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I execute a command line program from a VM (VMware 7.1.1) with Windows XP. The executable file is located on the host machine. If i start a command line in the VM, using a drive mounted as 

.host\SharedFolders

i see the following:

D:\projects\myProgram\WinRel>dir myProgram.exe
02.09.2010  21:15           245.760 myProgram.exe

D:\projects\myProgram\WinRel>myProgram.exe
Processing BuildFeb 26 2009

This is wrong! The whole execution of the program behaves like the version that is outdated more than one year! I triple checked that there is no confusion or anything

If i start the Program on the host or if i even start it from the VM using a UNC Path, it shows the last build date and executes as expected:

C:\>dir \\myMachine\drive_d\projects\myProgram\WinRel\myProgram.exe
02.09.2010  21:15           245.760 myProgram.exe

C:\>\\myMachine\drive_d\projects\myProgram\WinRel\myProgram.exe
Processing Build: Sep  2 2010

Can this behavior somehow be explained? There MUST be a cache for the host mounted drive. The program it executes does not exist anymore! If i remove it from the host, the VM can not execute it anymore. If i restore it, the behavior becomes the same again.

Zypher
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RED SOFT ADAIR-StefanWoe
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2 Answers2

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It seems you may be experience a pathing issue. What happens when you explicity execute d:\projects\myprogram\winrel\myprogram.exe? That is, specify the full path all the way down using your "D:" drive pathing.

Matt
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I found the solution - apparently this was not a core VMware problem but rather caused in the windows prefetch mechanism. In WINDOWS\PREFETCH i found two files myProgram.exe-xxxxxxxx.pf. Removing them did not help - their content is probably cached. Rebooting the VM solved the problem (also without removing the prefetch files). This was something i did not want to do as this was a snapshot i always reverted to for testing purposes.

RED SOFT ADAIR-StefanWoe
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  • Long-term snapshots can cause a whole raft of problems - I wouldn't recommend relying on snapshots any older than a month or so. – Chris Thorpe Sep 03 '10 at 12:14