PRB: Phar Lap Error 58 Running Visual C++ on Read-Only Drive

ID: Q107495

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.5
Microsoft Visual C++ 32-bit Edition, version 1.0
Microsoft Macro Assembler for MS-DOS, versions 6.1, 6.1a, 6.11

SYMPTOMS

An attempt to execute NMAKE.EXE, CL.EXE, LINK.EXE, or MASM.EXE in MS-DOS when Windows is not running fails and generates the following message:

Phar Lap err 58: Can't create VM swap file of size 0 in directory <root directory name>:\

H2INC.EXE and CREF.EXE that ship with MASM version 6.11 generate the same error. This error does not occur when running in an MS-DOS window under Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Windows NT.

With Visual C++ for Windows and MASM version 6.1a, the error can also occur when the TMP environment variable is invalid or points to a read-only drive. For additional information about the TMP problem, please search in the Microsoft Knowledge Base on the following words:

Phar Lap RW1016

CAUSE

Visual C++ is installed on a read-only drive, possibly a network drive. The error occurs because the DOSXNT MS-DOS extender attempts to create a virtual memory swap file on the drive DOSXNT runs from when the operating system does not support virtual memory.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, you can run DOSXNT on a read/write drive listed in your PATH MS-DOS environment variable. Or you can specify one of the following environment variable settings to prevent DOSXNT from attempting to create a swap file on the read-only network drive:

Set the DOSX environment variable to prevent DOSXNT from using any virtual memory. Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the following:
set dosx=-novm
With this option, you may run out of memory due to virtual memory not being used. If this is the case, use the second solution to set up a swap directory for the virtual memory.

Set the DOSX environment variable to specify where DOSXNT creates the virtual memory swap file. Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the following
set dosx=-swapdir <path>
where <path> specifies the drive and directory on which to create the temporary swap file.

Set a TMP environment variable that points to a read/write drive with enough free space for temporary files. If the TMP environment variable already exists, check to see that it is valid and pointing to a read/write drive. The TMP environment variable works only for the version of DOSXNT that comes with Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows version 1.0 and Microsoft MASM 6.1a.

NOTE: This is not a problem in Visual C++ 2.0, because DOSXNT is not used.

Additional query words: PharLap DOSXNT 1.00 1.50 6.10 6.10a utilities masm noupdate

Keywords :
Version : :1.0,1.5,6.1,6.11,6.1a
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