VPC 2007 SP1 problems with Visual Studio 6

Hi all,

I am running VPC 2007 SP1 on Windows XP SP3 so that I can continue to
support very old applications that are being migrated to newer technology.
The Guest OS is Windows ME and I have installed Visual Studio 6 with all
services packs and also the platform SDK.

The problem I am having is that when I try and execute cl.exe from the
command prompt eg cl /? it freezes. Using Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up task
manager but NOT cancelling any process and then switching back to the
command prompt unlocks the command and the options appear.

I should point out that I have a "real" machince here that is setup almost
identically which works fine but I want to get rid of that machine. So its
definately something to do with VPC 2007.

Has anyone else seen this before or can direct me to any suggestions to
resolve this issue ?
Thanks
Leslie.

Leslie Milburn wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am running VPC 2007 SP1 on Windows XP SP3 so that I can continue to
> support very old applications that are being migrated to newer technology.
> The Guest OS is Windows ME and I have installed Visual Studio 6 with all
> services packs and also the platform SDK.
>
> The problem I am having is that when I try and execute cl.exe from the
> command prompt eg cl /? it freezes. Using Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up task
> manager but NOT cancelling any process and then switching back to the
> command prompt unlocks the command and the options appear.
>
> I should point out that I have a "real" machince here that is setup almost
> identically which works fine but I want to get rid of that machine. So its
> definately something to do with VPC 2007.
>
> Has anyone else seen this before or can direct me to any suggestions to
> resolve this issue ?

Not an answer to your question, but if I were going to set up a virtual
environment for VC6, I would use Windows XP, not ME.

--
David Wilkinson
Visual C++ MVP

"David Wilkinson" <no-> wrote in message
news:...
> Leslie Milburn wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I am running VPC 2007 SP1 on Windows XP SP3 so that I can continue to
>> support very old applications that are being migrated to newer
>> technology.
>> The Guest OS is Windows ME and I have installed Visual Studio 6 with all
>> services packs and also the platform SDK.
>>
>> The problem I am having is that when I try and execute cl.exe from the
>> command prompt eg cl /? it freezes. Using Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up task
>> manager but NOT cancelling any process and then switching back to the
>> command prompt unlocks the command and the options appear.
>>
>> I should point out that I have a "real" machince here that is setup
>> almost
>> identically which works fine but I want to get rid of that machine. So
>> its
>> definately something to do with VPC 2007.
>>
>> Has anyone else seen this before or can direct me to any suggestions to
>> resolve this issue ?
>
> Not an answer to your question, but if I were going to set up a virtual
> environment for VC6, I would use Windows XP, not ME.
>

Hi David,

Yes you are right and we tried that but to no avail. I suspect this was
because XP does not have a true DOS command prompt.

Thanks anyway
Leslie.

"Mark Rae [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> "Leslie Milburn" <> wrote in message
> news:uPhVJ%...
>
>> I suspect this was because XP does not have a true DOS command prompt.
>
> Highly unlikely...
>
>
> --
> Mark Rae
> ASP.NET MVP
> http://www.markrae.net

Ok then let me clarify, the nmake includes processing of old proprietry
stuff that is no longer available. This does not work under XP cmd prompt at
all and we suspect (have virtually confirmed) it is because it makes low
level DOS interrupt calls as part of its processing. This has worked without
fail under Windows ME way back to Windows For Workgroups 3.11 - this is real
legacy stuff we are talking about here.

So our approach was to hopefully run ME under Virtual PC but this time it is
Visual Studio cl.exe which locks up - the other stuff builds fine which is
pleasing. I am now investigating other virtualisation products to see if
they perform better. I will report back here with the results.

Thanks
Leslie

"Bob Campbell" <> wrote in message
news: m...
> "Leslie Milburn" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>
>> The problem I am having is that when I try and execute cl.exe from the
>> command prompt eg cl /? it freezes. Using Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up task
>> manager but NOT cancelling any process and then switching back to the
>> command prompt unlocks the command and the options appear.
>
> I do this all the time, but in XP. Visual Studio 6 in VPC SP1 on XP runs
> fine.

Hi Bob,

We cannot use XP as the guest OS for other reasons. A 16 bit OS is a
requirement for this legacy stuff we are trying to keep going until early
new year when the replacement appliaction goes live. So if worse comes to
worse I will reinstall Me as the main OS and live with it for the next few
months but this was a good excuse I guess to play around with VPC and get
paid for it.

Thanks
Leslie.

>> it is because it makes low level DOS interrupt calls as part of its
>> processing.

this program is likely to do the job www.dosbox.com/