Virtual PC 7.0 (#2): Confirmed problem with more than 2 GB of RAM, workaround; other issues
Confirmed Problem with more than 2 GB of RAM, workaround By far the most widely reported, and serious issue with Virtual PC 7.0 is a repeatable crash caused by having more than 2 GB of RAM installed. The issue is peculiar because this release of Virtual PC 7.0 is purportedly optimized for the G5, a 64-bit processor, of which one primary feature is the ability to handle more than 4 GB of RAM.
The problem seems to more significantly affect copies of Virtual PC 7.0 running Windows XP with Service Pack 2.
MacFixIt reader U. J. Polo writes "I just received my copy of Virtual PC 7 with XP Pro installed. There is a problem on machines running more than 2GB of ram. The PC will not work giving an error code of 0r700 Ed.- The actual error code is "Unhandled PowerPC exception 0x700 - Program Fault" and looping eternally on the reset button."
"I spoke to support from Microsoft and they are working on a patch. The tech said it is a few weeks away. If you remove the excess ram down to 2GB the program works flawless and much faster than the old Virtual PC 6.0."
As noted by Polo, the base workaround for this issue is to reduce your installed RAM to under 2 GB -- an untenable solution for many users who either specifically need the extra RAM or only have a pair of 1 GB DIMMS (G5 DIMMs must be installed in the slots in pairs of the same size.)
We've since obtained a workaround from Microsoft's Virtual PC support team that, for some users, resolves this issue without reducing RAM to under 2 GB:
- Open the /Library/Extensions folder
- Drag the virtualpcosservices.kext file out to the desktop
- Open the /Library/StartupItems folder and move the item "VirtualPCOSServices" to the desktop
- Restart the Mac
USB problems persist One MacFixIt reader notes that various USB issues existent in previous releases of Virtual PC persist in the latest release:
"I have been trying to get a number of USB devices to work properly with VPC ever since it became available for OSX. VPC 7.0 does not seem to resolve these issues at all. When trying to use USB devices in VPC 7.0 by going into the USB Setup menu and activating a device, the device is immediately deactivated upon exiting the USB Setup menu. This is evidenced by re-opening the USB Setup menu and seeing that the USB device is no longer activated. The alternate method is to use the PC Settings menu >before< running a VPC session. You can activate USB devices, and they do indeed remain activated once you boot the VPC session, however software running on the 'PC' doesn't recognize the device as connected."
Print-to-file MacFixIt reader Stoney reports problems using the "print-to-file" function in Virutal PC, for which we are seeking confirmation:
"I've tried to install a Print-to-file printer three times now, and it hangs each time. I have to force-reboot the PC to get out of it."
Numeric keypad Another reader notes a minor problem -- the inability to his keyboard's numeric keypad:
"The installation was made without any major problems. The only problem we have so far is the inability to use the numerical keypad with VPC 7. I also have this problem on a 2.5 GHz G5 with VP 7. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated."
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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Unable to get num pad on the keyboard to function
Unable to run windows media player at all
Occasionally loses "virtual switch" settings
Installation, however, was relatively painless
Did you try the "clear" key on the Apple keyboard (to the left of the "=" key. It
is in the place of the "num lock" key on a PC keyboard. That got my num pad
working. I wish there was a preference to make "on" the default. Hope this
helps.
Unfortunately, I can only fully confirm the incredible Microsoft bug in Virtual
PC 7 on my G5 dual 2 GHz with 4 GB RAM.
Under MacOS Panther 10.3.5, after starting Windows XP Professional included
in the package, SIMPLY NOTHING HAPPENS!! Neither Windows starts, nor any
alert message ecc. comes. I can only hard-reset Virtual PC...
Furthermore, the German version of Virtual PC 7 including Windows XP
Professional is extremely user-
UNfriendly: The name of the Installer-CDs is confusing, the brief rapid
manual does not really help, You can only install the software as an
administrator and then, as a non-admin-user, you have to reinstall
Windows!! ...
This is incredible and after spending nearly 400.- Euro I can only hope that a
bug fix will come shortly! This is how Microsoft uses its customers as ALPHA-
testers! Congratulation, Microsoft! This was an excellent introduction as the
first "Virtual PC" product after the "unfrienly" takeover! You are really working
hard to confirm your reputation as the most "work in progress" - user-
UNFRIENDLY software company in the world!
resolved the problems by removing the files as described (instead of
removing RAM). My problems were fixed by removing RAM, but I'd like to put
it back in as soon as possible. Thanks.
Removing the files and rebooting with all RAM seems to work.
I had to try this myself as I miss my 2.5 GB of RAM. I moved the files into a
folder as described, shut down my 1.8 Ghz single CPU G5, put 1 GB RAM back
in (totallying 2.5 GB RAM installed), then started the G5 back up. It appears to
work fine, no crashes or kernel panics. I read that there might be a
performance hit from removing these files, but I didn't notice it. Then again,
all I do is use Internet Exploder in Windows so I'm not the best performance
test. Hope this helps.
I think that the 2GB barrier problem is probably due to the fact that all 32bit Windozes specify a 2GB memory limit for user processes, leaving the other 2GB for the executive (that is, the privileged kernel process) of the 4GB max memory space that 32 bits can address. In other words, the problem is probably due to the O.S. and not to VPC itself.
Kinda makes you recall the ooold DOS days, when they thought that nobody would ever have the need for more than 640KB of memory...
- by Kilroy October 15, 2004 11:21 AM PDT
- I have experienced this error on a 1 GHz (17") PowerBook G4 with only 1 GB
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(7 Comments)RAM. I tried the fix of moving the VirtualPCOSServices items, but it did not
work. The error comes at different times, although it is frequent (and
annoying) enough to render VPC 7 unusable to me at this time.