Re: Debugging DAT file failures

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Still odd behavior going on. I booted to DOS and deleted the entire
\Windows folder, SYSGENED my platform to make sure I was clean, check ed the
DAT and everything looks good, but still no flippin shortcut. I did some
re-checking and it seems that on this platform, it doesn't create any of the
shortcuts I define in my DAT file (though the exact same entries on the
platform where the HDD is mounted separately works). I even inserted them
right into platform.dat.

Oh how I wish the CF team had the foresight to put in an IsAPIReady check in
the loader to make sure that it's actually able to run an app - I could then
just use HKLM\Init like any sane person. Maybe I'll create a native
bootstrap to do that instead of fighting this any longer. At least it's a
known target. Still, I'd love to know why this isn't working.


--

Chris Tacke, Embedded MVP
OpenNETCF Consulting
Giving back to the embedded community
http://community.OpenNETCF.com





"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <p space tobey no spam AT no instrument no spam DOT
com> wrote in message news:e6tUiudvJHA.248@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If you're mounting a drive as the root, as long as there is a \windows
folder on it, the items found there will appear in the booted image in
\windows, too. If you just want to clear the \windows folder, you could
separately erase that folder from the disk or unmount it and format it.
Some of our devices mount flash as the root and I have a format program
that clears that out.

Just deleting the contents of the \windows folder from inside Windows CE
won't work, I think, but I guess that you could try it. The issue with
that would be whether files that *are* in the OS image are made to
disappear when you delete them by putting some mark in the \windows folder
on the hard disk.

Paul T.

"Chris Tacke, eMVP" <ctacke.at.opennetcf.dot.com> wrote in message
news:ODppIJdvJHA.1536@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1. Have you tried, just as a sanity check, putting the entry in
project.dat? (keep it simple if it isn't working)

Yes, same failure.

2. It seems like I ran into a case sensitivity problem years ago, make
sure that the case matches the actual file name from the bib file

Nope, case is right.

3. Make sure that the Startup folder is created prior to your entry

I did add entries to the DAT file to ensure that - still no effect.

I'm actually thinking it''s some flakiness with the target platform. I
tried a different platform and BSP and the shortcut worked file with the
exact same routine to inject the DAT entries. The only real difference
between the two platforms is that the one that fails is mounting the hard
drive as the system root and the one that works has the hard drive as a
separate disk. I'm thinking there's some sort of persistence of the file
system that's surviving me changing the CE image and that is interfering
with my install.

I'm not terribly familiar with devices where the drive is mounted as
root, so this is pure conjecture, but does it seem like a reasonable
conclusion? I notice that I can add files to the \Windows folder and even
these survive when I push down a new OS. I'd think that this could cause
all sorts of problems and confusion. Is there a way to "clear" any
persisted state (short of the obvious and time-consuming drive format) on
a device like this (basically hard-reset)? If not, I may have to look
into how to undo whatever setting is mounting it (in fact I kind of like
having it as a separate drive anyway).


--

Chris Tacke, Embedded MVP
OpenNETCF Consulting
Giving back to the embedded community
http://community.OpenNETCF.com






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