Pathworks 32 Installation on XP

[Geoffrey Darnton]

I have a VAX 3100 running VMS 5.5-2. I have one PC running W98 with Pathworks installed on it (I think v7.2) - it connects just fine - NCP and Powerterm etc. I have an XP machine (XP Home with SP2). Some while ago I got an upgraded Pathworks CD (Pathworks v7.3) to use with XP. I just cannot get it to work. It does not install DECnet or LAT. Immediately after the log note that DECnet is not installed I get a message "RemoveTheAceWindowStation GetUserObjectSecurity() fails: error 6; The handle is invalid". Any suggestions gratefully received.

[faris_3]

Hi,

HAve you tried with the latest version of Pathworks 32 ie v7.4 ?

[Arch_Muthiah]

Geoff,

Please try this link, the related issues has been discussed.

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=981743

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=980197

http://www.openvms.org/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=2972&t=2968

Archunan

[Arch_Muthiah]

Geoff,

Please make sure you followed the "pre-installation steps" mentioned (if you upgrade pathworks in XP) in this Pathworks 32 7.4 installtions manual.

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/721FINAL/pw32/PW_IG.PDF


Archunan

[Geoffrey Darnton]

Many thanks for the suggestions so far. I haven't tried Pathworks 7.4 - I just used the v7.3 supplied a while back by the HP reseller who said that v7.2 is ok for W98, but XP needs 7.3. Maybe 7.4 is for W2003? I looked at the suggested installation guide, but that is for v7.2. I am beginning to suspect there is something wrong with the network settings in my XP machine, but I can't see any handle to find out! I have one W95 machine - Pathworks works ok and talks with my VAX ok. Same for my W98 machine - Pathworks works ok. Before trying to install Pathworks on the XP machine, I networked the W95, W98 and XP machines. The W98 machine can see the W95 and XP machines - the W95 and XP machines can't see each other. Since I tried to install Pathworks on the XP machine, and uninstalled because I couldn't get it to work, I have lost the network between the XP and W98 machines. The MS networking wizard just can't get the network to work again! So Pathworks install + uninstall must change something somewhere on the XP machine, therefore Pathworks uninstall is not restoring the prior network state to something that the MS networking wizard can use to rebuild the local network for the windows machines. I'm trying to retire the W95 and W98 machines so I can convert the W98 machine to Linux. But I need connectivity to the VAX because I have some systems analysis tools that only work on the VAX, and DECdocument beats Dreamweaver and FrontPage for building websites from complex text like books. So now my XP to W98 connectivity is via an external USB hard drive! I've tried different network combinations. Interestingly, when I added the XP machine into the network, Pathworks between the W98 and VAX stopped working. I tried the XP machine direct to the VAX, uninstalling and reinstalling Pathworks, but I just couldn't get that to work! No error during installation, but the log file tells me LAT and DECnet are not installed - and if I try to run NCP, I get a very quick flash of a DOS window! - so I can't set up my DECnet nodes on the XP machine.

[Vladimir Fabecic]

I tried Pathworks 7.3 on XP Professional. It works OK. You said you have XP Home. Maybe that is the problem. Have you tried with XP Professional?

[Geoffrey Darnton]

Thanks for that suggestion. It is reassuring to know it works. I had wondered if Pathworks will not work on XP Home. I may have missed a point somewhere, but I can only recall the Pathworks documents referring to XP and not making a distinction between Home and Professional. It will be interesting to know if someone has Pathworks 7.3 working with XP Home. My Windows technical knowledge is not strong. Nor is my networking knowledge. My strength is (was) VMS and commercial layered products (DBMS, ACMS, etc.). Does anyone know if the Pathworks developers tested with XP Home?

[Upstate Rob]

I have a deeper question... and maybe I am wrong on this... Why not just install SAMBA on the VAX? which works with all PCs (since CIFS has never changed). Here is the link to the download.
http://us2.samba.org/samba/ftp/Binary_Packages/vms/
Pull the old version and, if you are still on 5.5-2 there may be something you need. I run it on Alpha 7.3 and it works fine; never tried it on my older VAXs. I am curious why this is not suggested here?

[Antoniov.]

Hi Geoffrey,
AFAIK Pathwork32 V73. is designed for Win2K. I used it on WinXP but I wasn't able to install LAT protocol; Powerterm was running just in Win2K compatibility mode.
If you need LAT you must install Pathwork V7.4. However, you can't easily connect any WinXP HE (Home Edition) to any Lan Manager (AKA NT) Server. This is just a WinXP HE limitation. The main difference between WinXP HE and WinXP Pro is the network layer. WinXP HE hasn't got any driver to access into NT network and you can't logon into network.
Actually the workaround is: create a mapped drive on WinXP HE to VAX using a specific username.

Cheers and Happy New Year.

Antonio
http://it.openvms.org

[Geoffrey Darnton]

Many thanks for the last two suggestions. I've had a quick look at Samba - that may be an interesting approach, but if I need to do something more after installing it on the VAX, I'm not sure if my skills are up to it.

"Actually the workaround is: create a mapped drive on WinXP HE to VAX using a specific username." - I'll try this later today.

What I am trying to do on the PC is run DECterm to do my editing and general work on the VAX then use FTP to transfer the files from the VAX to the PC so I can put them into Dreamweaver for website management.

I'll explore upgrading XP to professional - I'm trying to keep my costs down!

[Doug Phillips]

Don't waste your time with Samba on a VAX 3100. I've done it and:

1) It is *v*e*r*y* slow compared to Pathworks.
2) You will need to play around with it to even to get it to work.
3) You'll wish you had all of that wasted time back.

Even putting it on an Alpha 1000a was a disappointment. Ended up spending the money for the Advanced Server upgrade.

Hopefully the VMS crew will tune Samba up for IA64.

As far as WinXP, PWv7.4 should install DECnet & LAT and work just fine. XP-Pro is needed if you're connecting to a Windows Domain, but if you're just connecting peer-to-peer (workgroup) you don't need it. Last I looked it's about US$100 for the Home-to-Pro upgrade.