **Jon R** » 8. Dec 2008, 19:03

The Beckhoff software talks to it's I/O through ethernet.

Haven't tried it on VMWare Server but managed to get XP to load in MS VirtualPC.

Basically, in Virtualbox I can log in to Windows and then everything looks like it is going to boot up but the system just hangs, so I have to close the virtual machine. I have verified it is not the XP install I am using as I used the same one in VirtualPC.

I know TwinCAT makes modifications to the Windows system to allow it access to the kernel, for things like remote shutdown and user control.

Unfortunately I don't know enough about either VirtualPC or Virtualbox to work put what is going wrong. I would like to get it working in Virtualbox as I am trying to migrate to Linux, but still need these apps so Vbox is the ideal solution.

Jon

Jon R · Post by **Jon R** » 8. Dec 2008, 21:56

I have had the same results trying this on a Linux host (Mandriva One 2009).

Jon

Post by **SSCBrian** » 9. Dec 2008, 18:01

Jon R wrote:I know that TwinCAT modifies the Windows kernel as it is designed as an industrial PC automation system, would this be the cause of the issue?

Possibly. Installing different/updated kernels on Solaris was capable of breaking VBox...

Post by **TerryE** » 10. Dec 2008, 02:45

Sorry Jon, but I am not sure that I can help more with this limited info.

Jon R · Post by **Jon R** » 10. Dec 2008, 17:17

What further info can I give you?

I am still a bit of a noob at virtualbox, my skills extend to configuring, but if there is anything I can do to give you more information I will gladly do what I can.

Jon

Jon R · Post by **Jon R** » 31. Dec 2008, 18:32

Not sure what has specifically changed with Virtualbox 2.1 from 2.06 but TwinCAT now runs inside my guest.

Thanks to the Virtualbox team.

Jon.

virtualbox.org

Software not running on Virtualbox

Software not running on Virtualbox

Re: Software not running on Virtualbox