Troubleshooting Virtual PC 6.1.x: Virtual Printing problems; Permissions problem with Help files

Virtual Printing problems As previously noted, when attempting to install Virtual PC 6.1.x, users without administrator access cannot complete the process. A user with administrator privileges has to perform the installation.

According to a new report from Gregory Newton, this behavior is causing some problems with virtual printers used within the emulation environment.

Newton writes "Launch Virtual PC 6.x as a regular user and set up your PC (In our case all computers running Virtual PC 6.x are also using Windows 98 SE). Now, if you print to a 'virtual printer' (which takes the Windows print spool file and sends it to the Mac OS which then processes the job and sends it to your selected Mac OS default printer), Virtual PC 6.x will immediately freeze, resulting in "Application Not Responding" when checking Virtual PC 6.x in the dock. Forcing it to quit and restarting Virtual PC 6.x shows that the print spool file does not exist in Windows or on the host Macintosh.

"Printing to a networked printer with an IP address on our network works fine, proving the problem is not with Windows 98 SE, but with the Virtual PC 6.x application. [...] The only way to get 'Virtual Printing' to work is to change all users into Administrators on each Macintosh. This will allow Virtual Printing from Virtual PC to work but leaves the Macintosh exposed to potential damage and misuse by users who should not have administration privileges." [Ed.- Providing all users administrator privileges can have serious consequences]

Permissions problem with Help files While the help files for Virtual PC 6.1.x are accessible when using the application as an administrator, when using the software as a regular user, the Help files will - in some cases - be inaccessible.

Newton continues "It turns out the Help files are located within the Virtual PC application package. The permissions for the Virtual PC application are incorrect when installed and users do not have permission to access the files within the Virtual PC package."

The fix for this problem is more straightforward: Log in as an administrator and correct the privileges (allowing access by regular users) with a tool like BatChmod 1.32.

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