Legacy Scanner x Windows98 SE @ VM2007

Hello,

I have this old Genius Color Page EP which works nice on '98 machines but
doesn't seem to work on Virtual Win98 @ MS-VPC 2007. The host runs Win7 64
and the funny thing is that this scanner used to work on Vista 32.

I'm pretty sure that's gotta be something related to the LPT port which is
already set to use the interval 378h-37f-h on both machines (guest & host).
At the host machine the LPT port is set to EPP running on mode 1.9 at IRQ 7,
the exactly same way as set on REAL '98 machines on which the scanner works.

I always turn off the Printer Spooler svc before running my virtual machine
so I have no clue of what might be causing this behavior. It looks like the
port is stuck or being used by Win7 somehow.

Best Regards.
Bart

Well, first of all sorry for the double posting, I thought something went
wrong so I retyped everything for the second time and then gave up since the
threads just "didn't" show up.

Anyway, I've made some improvements here and found out that this is NOT a
Virtual PC2007 issue but a Win7 64 one. The OS simply LOCKS the LPT1 port, no
matter what. Even simple ECHO commands result in failure.

So, anyone has any ideas to "unlock" the port and let it available to other
programs?

Regards.

"Bart" wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have this old Genius Color Page EP which works nice on '98 machines but
> doesn't seem to work on Virtual Win98 @ MS-VPC 2007. The host runs Win7 64
> and the funny thing is that this scanner used to work on Vista 32.
>
> I'm pretty sure that's gotta be something related to the LPT port which is
> already set to use the interval 378h-37f-h on both machines (guest & host).
> At the host machine the LPT port is set to EPP running on mode 1.9 at IRQ 7,
> the exactly same way as set on REAL '98 machines on which the scanner works.
>
> I always turn off the Printer Spooler svc before running my virtual machine
> so I have no clue of what might be causing this behavior. It looks like the
> port is stuck or being used by Win7 somehow.
>
> Best Regards.
> Bart

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:39:01 -0800, Bart
<> wrote:

>Well, first of all sorry for the double posting, I thought something went
>wrong so I retyped everything for the second time and then gave up since the
>threads just "didn't" show up.
>
>Anyway, I've made some improvements here and found out that this is NOT a
>Virtual PC2007 issue but a Win7 64 one. The OS simply LOCKS the LPT1 port, no
>matter what. Even simple ECHO commands result in failure.
>
>So, anyone has any ideas to "unlock" the port and let it available to other
>programs?
>
>Regards.

Did you try stopping the print spooler service on Win7?

--
Cheers,
Steve Jain, Virtual Machine MVP
http://vpc.essjae.com/
http://smudj.wordpress.com/

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:09:05 -0800, "Steve Jain [MVP]"
<noreply.-@-.essjae.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:39:01 -0800, Bart
><> wrote:
>
>>Well, first of all sorry for the double posting, I thought something went
>>wrong so I retyped everything for the second time and then gave up since the
>>threads just "didn't" show up.
>>
>>Anyway, I've made some improvements here and found out that this is NOT a
>>Virtual PC2007 issue but a Win7 64 one. The OS simply LOCKS the LPT1 port, no
>>matter what. Even simple ECHO commands result in failure.
>>
>>So, anyone has any ideas to "unlock" the port and let it available to other
>>programs?
>>
>>Regards.
>
>Did you try stopping the print spooler service on Win7?

From his original post and included *below* his comment on the next
top-posted post:

> I always turn off the Printer Spooler svc before running my virtual machine
> so I have no clue of what might be causing this behavior. It looks like the
> port is stuck or being used by Win7 somehow.


--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

Exactly! The service was already stopped!

"Bo Berglund" wrote:

> On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:09:05 -0800, "Steve Jain [MVP]"
> <noreply.-@-.essjae.com> wrote:
>
> >On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:39:01 -0800, Bart
> ><> wrote:
> >
> >>Well, first of all sorry for the double posting, I thought something went
> >>wrong so I retyped everything for the second time and then gave up since the
> >>threads just "didn't" show up.
> >>
> >>Anyway, I've made some improvements here and found out that this is NOT a
> >>Virtual PC2007 issue but a Win7 64 one. The OS simply LOCKS the LPT1 port, no
> >>matter what. Even simple ECHO commands result in failure.
> >>
> >>So, anyone has any ideas to "unlock" the port and let it available to other
> >>programs?
> >>
> >>Regards.
> >
> >Did you try stopping the print spooler service on Win7?
>
> From his original post and included *below* his comment on the next
> top-posted post:
>
> > I always turn off the Printer Spooler svc before running my virtual machine
> > so I have no clue of what might be causing this behavior. It looks like the
> > port is stuck or being used by Win7 somehow.
>
>
> --
>
> Bo Berglund (Sweden)
> .
>

OKIE DOKIE, problem solved!

