Can Virtual PC be configured to run as a service to run a Dos App

I have a Crosstalk Mark 2 application I wrote for home automation several
years ago (CrossTalk Mk4 has a well rounded scripting language that can
simulate multitasking in Dos and has extensive serial Port handling which
makes it very easy to use for simple through to medium scale control apps)
.... it had been running on a 386 until it died recently ... I then moved it
to a 486 but this machine is proving to be too unstable ... I now have it
running in a dos shell on a 24/7 P4 XP pro machine. The issue with this is
even though this machine is on a UPS, if the power fails long enough, XP Pro
won't restart this process properly ... I was thinking of purchasing this VPC
product but it is no good to me unless it is able to run as a service at
start up (as if it was a stand alone dos machine booting) . There are two
issues with XP and crosstalk in a dos shell; one is that the machine has to
boot past all security because the program is loaded in a users startup
folder (Not something I want on a 24/7 machine exposed to the internet) and;
two the Comports don't appear to be initiating cosistantly (I think there may
be a timing issue on who XP gives control to the comports???) ... I usually
have to cancel and start the program a number of times before XP reliquishes
control over the hardware.

 

VPC does not run as a service. For that you need Virtual Server.

 

Hi

You could create a virtual dos platform. then you could configure it to run
once windows starts by using startup group. Also virtual pc can be used to
automatically open a virtual platform once it is loaded.

Basically you host computer would start, then virtual pc and finally virtual
pc (dos platform) would start up automatically. running you program. this
is only limited to wot your system supports. you must remember that virtual
pc runs totally isolated from the host operating system therefore you script
would not work for the host operating system. only on virtual dos.

Regards AC / PC Admin