Cannot get internal floppy drive to work.

[G0AOZ]

XP Pro installation, SP3 and all updates. Installed Microsoft Virtual PC v6.0.156.6, and then installed Windows 98-SE. Everything else appears to work fine in Windows 98 apart from the 3.5" floppy disk drive.

The drive works fine in XP, and reads all disks ok. I have tried opening Floppy on the top menu bar in the WIN98 window and clicking on the Control Physical Drive A: option. The command is accepted (provided one inserts a disk in the drive beforehand), but trying to access the files using Explorer only results in the FDD's l.e.d. being permanently lit.

Any ideas?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[Nelviticus]

If you just want the Win98 machine to access the files on the floppy, copy them to your host's hard drive and drag them into the '98 machine's window, or share a folder.

If you want to use the floppy as a floppy, do the above but then use <link

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825098>this

guide</link> to create a virtual floppy, then within the VM copy the files to it. Then you'll end up with a floppy disk image of the real disk, which you should be able to use within the VM with no problems.

Nelviticus

 

[G0AOZ]

Nelviticus, many thanks for your reply. I'm just about to go out of the offie now but will check out your suggestions when I return.

I have also tried Virtual PC 2004, but that exhibits the same problem. I did initially get around it by sharing and mapping the A: drive in the host system!

Do you think it's just that a floppy disk drive is not designed to work in this way under Virtual PC, or is it a problem with the ASRock motherboard (BIOS?) that I'm using?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[Nelviticus]

Not sure, I've been able to use physical floppy drives in virtual PCs before so it definitely can work. I'm guessing that there's either a software or a hardware incompatibility somewhere along the chain. You could try fiddling with BIOS settings to see if it makes a difference but I'd be inclined to work around the problem unless I needed to use floppies regularly.

Nelviticus