Windows XP Mode Questions

Night Hawk said:

That would be a large help here if you can grab a few screens of the actual error messages for a lookover.

That might also show if the problem is with the install of the XP Mode itself or with a program you have added that starts along with the VPC and causing the problem while not preventing you from running the XP Mode itself with a restart if something is loading sideways on you.

Hope your surgery goes well in the mean time!

Surgery went as well as a second abdominal surgery in 9 months can go. Thanks for the concern. If it happens again (it did NOT happen last evening), I'll get the screen shot. Note that this does NOT happen if I start XP Mode itself. It only happnes when I start one of the XP Mode Applications, and then ONLY the first one I start. In other words, once the Virtual Machine is up and running, XP Mode applications start with no messages of any kind, or even any indication that they are, in fact, XP Mode applications. That's what had me wondering if there were some sort of "time out" setting in the virtual machine itself that was causing it to time out AFTER getting the Virtual Machine up and runnng, but BEFORE the XP Mode application had time to get started.

Night Hawk said:

The only things I find get timed out are either on servers or when some expects a response within a given amount of time. Those are by design however while this would seem a bit odd while not being totally ruled out.

The typical problems you would expect to see with various programs you install onto the XP Mode would be seen with those that requires direct access to either an internal or external hardware like a dvd burner for one example. The problem you are describing however sounds a bit more like the XP Mode is freezing up on you when going to start one or more programs in particular.

Have you tried any setting changes with the XP Mode itself like raising the virtual video memory upto the full 128mb or giving the ram a boost up from 256mb or 512mb upto 1gb or more? Being out of resources is something I ran into here when having more then needed set. It seems to work both ways there for some reason.

If you have any larger programs installed on your own there the lack of virtual ram would be one thing to consider and would fit the bill for the time out you feel is occuring which would be apps stalling if no other problems with the XP Mode itself are being seen.

The situation did NOT occur yesterday.

Yes, I did adjust the memory to 1 GB. Didn't seem to make any difference

I only have three applications that I normally run in XP Mode. The one I USUALLY start first (and thus get the problem with) is Norton Antivirus Live Update. However, if I start one of the other two first, I get the problem with them as well. The second one is an old Daily Journal program. And it runs just fine--it is usually the second one I start (after the Norton Live Update.) Actually, that's probable slightly incorrect. If I get the problem, then the second one I start is the Norton Live Update again--and the second time, it always launches fairly quickly (like the virtual machine is already up and running). The final one is Windows Explorer. I use it only to copy a backup file from the Daily Journal program to a hard disk outside the XP Mode, since the Daily Journal backup feature will not save the backup file to a hard disk outside XP Mode. Windows Explorer works fine (unless I stat it first, and then it behaves just like the other two.

My logic for starting the Norton Live Update first is that I only update once a day, so I should do that before doing anything else.

Night Hawk said:

The only things I find get timed out are either on servers or when some expects a response within a given amount of time. Those are by design however while this would seem a bit odd while not being totally ruled out.

The typical problems you would expect to see with various programs you install onto the XP Mode would be seen with those that requires direct access to either an internal or external hardware like a dvd burner for one example. The problem you are describing however sounds a bit more like the XP Mode is freezing up on you when going to start one or more programs in particular.

Have you tried any setting changes with the XP Mode itself like raising the virtual video memory upto the full 128mb or giving the ram a boost up from 256mb or 512mb upto 1gb or more? Being out of resources is something I ran into here when having more then needed set. It seems to work both ways there for some reason.

If you have any larger programs installed on your own there the lack of virtual ram would be one thing to consider and would fit the bill for the time out you feel is occuring which would be apps stalling if no other problems with the XP Mode itself are being seen.

OK. Did it again this evening. Sequence of events was:

1. Clicked on START, WINDOWS VIRTUAL PC, WINDOWS XP MODE APPLICATIONS, LIVE UPDATE (XP MODE)

2. Got a long narrow box that said "Preparing to Launch Virtual Application" with a green activity bar

3. Got the same kind of box that said "Starting Virtual Application" with the same green activity bar

4. Got the box shown in the screen shot

5. Clicked OK. Box disappeared

6. Repeated Step 1. Norton Live Update started normally.

7. When it was done, closed it, then started my Daily Journal program. It started normally with no message boxes of any kind.

8. When done, closed it, and started the Winows Explorer (XP Mode). Started normally, with no message boxes of any kind.

9. Copied my backup file to my non-XP Mode backup drive, with no problem

Night Hawk said:

Sounds more like the XP Mode is having a problem loading up on occasions due to the increased number of startup items or one in particular in the registry there or one process simply hanging from Norton causing the XP Mode to crash. I couldn't say on the Daily Journal program not being familiar with that one.

Originally with the RC version of the XP Mode I ran into a few similar popups there however. The first was simply from holding off on the required restart once the VPC was installed and going right into installing the XP Mode itself. A few others came out due to incompatibilities with some older apps.

Appreciate the input. I'm a bit doubtful that Norton is the problem (or at least, that the live update I run is) because I get the same results if I start the Daily Journal program first. It MAY be that the Auto Protect feature of Norton, which runs in the background is taking so long to load that IT is causing the problem--and of course, that would exist regardless of what program I opened first. It's a minor annoyance, since all works well once I restart the virtual program. I'll tinker with it a bit as time permits, and let you know if I find anything conclusive.

Night Hawk said:

Most av programs will see an active shield running in the background. I doubt simply having that enabled is the cause. Besides that you might want to try disabling one or two other items for Norton to see if helps.

As for the Daily Journal program if that's by Brothersoft I would try disabling it in the startup group opening the msconfig there and waiting until the XP Mode is up and running to simly start that up manually. That's a small 6-10mb program. All you can do is try tweaking each item at a time to find what works.

Thanks for the thoughts. I'll tinker a bit with the Norton settings. Fact is, I turened off nearly everthing in Norton (automatic updates, downloading of virus information, background idle time features, and the like, because all I wanted in XP mode was basic av for the rare times I access the internet from XP mode (such as Windows Update once a month). But I'll go through the settings again to see if there is anything I missed.

The Daily Journal program is an old diary program, originally published by Parson's Technology, then at one time, I think sold to Broderbund. And perhaps I misled you. It is NOT in the startup folder (NOTHING IS). I have only 3 items that appear in the list of XP Mode Applications (because I put shortcuts for them into the ALL USERS -> START MENU -> PROGRAMS folder. Those 3 are (1) Windows Explorer, (2) Daily Journal, and (3) Norton Live Update. None of them are set to run automatically. However, Norton DOES have an Autoprotect feature that runs in the background, and of course, it DOES start automtically.