virtualbox.org

Hello,

I created a VM with Win XP (geust) running under Win7 (host).
I also assigned D_DRIVE to be synonym for the d: drive on the hosting system (Win7).
Let's have a file d:\MyData\MyTest.someext.

The problem is that some programs convert surprisingly the file name to upper case, so the file becomes D:\MYDATA\MYTEST.SOMEEXT,
even when I force saving the file to "d:\MyData\MyTest.someext" via "Save As..." menu item.

When I run the same program from the hosting system (Win7), the program keeps the file name with original latter case, so the file name "d:\MyData\MyTest.someext" is successfully kept.

Another interesting issue is that only some programs (on the VM) perform the file name letter case conversion whilst some others don't.

Any idea why this behaviour appears for some programs on the VM and how to avoid it?

Best regards,

LuP

Windows ignores case in filenames, so yes, some programs (not all) convert input filename to a single case to simply internal comparisons.

What is your question? I don't see what this has to do with VirtualBox. The same programs will behave identically on physical hardware.

Hello,

mpack wrote:The same programs will behave identically on physical hardware.

this seems not to be fully true.

When I run the program from the host (Win 7) (and, also on another physical comp with Win XP), the program keeps filename latter case.

When I run the same program in VB with Win XP VM, the program converts the filename to upper case.

So the program behaves slightly different running from a physical drive and in VM.

Again - as filename "alteration" is concerned, not all programs behave differently when launched from a physical drive vs. in VM.

That's why I deduce this might be related to VB;
but it also may be a "feature" of that program (I'm not able to judge);
for the case this were in power of and directed by VB - the question "why?" and how to avoid filename letter case loss?

Best regards,

LuP

Lower case is a recent addition to computing in the overall view. The first computers did not have enough memory for the luxury of lower case. Programs written for these systems and then modified to run on later systems like XP still use upper case only. As mpack said, it does not worry the programs or the OS. Why does it worry you?

LuP wrote:I also assigned D_DRIVE to be synonym for the d: drive on the hosting system (Win7).

You are saving your files in what seems to be a network share, through the VirtualBox shared folder option. I have two questions:
- What happens if you save the file from a physical system to a network share?
- What happens if you save the file from a virtual system to a network share? Not the one that VirtualBox provides, but a true network share.

LuP wrote: That's why I deduce this might be related to VB;

Sorry, but your deduction is based on ignorance. VirtualBox is a hardware emulator: it works with disks at a hardware (sector) level. The idea that it might not only interact with a guest filesystem, but goes on to control how the guest OS capitalizes its filenames... is just ridiculous. You might as well suggest that a particular brand of hard disk changes how filenames are capitalized.

If you are saving files to a network share as Socrates suggest, then standardization of filename constraints across PCs is part of the shared folder interface protocol: it still isn't hardware (still isn't VirtualBox).