Sorry for the long post but this is not a simple thing to explain even though the question short.
I have a computer that runs Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I use this primarily to host VMs.
One of those VMs is Windows XP run by Oracle VirtualBox. I use this continually for my internet browsing activties so I don't expose a real machine to any malicious software.
Another VM is Windows 7 32-bit run by Virtual PC Version 6.0.192 (*NOT* Windows 7 XP Mode). I use this VM about twice every 2 weeks because it hosts software used in a hobby activity that happens about once every two weeks.
Both the XP VM and the Win7 VM have a network share to a drive on the host machine. This is a true network share, not a "shared device" enabled by the VM software. I use an actual network share because I found that after a while, the VM software shared device fails to work. It fails to work sooner than the manifestation of the other problem I am trying to address, which is the subject of this post.
The problem that I am trying to address is that immediately after using the Win7 VM a couple of times, the XP VM can no longer access the network share. The error message I get inside the XP VM is:
"Not enough server storage is available to process this command."
I have looked up info on this message and the advice given to mitigate the problem is to increase (or set) the registry setting IRPStackSize in the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
What I had read a while back was that the maximum setting is 0x0C (12 decimal). I have done this a long time (many months) ago. It has no effect on the manifestation of the problem.
Recently I read someplace else that the setting could be up to 50. So I tried it with a setting of 50 and the problem (no access to shares via XP clients) manifested itself in 2 days instead of 2 weeks, and without me running the Windows 7 VM.
I couple things to note when this happens:
1) The Win7 VM and a Win10 machine can still access this share
2) A native (real machine) instance of Windows XP which could access the share before the error occurs now gets the message:
System error 58 has occurred.
The specified server cannot perform the requested operation.
when attempting a NET USE on the share.
When I upped the IRPStackSize setting to 50 and the problem manifested itself, I got a different message:
System error 67 has occurred.
The network name cannot be found.
So pretty much, when this error occurs, XP clients can no longer access the share. I understand that XP is using an older protocol and that would account for why the error only manifests itself for XP clients.
I have found that rebooting the Win7 host fixes the problem but I would like to be able to avoid doing that because it means shutting down the XP VM on which I have likely accumulated various sessions I would like to keep using.
It took me a while to recognize that the access failure in the XP VM was at least somewhat related to the use of the Win7 VM (at least before I tried the IRPStachSize of 50), but something I did a few weeks ago in the XP VM made this apparent.
Some time ago I thought the solution might be just stopping and restarting the services that support the network shares. The only one obvious to me for this is the SERVER service (a.k.a "lanmanserver"). However when I stop this service and try to re-start it I get the error message:
System error 1068 has occurred.
The dependency service or group failed to start.
I get this error even if I try to stop and re-start the server service on a fresh re-boot (and on another Win7 real machine I have).
I looked at driver info and the dependencies for the server service and found these dependencies:
"Security Accounts Manager" listed as a service
"Remote Procedure Call (RPC)" listed as a service
"DCOM Server Process Launcher" listed as a service
"RPC Endpoint Mapper" listed as a service
"Server SMB 1.xxx Driver" Driver: srv.sys
"Server SMB 2.xxx Driver" Driver: srv2.sys
"srvnet" Driver: srvnet.sys
I did find that when I stopped the SERVER service, the "srv" driver got stopped. But I don't know how to re-start it. I found a program called serviwin that supposedly would let me stop and start drivers, yet when I try to re-start the "SRV" driver, I gen an error message that the file (srv.sys) cannot be found (even though I can go to the exact file location that it says "can't be found" and see the file).
So I'm hoping someone with more experience that myself can suggest what I can do to get the server stopped and successfully restarted so I don't have to reboot the host machine every other time I use the Win7 VM.
Yes, I know XP is old, but it does what I need doing in the VM so suggestions that I switch the VM OS will be disregarded. (Sorry if that seems impolite, but I've built up that environment over the years to suit my needs and I don't want to have to do that work over again when I *ought* to be able to solve the problem by starting services in the correct order with a simple batch file.)
