Some windows Install CDs will not autorun

[Adam912]

Many of my Win XP Install CDs autorun fine in the VM, such as Office and Nero.
Others, such as Corel Draw, not only will not autorun when inserted, but when I try to run the autorun.exe file manually, inform me that "d:\autorun.exe is not a valid Windows file".
Can anyone explain to me what's going on here?

System is Debian host with Windows XP SP3 as guest.

[socratis]

You might get much better help in a forum that does not deal with hardware virtualization, such as a Windows forum.
Or maybe you have a corrupted CD?

[Adam912]

Uh, no. I thought I was fairly clear in my query. This is specifically a problem that only shows up in a VM . The Corel CD autoruns just fine in vanilla Windows environment.
Definitely something funny going on withn Win XP guest running in a VM with Debian Host.
It appears to me that it IS the hardware virtualization that is misbehaving...

[socratis]

Hmm... I've only seen one and only one CD (about ten years ago) that I couldn't "virtualize", which means translate to ISO and work with that. It actually required the physical disk. The customer said that he couldn't make a copy either, because of some sort of protection. I didn't have a lot of time to investigate it at the time, but maybe there's something similar going on? Did you try the pass-through option for the CD?

[loukingjr]

When was the last time you checked the Corel Draw CD to see if it autoruns on an XP host? Logically, if you have many autorun CDs that work fine in the VM as you said, it seems more likely there is something wrong with the Corel CD such as damage. It is also possible that one machine's CD/DVD drive can read it and a different machine cannot. Especially if one drive had a dirty lens. It seems odd if it had something to do with being run in a VM the problem wouldn't show up with many if not all of the install CDs.

[dlharper]

I cannot manage to repeat your problem, but maybe I am doing things differently. Have you converted the CD into an ISO, or are you doing it direct from the host drive? Also, it may be a matter of which version of CorelDraw you are using. My copy is version 11, and that seems to work fine.

I do note that there is no file called "autorun.exe" on the CD, so if you tried to run that it is not surprising that it doesn't work.

[loukingjr]

I do note that there is no file called "autorun.exe" on the CD, so if you tried to run that it is not surprising that it doesn't work.

Now that's a possibility that hadn't occurred to me. I just assumed there must be an auto.exe file because the OP said there was and said he tried to run it. Of course not all install CDs were set up to autorun. good point.

[Adam912]

Hey folks, thanks for the suggestions and comments.
This is Corel Graphics Suite X5, which I need to install so that I can upgrade to the latest X6 (Ebay bargains, doncha know...all legit, but well discounted)
It autoruns just fine on the Win XP system that's on my second HD on the same machine. So same CPU, same CD reader.
That's why this is so nuts.

And yes, there IS an autorun.exe on this new version....

update...
I fixed the problem....There was some minor scuffing on the CD that I polished out, and it runs now.
Why it was OK on the stand alone Win system but would not load in the VM is just plain strange...

Anyway, as you were. I'm new to running the VM but it sure seems like a boon so far.
Win XP runs faster than as a native OS, and I like the security features.

I do have one problem, and if anyone can point me to a tutorial for getting the USB ports running from the VM I would be most grateful.
Printers and USB work fine on the Debian side, but I can't print from XP yet as all of my printers are on USB.

cheers
Adam in Ashland Oregon

[mpack]

You don't want to connect the printer that way. USB can't be shared by two PCs, so you'd have to assign ownership to the VM, meaning that the host would lose access.

The better way is to leave the printer connected to the host, but share access over the (virtual) network. Google for how to configure printer sharing on your host.

[Adam912]

mpack,

So you're saying that even a USB data stick can't be accessed from both host and VM?

Doesn't setting up network access on the VM side defeat the isolation aspects of the VM?
I'm running XP in the VM, and one reason for doing this is so that I can continue to use XP-compatible design tools without having to worry about susceptibillity to virus attack etc since XP is no longer supported....

thanks

[mpack]

The network is virtual - it doesn't have to have a connection to the outside world. Read the networking chapter of the manual.

[Adam912]

Now THAT is what I wanted to hear! Thanks for being so helpful with a VB newbie. This setup impresses the heck outta me!
I'm a hardware/firmware guy, mostly embedded stuff, and this is all new to me....

Adam

[mpack]

I'm a hardware/firmware guy, mostly embedded stuff, and this is all new to me....

Professionally? If so, that's my day job too, but I've found in my career that I still need to know how to drive a PC to talk to those embedded widgets. Happily I started with PCs and moved into embedded, so keeping my hand in on PCs has never been a problem.

VMs also make excellent disposable test environments. One thing VMs don't do very well IMHO is make good embedded development environments, at least not if you're going to be using serial or parallel ports, timing sensitive JTAG dongles etc.