First of all I'd like to thank MVP John Cena for his concern, he was the one
that found the guilty setting, lol, thanks a lot, you did it!

One important thing to notice is that LPT port settings must be set to EPP,
not ECP, or the scanner won't work as I expected. The thing that was avoiding
to get detected by Virtual Win98SE was the enabled Hardware Virtualization
box.

Once I disabled it, the scanner was perfectly detected and installed by
Virtual Win98SE with its drivers.

I still don't get why ECHO commands @ Win7 fail but what the helI, it's not
important anymore! At least till now, lol. And the most amazing thing is that
even with the Printer Spooler SVC ENABLED, the old scanner still works. (?)

Once again thanks a lot for your help.

Regards,
Bart

"Bart" wrote:

> Exactly! The service was already stopped!
>
> "Bo Berglund" wrote:
>
> > On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:09:05 -0800, "Steve Jain [MVP]"
> > <noreply.-@-.essjae.com> wrote:
> >
> > >On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:39:01 -0800, Bart
> > ><> wrote:
> > >
> > >>Well, first of all sorry for the double posting, I thought something went
> > >>wrong so I retyped everything for the second time and then gave up since the
> > >>threads just "didn't" show up.
> > >>
> > >>Anyway, I've made some improvements here and found out that this is NOT a
> > >>Virtual PC2007 issue but a Win7 64 one. The OS simply LOCKS the LPT1 port, no
> > >>matter what. Even simple ECHO commands result in failure.
> > >>
> > >>So, anyone has any ideas to "unlock" the port and let it available to other
> > >>programs?
> > >>
> > >>Regards.
> > >
> > >Did you try stopping the print spooler service on Win7?
> >
> > From his original post and included *below* his comment on the next
> > top-posted post:
> >
> > > I always turn off the Printer Spooler svc before running my virtual machine
> > > so I have no clue of what might be causing this behavior. It looks like the
> > > port is stuck or being used by Win7 somehow.
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Bo Berglund (Sweden)
> > .
> >

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:32:01 -0800, Bart
<> wrote:

>One important thing to notice is that LPT port settings must be set to EPP,
>not ECP, or the scanner won't work as I expected.

Where did you set this? I cannot find any such setting when I look in
VPC2007 or on my host device manager...

>The thing that was avoiding
>to get detected by Virtual Win98SE was the enabled Hardware Virtualization
>box.

I don't have a VT capable CPU so I don't have that checkbox anyway.

>I still don't get why ECHO commands @ Win7 fail but what the helI, it's not
>important anymore! At least till now, lol.

How is the ECHO (= ping?) command connected to the printer port
problem?

>And the most amazing thing is that
>even with the Printer Spooler SVC ENABLED, the old scanner still works. (?)

That's really strange. My experience is that if the print spooler is
running it grabs the LPT port and it is then impossible to transfer it
into a VPC guest....

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:47:26 -0800 (PST), Vitor Bartolini
<> wrote:

>On 17 jan, 06:19, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@myotherhome.sec> wrote:
>> Where did you set this? I cannot find any such setting when I look in
>> VPC2007 or on my host device manager...
>
>You have to set the parallel port mode at the BIOS of the host
>computer. MS-VPC2007 will only let you enable or not the parallel port
>access to the virtual machine. It's funny to realize that dispite the
>drop-down box you can only choose one address for the LPT port which
>is 378f-378h.

OK, then I understand. It will be a while before I can check that
because I never reboot my PC unless absolutely required (once every 3
months or so).

>> I don't have a VT capable CPU so I don't have that checkbox anyway.
>
>Sorry, I have no idea then. Here the box is "usable" but if it's
>checked the scanner simply doesn't work.

I only mentioned this to say that since I have the old CPU I cannot
check this behaviour....

>
>> That's really strange. My experience is that if the print spooler is
>running it grabs the LPT port and it is then impossible to transfer
>it into a VPC guest....
>
>Well, don't know what to say. It just works, lol.--
>

Well, if it works then it does... :-)

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)