I have a computer that runs Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I use this primarily to host VMs.
One of those VMs is Windows XP run by Oracle VirtualBox. I use this continually for my internet browsing activties so I don't expose a real machine to any malicious software.
Another VM is Windows 7 32-bit run by Virtual PC Version 6.0.192 (*NOT* Windows 7 XP Mode). I use this VM about twice every 2 weeks because it hosts software used in a hobby activity that happens about once every two weeks.
Both the XP VM and the Win7 VM have a network share to a drive on the host machine. This is a true network share, not a "shared device" enabled by the VM software. I use an actual network share because I found that after a while, the VM software shared device fails to work. It fails to work sooner than the manifestation of the other problem I am trying to address, which is the subject of this post.
The problem that I am trying to address is that immediately after using the Win7 VM a couple of times, the XP VM can no longer access the network share. The error message I get inside the XP VM is:
"Not enough server storage is available to process this command."
I have looked up info on this message and the advice given to mitigate the problem is to increase (or set) the registry setting IRPStackSize in the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
What I had read a while back was that the maximum setting is 0x0C (12 decimal). I have done this a long time (many months) ago. It has no effect on the manifestation of the problem.
Recently I read someplace else that the setting could be up to 50. So I tried it with a setting of 50 and the problem (no access to shares via XP clients) manifested itself in 2 days instead of 2 weeks, and without me running the Windows 7 VM.
I couple things to note when this happens:
1) The Win7 VM and a Win10 machine can still access this share
2) A native (real machine) instance of Windows XP which could access the share before the error occurs now gets the message:
System error 58 has occurred.
The specified server cannot perform the requested operation.
when attempting a NET USE on the share.
When I upped the IRPStackSize setting to 50 and the problem manifested itself, I got a different message:
System error 67 has occurred.
The network name cannot be found.
So pretty much, when this error occurs, XP clients can no longer access the share. I understand that XP is using an older protocol and that would account for why the error only manifests itself for XP clients.
I have found that rebooting the Win7 host fixes the problem but I would like to be able to avoid doing that because it means shutting down the XP VM on which I have likely accumulated various sessions I would like to keep using.
It took me a while to recognize that the access failure in the XP VM was at least somewhat related to the use of the Win7 VM (at least before I tried the IRPStachSize of 50), but something I did a few weeks ago in the XP VM made this apparent.
Some time ago I thought the solution might be just stopping and restarting the services that support the network shares. The only one obvious to me for this is the SERVER service (a.k.a "lanmanserver"). However when I stop this service and try to re-start it I get the error message:
System error 1068 has occurred.
The dependency service or group failed to start.
I get this error even if I try to stop and re-start the server service on a fresh re-boot (and on another Win7 real machine I have).
I looked at driver info and the dependencies for the server service and found these dependencies:
"Security Accounts Manager" listed as a service
"Remote Procedure Call (RPC)" listed as a service
"DCOM Server Process Launcher" listed as a service
"RPC Endpoint Mapper" listed as a service
"Server SMB 1.xxx Driver" Driver: srv.sys
"Server SMB 2.xxx Driver" Driver: srv2.sys
"srvnet" Driver: srvnet.sys
I did find that when I stopped the SERVER service, the "srv" driver got stopped. But I don't know how to re-start it. I found a program called serviwin that supposedly would let me stop and start drivers, yet when I try to re-start the "SRV" driver, I gen an error message that the file (srv.sys) cannot be found (even though I can go to the exact file location that it says "can't be found" and see the file).
So I'm hoping someone with more experience that myself can suggest what I can do to get the server stopped and successfully restarted so I don't have to reboot the host machine every other time I use the Win7 VM.
Yes, I know XP is old, but it does what I need doing in the VM so suggestions that I switch the VM OS will be disregarded. (Sorry if that seems impolite, but I've built up that environment over the years to suit my needs and I don't want to have to do that work over again when I *ought* to be able to solve the problem by starting services in the correct order with a simple batch file.)
My Computer
At a glance
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit12GB
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- HP
- OS
- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
- Memory
- 12GB
