Running 16 bit software under XP

[alansecker]

I have been successfully running an important Clipper (DOS) program under XP both in native aand under VMware but now having trouble under VirtualBox. On execution, it crashes XP and reboots it. Something is written across the window before being obliterated but overwritten too quickly for me to read it. Would it have been written to an accessible log file?
Is this an already recognised problem?

[Perryg]

Set Windows to not reboot on failure. Then you should be able to read it.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/usin ... may13.mspx

[alansecker]

I tried that. The result was less than useful. See attached. Before this exercise I copied an XP vdi from my office machine to my domestic machine. When I ran it, it behaved exactly like the existing XP vdi that was already there, yet on my office machine, this problem does not arise. Is it likely that the hardware environment is affecting it?

Both machines are running Mandriva Linux 2010. One is a 2-core AMD machine with 2Gb of RAM the other an 4-core AMD machine with 4GB of RAM. Since the virtual machine is what XP sees, how come it behaves differently.

The environment variables are identical too. I'm stumped.

[Perryg]

What is the version of VirtualBox?
Was VirtualBox upgraded before this happened? If so what version were you using or what version was the VM working on?
Is the XP VM 32 or 64 bit?

[alansecker]

The VirtualBox version is 3.0.12 r54655
The host system is 64 bit Mandriva 2010 running either kernel 2.6.31.5 or 6
The guest is a 32-bit Windows XP.
Although this is a brand new system, I have also been working on two others and one of them was upgraded from VBox 3.0.6. I do not think it was this one as 3.0.6 was not available from the distro repository. I noticed while looking that there seems to be much more support for version 3.0.8 on this distro's repository, including an Open Source Edition (OSE). I was wondering whether to try one of those. What do you reckon?

Oh! I ran memtest86 for half the night. No errors were reported.
Thanks for your support.

[Perryg]

Some common problem when moving a 32 bit Windows guest between machines are the settings.
bios settings (hardware-v), IO APIC, and VT-x/AMD-v are the most critical. Make sure they match the original.
The screen you are seeing suggests a change that Windows can not deal with.

[alansecker]

You may recall that one copy of XP was installed on this machine. The second copy was ported from another machine only because on the other machine it worked fine. I have now removed it.

I have double checked the VirtualBox settings and they are identical on both systems.

I decided to uninstal VirtualBox and installed the OSE version.. No improvement.
I'm at my wits end!

[Perryg]

Lets try this.
In a host terminal/command windows VBoxManage showvminfo <VM Name> and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM. Use "" if the name has a space in it.

[alansecker]

Thanks. Here's the result. Bizarre though as I was in the 'Machines' directory. See the initial 'ls' result:

[quote[root@localhost Machines]# ls
Win98/ Win98VM/ WinXP_PRO/
[root@localhost Machines]# VBoxManage showvminfo WinXP_PRO
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.1.2
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

ERROR: Could not find a registered machine named 'WinXP_PRO'
Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
Context: "FindMachine (Bstr(VMNameOrUuid), machine.asOutParam())" at line 2017 of file VBoxManageInfo.cpp
[root@localhost Machines]#
/quote]

[Perryg]

OK Lets try this a little differently.
When you installed VirtualBox, did you install it as root or as you running SU? (SuperUser in Mandriva)
Normally you would install this as you and in terminal you would type SU and then your password.
If however you did this as root then you have a problem. It will only work as long as you are logged on as root.
If however you logged in as you then you need to run the command (VBoxManage) as you.
Also make sure that your login is in the vboxusers group.

[alansecker]

I probably installed VirtualBox as 'root', I usually do when installing programs.

However, whether I run VBoxManage as myself or as 'root' generates the same result.

All of the contents of $HOME/.VirtualBox have me as user and as group. That includes sub-folders and their contents. The 'Machine' name is WinXP_PRO, the HardDisk name is WinXP.vdi

Should any of them be flagged as executable?

[Perryg]

What does typing ID in terminal show you?
Does it show vboxusers?
You see the shear fact that you can not run VBoxManage showvminfo WinXP_PRO shows there is a real problem.

Here is how I install VirtualBox in a Linux system:
1) Make sure that I have the necessary extra files to be able to build kernel modules.
2) in a terminal I type in su <enter> put in my password <enter> (sudo -i if using Ubuntu)
3) I install dkms so the kernel module rebuilds when the kernel image is updated.
4) then I run the install for VirtualBox.
5) I add my login name to the vboxusers group.
6) then reboot.
This places the program files where they need to go and also puts the rest in my home folder under .virtualbox
This way I can run the program without being in root or SU mode to get it to work.

[alansecker]

"What does typing ID in terminal show you?"

Just ID? Surely you mean more than that? Alone it is unrecognised in Mandriva.

"You see that the shear fact that you can not run VBoxManage showvminfo WinXP_PRO shows there is a real problem.

Here is how I install VirtualBox in a Linux system:
1) Make sure that I have the necessary extra files to be able to build kernel modules."

The kernel modules have always built without difficulty.

2) in a terminal I type in su <enter> put in my password <enter> (sudo -i if using Ubuntu)

I do so under su -

3) I install dkms so the kernel module rebuilds when the kernel image is updated.

I have not done this but will do so in future.

"4) then I run the install for VirtualBox."

If you are doing this under sudo or su, then you are installing as 'root'. No difference to my approach which always goes through effortlessly.

5) I add my login name to the vboxusers group.

I have never had to do this manually. It always seems to get added automatically!

"6) then reboot.
This places the program files where they need to go and also puts the rest in my home folder under .virtualbox This way I can run the program without being in root or SU mode to get it to work."

The program has always worked but my 16 bit programs running under WinXP crash it on my development machine but not on my work machine! That is the purpose of this thread. I am going to regenerate VB yet again t see if there is any improvement.

[alansecker]

Follow up:

DKMS had been installed all along. I had not been aware of it.

This is the reintall log:

[root@localhost Programs]# ./VirtualBox-3.1.2-56127-Linux_amd64.run
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox for Linux installation.........
VirtualBox Version 3.1.2 r56127 (2009-12-17T13:42:09Z) installer
Removing previous installation of VirtualBox 3.1.2 r56127 from /opt/VirtualBox
Installing VirtualBox to /opt/VirtualBox
tar: Record size = 8 blocks
Python found: python, installing bindings...
Building the VirtualBox vboxdrv kernel module
Building the VirtualBox netflt kernel module
Building the VirtualBox netadp kernel module

VirtualBox has been installed successfully.

You will find useful information about using VirtualBox in the user manual
/opt/VirtualBox/UserManual.pdf
and in the user FAQ
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/User_FAQ

We hope that you enjoy using VirtualBox.

Re-test as before:

[root@localhost Programs]# VBoxManage showvminfo WinXP_PRO
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.1.2
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

ERROR: Could not find a registered machine named 'WinXP_PRO'
Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
Context: "FindMachine (Bstr(VMNameOrUuid), machine.asOutParam())" at line 2017 of file VBoxManageInfo.cpp

Same result.

When I ran XP from within VirtualBox, as soon as I started the DOS program, XP froze but the previous white on blue screen (shown in an earlier post above) appeared in white on black in a terminal. XP had to be terminated.

Thanks for your help, hopefully there is an explanation.

[Perryg]

There is one other thing that might be causing problems.
Mandriva comes with the guest additions pre-installed. At least the last few times that I installed it.
It has been described that running the guest additions in the host can cause problems.
See if they are installed in the host and if so try removing them and see if it helps.
Other than that I am at a loss