3/28/2015 virtualbox.

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Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

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20 posts • Page 2 of 2 • 1, 2

Re: Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

by MarkCranness » 31. Jan 2010, 01:08

paolosardi wrote:This could be a smart and simple solution. Unfortunately I did not
succeed in making it work. When I type the Image path as you suggested and then try to
restart the VBoxService, I get the error: "Error 1053: The service did not respond to the
start or control request in a timely fashion". Any suggestion?

What was the image path before the edit? 'system32\VBoxService.exe' ?

If you remove the ­­disable­timesync' does the 'timely fashion' error still occur? (ie is it a problem
with the extra parameter, or is it another problem with restarting the service?

Make sure there is a space character between the 'system32\VBoxService.exe' and the '­­disable­
timesync' text.

You can also debug the service at a command line, in case it is giving any error messages:
­ Stop the service
­ Run it at a command prompt:

Code: Select all Expand viewCollapse view

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3/28/2015 virtualbox.org • View topic ­ Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

VBoxService ‐f ‐vvv ‐‐disable‐timesync

... and see if any error messages are displayed (many status messages will be displayed).

MarkCranness
Volunteer

Posts: 875
Joined: 10. Oct 2009, 06:27
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows Server 2008 R2; Ubuntu 11.04; Windows 2000 Server; Windows XP

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Re: Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

by paolosardi » 31. Jan 2010, 03:47

MarkCranness wrote:

paolosardi wrote:This could be a smart and simple solution. Unfortunately I

did not succeed in making it work. When I type the Image path as you
suggested and then try to restart the VBoxService, I get the error: "Error
1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely
fashion". Any suggestion?

What was the image path before the edit? 'system32\VBoxService.exe' ?

Yes.

MarkCranness wrote:If you remove the ­­disable­timesync' does the 'timely fashion' error
still occur? (ie is it a problem with the extra parameter, or is it another problem with
restarting the service?

Without the parameter, no problem occurs.

MarkCranness wrote:Make sure there is a space character between the

'system32\VBoxService.exe' and the '­­disable­timesync' text.

There is the space.

MarkCranness wrote:You can also debug the service at a command line, in case it is
giving any error messages:

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3/28/2015 virtualbox.org • View topic ­ Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

­ Stop the service

­ Run it at a command prompt:

Code: Select all Expand viewCollapse view

VBoxService ‐f ‐vvv ‐‐disable‐timesync

... and see if any error messages are displayed (many status messages will be displayed).

I'll try.

paolosardi

Posts: 4
Joined: 30. Jan 2010, 03:21
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Win7, Ubuntu

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Re: Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

by bfister » 29. May 2010, 22:18

MarkCranness wrote:

bfister wrote:It looks like I can't find this in registry. I get to the point
...\Services but no VboxService anywhere after...

Do you have Guest Additions installed? (a little icon in the guest's system tray ­ botom
right ­ showing the VirtualBox box)
That entry will only be present when Guest Additions are installed. Earlier you said:

bfister wrote:I have disabled time syncronization in guest Windows XP ...

... how did you do that?

I recommend just using biossystemtimeoffset only. If that works, there will be no need to
disable timesync, because the time sync obeys the offset also. If you have un­installed
Guest Additions only to try and fix the time issue, you can re­install them.

bfister wrote:If there is another solution for me, please keep trying

How about this: see attached VBScript file:

StartVmAsAt.vbs.zip

Code: Select all Expand viewCollapse view

VMname = "Your VM Name"

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3/28/2015 virtualbox.org • View topic ­ Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

VMdate = CDate("1/1/2001 10:00")

msec = Round((VMdate ‐ Now()) * 24 * 3600000)
set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run """%VBOX_INSTALL_PATH%VBoxManage.exe"" modifyvm """ & VMname &
""" ‐‐biossystemtimeoffset " & msec, 0, true
WshShell.Run """%VBOX_INSTALL_PATH%VirtualBox.exe"" ‐‐startvm """ & VMname
& """"

... edit as required.

Well Mark,

Thank you for this little vbs file. I have tried it and it works perfectly. This is what I was looking for!
Keep up the good work!

bfister

Posts: 5
Joined: 28. Jan 2010, 11:52
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Win XP

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Re: Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

by Lior.Albaz » 23. Feb 2011, 17:19

mpack wrote:Think about how a virtual clock must be implemented in VirtualBox. A

physical PC has a real time clock chip to supply date and time on startup, but what does a
VM have? Well, of course it too has the real time clock chip of the host (as exposed by
the host OS). Having no other independant means of tracking date and time, VBox is
always going to read the host clock in order to simulate an RTC for the VM.

As far as I know you can set a fixed offset in seconds for the VM, but you can't disable
the clock altogether. You could always of course build your own variant of the OSE
version which changes that behaviour.

mpack, you are wrong.

If VM GUI will suppprt it, you can set the time you want and it automatic calculate the time offset
and start VM.
Its all software, no real chip here.

Lior.Albaz

Posts: 4
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 01:34
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE Debian
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3/28/2015 virtualbox.org • View topic ­ Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

Guest OSses: DOS

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Re: Freezing the date of guest ­ windows XP

by mpack » 23. Feb 2011, 18:52

Lior.Albaz wrote:mpack, you are wrong.

If VM GUI will suppprt it, you can set the time you want and it automatic calculate the
time offset and start VM.
Its all software, no real chip here.

Yes, that should work. However AFAIK for the moment that feature remains theoretical, and what I
said previously still applies.

mpack
Site Moderator

Posts: 16513
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

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