[Simh] 3.8-2 rc2 Windows XP disk access issue

[Timothe Litt]

Sounds like M$ "system restore".  It monitors files by type (extension) so
you can undo bad drivers/patches.  Turns out that many typical choices for
emulator disk images get monitored - which means XP chases its tail tracking
changes.  It's a losing proposition.  

Try changing the file type on your emulated disks - to something it doesn't
monitor.  There are lots of file types that will get you in trouble.  Try
something like .vax-disk-image (e.g. dua0.vax-disk-image).

See
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa378870(v=vs.85).as
px for the list (don't edit %windir%\system32\restore\Filelist.xml - just
stay away from all listed file types.)

I think the most common bad choice made by people in the DEC community is
.DSK...

This probably belongs in the simh FAQ...


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This communication may not represent my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed. 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com [mailto:simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com]
On Behalf Of Mark Benson
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2012 11:15
To: simh at trailing-edge.com
Subject: [Simh] 3.8-2 rc2 Windows XP disk access issue

I appear to be having a bit of a problem with SimH VAX 3.8-2 rc2 and disk
image access. I am using an old PIII 933MHz duel CPU workstation with 1GB
RAM and XP SP2. I have the required VC++ Runtimes installed and Winpcap. I
sourced the binaries from Mark Pizzolato.

I have run it using a fresh RA90 disk image attached at RQ0 (generated by
the emulator on startup). It boots from a VMS 7.3 ISO fine but when I try
and do any heavy lifting from the disk image, like restore the 7.3 save_set
to it form the CD using 'backup' it'll eventually error out (VMS backup
reports the device is not writable) and the emulator will stop dead and the
disk will be flat out with activity, but no CPU usage and nothing else going
on in Windows. I can only get it to stop by restarting Windows XP (at which
point VAX.exe eventually dies and the machine reboots). I have no Anti-virus
on the machine as it's only used for DEC related stuff, I don't surf the web
on it or read my e-mail (in short there's no malware on it either). 

I've surfaced scanned the physical hard drive in the machine and it appear
to be error free, it seems the emulator. I have had no other issues with
installing software, copying and moving files etc. I'm kinda stumped.

Any ideas?

-- 

Mark Benson

http://DECtec.info
Twitter: @DECtecInfo
HECnet: STAR69::MARK

Online Resource & Mailing List for DEC Enthusiasts.

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