I'm trying to get Windows 8 on ESXi 5.1 to work with VCL 2.3.2. First
attempt at capturing a base image (using the Windows 7 option in vcld
-setup) resulted in a repeated error regarding the lack of
C:\Windows\sysnative\ipconfig.exe. I initially thought this was due to
the reports I am seeing on-line that the sysnative symlink (for lack of a
better term) is being removed from Windows at version 8.1 (preview) and,
possibly, has already been removed with some patch of Windows 8. Vicious
rumor aside, I don't think it's the culprit.
Cygwin is shipping a 64-bit version now. 64-bit applications in windows,
if I am not mistaken, don't need (or understand) the sysnative symlink, as
it is only dynamically presented to 32-bit apps to allow them to call
native 64-bit libraries. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
If I am correct, I see two possible outs to this current issue:
1) use 32-bit cygwin only.
2) modify the VCL code to support 64-bit cygwin, hopefully as
simply as invoking s/sysnative/system32/g.
The answer to this question to me depends highly on the question of how
much else people think has to be done to support Windows 8. If it's a
small part of it, I'd just as soon add the cygwin64 support immediately as
it's the currently developed option. I am no coder, but I am a
troubleshooter (and sysadm who can read) and have been tasked with running
windows 8 on our VCL, so I'll look at it as a learning experience if those
of you who are familiar with the code think I might have a snowball's
chance in Belize of succeeding.
Thanks
jeff
