Solved Having issues with XP mode in a Windows 7 pro machine

[Jonesy49]

Just started having issues in a fairly dated Windows 7 pro machine with the embedded Windows XP. The virtual machine starts without any trouble and I can access files and so forth. The problem comes when I'm trying to Integrate the virtual comports with the physical ones in the actual Windows 7 machine. Worked like a champ for years. But the program I was using in XP basically stopped running and I ended the program without ending communication which I kind of had to do. In any case I just figured restart the machine and that would reset everything but it didn't work out that way. I've tried playing with the comports but probably did more harm than good. This is a serial communication I'm also using a USB to serial adapter. The reason for this is that I'm in the HVAC temperature control business and we have a lot of old equipment out there that is discontinued but still in service. And the software to configure it and service it will only run in windows XP. old stuff.

any help I could get from the forums would be much appreciated. I guess the first thing is to make sure the comports are still functional I don't see any issues when I look in the device manager. I think it's a matter of just mating up the comport settings in the virtual machine with the comport settings in the physical machine. Have working computer knowledge but certainly I am not an IT guy.

Any thoughts? Again, This is a serial communication from the laptop to the digital controller (PLC). The software for the PLC runs in the embedded Windows XP.

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The error message that I am getting is "Unable to initialize communications port".

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Well the issue got fixed. What fixed the problem was a hard shutdown of the virtual machine - Just as it did for this fellow some 15 years ago:

Actually, shut down didn't do anything - literally; it just kept being stuck. However, "Turn off" appeared to be exactly what I needed: It simply "cut the power" to the virtual machine. XP started up with no problems afterward and is running perfectly now.
Thanks again and happy holidays

To anyone who still uses the Windows 7 embedded XP, It's worth noting that the virtual machine will still run in the background even when you shut down the windows seven machine. I believe I'm correct in saying that.

In this case the hard shut down reset the device.

 

[spapakons]

Yes, if you don't shutdown the guest OS properly, a snapshot is saved (much like hibernating the guest). So next time it will continue from there with the ports not working. You had to shutdown the guest and start it again to release the ports and work.