Dear Klaus
Thank you for your response.
You have not understood the issue that is being reported. I have made an effort
to examine code to understand, but the software is complex, with a multiplicity
of "methods" to acquire the directory for the configuration file (eg search for
"HOMEDRIVE").
I repeat the behaviour.
Our students are working on machines using roaming profile with
USERPROFILE=c:\user\xxxxxx, HOMEDRIVE=h:, HOMEPATH=\
When the student first uses VirtualBox and opens the manager, it has a totally
empty configuration as expected. The student then creates some networks and
virtual machines. These machines work correctly when started.
The student exits the manager.
The student restarts the manager but is confronted with an empty configuration,
all previous settings are lost.
It is very frustrating having to create NAT networks and virtual machines every
time the manager is restarted.
If a single method was used to return the directory, then I would expect the
behaviour to be different, and the configuration retained and appear each time
the manager is opened, ie the behaviour the same as when installed on a stand
alone machine. This is not the case, and so there is an issue.
I would expect this to be an issue for any classroom situation where roaming
profiles are used and separate home drives are defined - a common configuration.
I also hope you appreciate Universities introducing and using Virtual Box in
teaching, but we require support.
Regards
Malcolm
On 21/11/2016 11:02, Klaus Espenlaub wrote:
Malcolm,
there was a lengthy reply to the mailing list 10 days ago sent by me,
explaining what's going on.
Your assumption is wrong. VirtualBox on all Windows versions worth talking
about will NOT fall through, it'll use the profile directory returned by
SHGetFolderPath.
Klaus
On 20.11.2016 19:55, Malcolm Clarke wrote:
Dear Max
Still no response.
Looking at path-win.cpp, the following code is unclear
RTDECL(int) RTPathUserHome(char *pszPath, size_t cchPath)
{
/*
* Validate input
*/
AssertPtrReturn(pszPath, VERR_INVALID_POINTER);
AssertReturn(cchPath, VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER);
RTUTF16 wszPath[RTPATH_MAX];
bool fValidFolderPath = false;
/*
* Try with Windows XP+ functionality first.
*/
RTLDRMOD hShell32;
int rc = RTLdrLoadSystem("Shell32.dll", true /*fNoUnload*/, &hShell32);
if (RT_SUCCESS(rc))
{
PFNSHGETFOLDERPATHW pfnSHGetFolderPathW;
rc = RTLdrGetSymbol(hShell32, "SHGetFolderPathW",
(void**)&pfnSHGetFolderPathW);
if (RT_SUCCESS(rc))
{
HRESULT hrc = pfnSHGetFolderPathW(0, CSIDL_PROFILE, NULL,
SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, wszPath);
fValidFolderPath = (hrc == S_OK);
}
RTLdrClose(hShell32);
}
DWORD dwAttr;
if ( !fValidFolderPath
|| (dwAttr = GetFileAttributesW(&wszPath[0])) ==
INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES
|| !(dwAttr & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
{
/*
* Fall back to Windows specific environment variables. HOME is not
used.
*/
if ( !GetEnvironmentVariableW(L"USERPROFILE", &wszPath[0],
RTPATH_MAX)
|| (dwAttr = GetFileAttributesW(&wszPath[0])) ==
INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES
|| !(dwAttr & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
{
/* %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% */
if (!GetEnvironmentVariableW(L"HOMEDRIVE", &wszPath[0], RTPATH_MAX))
return VERR_PATH_NOT_FOUND;
size_t const cwc = RTUtf16Len(&wszPath[0]);
if ( !GetEnvironmentVariableW(L"HOMEPATH", &wszPath[cwc],
RTPATH_MAX - (DWORD)cwc)
|| (dwAttr = GetFileAttributesW(&wszPath[0])) ==
INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES
|| !(dwAttr & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
return VERR_PATH_NOT_FOUND;
}
}
Assuming this falls through to get the environment variable, then USERPROFILE
is used over %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%, however in most other places
%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% alone is used. This appears to result in inconsistent
behaviour if USERPROFILE is not equal to %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%.
This needs to be remedied for people using roaming profiles when these
environmental variables can be set differently.
1. %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% is used for location of configuration files (create
and check location for existence)
2. USERPROFILE may be used for temporary files
Regards
Malcolm
On 09/11/2016 14:36, Maxime Dor wrote:
Hi Malcolm,
While I have extensive knowledge of VBox, I'm not a dev so I can't really
answer that question, only the devs can.
They should answer anytime soon now! If they don't be tomorrow, just let me
know and I'll drop them a note.
Max
--
Malcolm Clarke BSc (Hons), PhD
Reader in Telemedicine and Data Communication Systems
T +44 (0) 1895 265053
Brunel University London
College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences
Department of Computer Science
HNZW010, Heinz Wolff Building, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH
www.brunel.ac.uk<http://www.brunel.ac.uk/>
Connect with the university on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook
--
Malcolm Clarke BSc (Hons), PhD
Reader in Telemedicine and Data Communication Systems
T +44 (0) 1895 265053
Brunel University London
College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences
Department of Computer Science
HNZW010, Heinz Wolff Building, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH
www.brunel.ac.uk<http://www.brunel.ac.uk/>
Connect with the university on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook
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