VirtualBox

Opened 7 years ago

Last modified 5 years ago

#16127 new defect

Setting up virtual LPT port to connect through to real LPT port stops DOS VM starting

Reported by: Brian Gregory Owned by:
Component: VMM Version: VirtualBox 5.1.8
Keywords: Cc:
Guest type: other Host type: Windows

Description

I run VirtualBox on a Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit host. I find that with VirtualBox 5.1.4, 5.1.6 and 5.1.8 and 5.1.9-111573 (with matching Extension Pack installed) my FreeDOS 1.1 VM will not start at all after issuing the following VBoxManage commands: VBoxManage modifyvm "FreeDOS 1.1" --lptmode1 LPT1 VBoxManage modifyvm "FreeDOS 1.1" --lpt1 0x378 7 to create a virtual LPT port and connnect it through to my real LPT1 port (on a PCI card, at address I/O address C000) I am reverting to VirtualBox 5.1.2 for now. I am attaching the log files and configuration of the VM in a ZIP file. The oldest log file "VBox.log.3" is one from when it last worked, the others are fails.

Attachments (1)

VirtualBox 5.1.8 FreeDOS 1.1 VM.zip (74.1 KB ) - added by Brian Gregory 7 years ago.

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (21)

by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

comment:1 by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

REPOSTED with better formatting and some extra clarification:

I run VirtualBox on a Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit host. I find that with VirtualBox 5.1.4, 5.1.6, 5.1.8 or 5.1.9-111573 (each with matching Extension Pack installed) my FreeDOS 1.1 VM will not start at all after issuing the following VBoxManage commands:

VBoxManage modifyvm "FreeDOS 1.1" --lptmode1 LPT1
VBoxManage modifyvm "FreeDOS 1.1" --lpt1 0x378 7

to create a virtual LPT port and connnect it through to my real LPT1 port (on a PCI card, at I/O address C000) I am reverting to VirtualBox 5.1.2 for now which works well. I am attaching the log files and configuration of the VM in a ZIP file. The oldest log file "VBox.log.3" is one from when it last worked, the others are fails.

Last edited 7 years ago by Brian Gregory (previous) (diff)

comment:2 by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

Could it be relevant that my host CPU is a Core i7-4770K which has VT-x but not VT-d? (Chipset is Z87)

Last edited 7 years ago by Brian Gregory (previous) (diff)

comment:3 by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

Problem still present in VirtualBox 5.1.10.

comment:4 by HW Engineer, 7 years ago

Same story here, VirtualBox 5.1.10 and Windows XP 32-bit version cannot communicate with Parallel Port. Need this because of old hardware dongle, which is needed with Workview Office FPGA development.

Checked BIOS, but port is enabled. Can you comment on this problem?

comment:5 by Klaus Espenlaub, 7 years ago

This should be fixed with the latest Windows test build (a regression sneaked into 5.1.4 resulting in the hang): https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Testbuilds

comment:6 by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

Thank you klaus. Yes VirtualBox-5.1.11-112197-Win has fixed my problem.

I'm not sure if HW Engineer's problem is exactly the same but I suggest he tries this test build too.

Thank you again.

comment:7 by HW Engineer, 7 years ago

Updating to VirtualBox-5.1.11-112197-Win at least fixes the VM crash, but I am still not able to see the attached dongle.

My setup:

Laptop:

Dell Precision M4800 with Windows 7 Enterprise with SP1 (64-bit OS). Using parallel port from the docking station. Processor Intel Core i7-4810MQ @ 2.8GHz. Parallel port in BIOS Enabled (ECP). Device manager shows LPT port is ok.

VM:

Windows XP Professional with SP2 (32-bit OS). Device manager shows LPT port is ok. Latest Sentinel drivers installed (Sentinel Protection Installer 7.6.5).

Our WVOffice software, installed on the VM, uses a hardware dongle from Sentinel / Rainbow. Starting the suite gives the following error:

vsec: Error 8037: License node restriction does not match...

+vsec: Error 8031: Flex/LM error: Invalid host (-9,57).

This is the same message as starting the software without the dongle. My conclusion, no communication from / to the parallel port.

Am I missing some settings to get it work??

Last edited 7 years ago by HW Engineer (previous) (diff)

in reply to:  7 comment:8 by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

Replying to HW Engineer:

<snip> Am I missing some settings to get it work??

Have you had it working properly on this hardware before? In VirtualBox before? Don't set the parallel port to ECP mode. I suggest PS/2 mode (no extra features except bidirectional).

Also it's possible that the feed through implemented by VirtualBox isn't compatible with every kind of bit twiddling that can be done with a real parallel port in a real PC.

Sorry for delay - I had flu.

