Legacy MS-DOS apps won't launch when Retrospect 6.5.350 active

[jch]

XP Pro, SP2

Retrospect Pro 6.5.350

 

I have a legacy MS-DOS app that I use on daily basis (TimeSlips 8 -- time & billing software). If I start a backup job in Retrospect or if, as is more often the case, the backup is still running from the night before, I cannot launch my MS-DOS application.

 

TimeSlips shows up in the task manager, but never appears on my screen! This means I can be locked out of punching into/out of my billing software all day(!) if a backup is running.

 

Once Retrospect is shut down, TimeSlips launches fine.

 

Question: Is there a known incompatibility between Retrospect and legacy MS-DOS apps? If it matters, it appears that the TimeSlips 8 was written in Borland (at least judging by the database engine they use).

 

Thanks,

.../j

[jch]

One more clue as to where the conflict may be.

 

When Retrospect finishes the backup phase, and the "creating snapshot" phase, any queued-up MS-DOS apps will launch as soon as Retrospect starts *writing* the snapshot.

 

It's as if Retrospect has a system resource tied up that MS-DOS apps need.

 

Thoughts???

 

.../j

[AmyJ]

I have a theory... Based on when the problem is occuring it may be related to the Volume Shadow Copy service, which Retrospect calls when doing Open File Backup in Windows XP. Try disabling Open File Backup in your script during your next execution (Options > More Choices > Windows > Open Files). Uncheck the "Back Up Open Files" option and run your script (either wait for the scheduled time or run it from the Run menu on the top of your screen.

 

If the problem does not occur when the "Open Files" option is turned off, then there is a conflict between the DOS program and Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy service.

[jch]

Interesting theory about the Volume Shadow Copy....

 

I never had a problem launching these DOS programs when using Veritas Backup Exec (which also used Shadow Copy).

 

???

 

.../j