Last edited 7 years ago by Brian Gregory (previous) (diff)

comment:9 by HW Engineer, 7 years ago

I tried all kind of different settings, in BIOS, on host and guest systems, none of the combinations are working. Whatever setting I choose in BIOS, the device manager in Win7 shows the parallel port is in ECP mode.

A simple dos tool to read this dongle (in the WinXP guest system) also says there is no dongle connected. I'm out of ideas now...

in reply to:  9 comment:10 by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

Replying to HW Engineer:

Do you know if this works on the host hardware with XP installed directly on the host rather than in a VM?

On the host is the driver loaded for your parallel port the normal Microsoft parport.sys or something else? (It's okay if parport.sys is referenced from a non Microsoft inf file)

My host doesn't have a built in parallel port and I had to try several PCI card parallel ports until I found one that used parport.sys before it would work.

Last edited 7 years ago by Brian Gregory (previous) (diff)

comment:11 by HW Engineer, 7 years ago

I don't know whether the hardware works on a directly installed XP on this laptop, I am not allowed to change the operating system, and furthermore, XP is banned on our company network.

Did a check on the drivers for both the host and guest system: Both use the parport.sys driver. Upgraded to VirtualBox 5.1.12 including extension packs, but still facing the same error.

comment:12 by HW Engineer, 7 years ago

Oracle / VirtualBox,

Any progress or new advises? Were you able to reproduce?

comment:13 by Lager-Ju, 7 years ago

Host Win7Pro 64bit, guest Win XP Pro, motherboard LPT. Worked fine until v5.1.2. Starting from v5.1.4 ... v5.1.18 all versions crash during starting guest. LPT initialization error.

in reply to:  13 comment:14 by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

Replying to Lager-Ju:

Host Win7Pro 64bit, guest Win XP Pro, motherboard LPT. Worked fine until v5.1.2. Starting from v5.1.4 ... v5.1.18 all versions crash during starting guest. LPT initialization error.

Sounds different to my problem. Better start a new ticket or discuss it in the forum. For me it was 100% fixed in VirtualBox-5.1.11-112197-Win and all release versions since.

comment:15 by ItUsedToWork, 7 years ago

Just thought I'll throw in a few comments, I'm having similar issue. v5.1.18 will start up (after removing then adding the parallel port details). But the LPT1 data is completely black-holed. Nothing in the Logs. Downgrading to 5.0.36 works. Using a Z97 Chipset (same as a Z87), but on an Core i5.

Last edited 7 years ago by ItUsedToWork (previous) (diff)

comment:16 by Svl, 7 years ago

I am another not so happy user. I confirm that printing via v5.1.2 is possible whereas new ones do not work for this. Tested with v5.1.14.

Using Win7 64bit with WinXP 32bit guest because of and old DOS program. With older version printing is possible via WinXP and DOS. On newer - not in either case. Printer is attached on LPT1 and mapped on LPT1 in the guest via syntax as mentioned by the reporter of the issue.

Note that there is incorrectly closed bug #15872 by frank stating that it is fixed in v5.1.12. I have the same error for v5.1.14 as reported there.

in reply to:  16 comment:17 by Brian Gregory, 7 years ago

Replying to Svl:

I am another not so happy user. I confirm that printing via v5.1.2 is possible whereas new ones do not work for this. Tested with v5.1.14.

Using Win7 64bit with WinXP 32bit guest because of and old DOS program. With older version printing is possible via WinXP and DOS. On newer - not in either case. Printer is attached on LPT1 and mapped on LPT1 in the guest via syntax as mentioned by the reporter of the issue.

Note that there is incorrectly closed bug #15872 by frank stating that it is fixed in v5.1.12. I have the same error for v5.1.14 as reported there.

And with 5.1.22 ? Can Windows programs print okay?

comment:18 by Svl, 7 years ago

I may not easily verify this as it is used by someone else and I have to log remotely. If you have indications that something is fixed I may try it. But I did not found anything related in the changelog. Even the expected fix in 5.1.12 is not listed.

comment:19 by ftaroni, 5 years ago

This ticket has been resolved? I cannot make my lpt1 works on v5.2.20. I cannot revert to v5.1.2 cause i'm using Windows 10 as the host

Last edited 5 years ago by ftaroni (previous) (diff)

in reply to:  19 comment:20 by Brian Gregory, 5 years ago

Replying to ftaroni:

This ticket has been resolved? I cannot make my lpt1 works on v5.2.20. I cannot revert to v5.1.2 cause i'm using Windows 10 as the host

5.2.20 is still working fine for me with FreeDOS running in the VM and VB running on a 64 bit Windows 7 host.

Your problem could be due to anything that doesn't match my usage.

Or it could be that your LPT port is non standard (I found it quite difficult to find a LPT port on a card I could plug in to my modern PC that was not some new fancy improved LPT port that needed special Windows drivers and couldn't be worked by VB.

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