par2.exe "access denied" (Windows XP)

[cannondale0815]

This problem has been plaguing me (I believe) ever since sabnzbd went 1.0. I am still running Win XP (32 bit) in a Virtual Machine. At some point (after upgrading), the par2.exe didn't work anymore and gave me an access denied error message. Only reverting to the previous par2.exe works (I am taking the one from 0.7.20), and I have to do that every time I upgrade sabnzdb to a new version.

I take it it's because I'm still running XP and the new builds aren't truly compatible with it anymore. Correct guess?

-J

[sander]

So, from the command line box (CMD box), without running SABNzbd, when you type

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par2.exe

you get "access denied"?

[cannondale0815]

Correct. The old par2.exe displays the available command line options instead. This has been going on in every version since 1.0. I just didn't get around to reporting it yet as I had a workaround in place (basically copying the old 0.7.x version over the newer versions).

Again, this might be very XP specific. And I fully understand this is an outdated and unsupported OS. I don't need a fix (due to the workaround), but I thought why not report it anyway, for the record.

Edit: Here are the specific messages I am seeing. For the sake of this example, I copied both the current and old versions of the 32bit par2.exe file to a temporary directory and renamed them so I could run both from the same directory. The new one is from sabnzbd 1.2.3. The old one was taken from 0.7.20. The original location for these files is "SABnzbd\win\par2\".

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C:\Temp>par2_new.exe
Access is denied.

C:\Temp>par2_old.exe
Not enough command line arguments.
par2cmdline version 0.4, Copyright (C) 2003 Peter Brian Clements.

[sander]

OK, interesting. I have no Windows, so this is a bit of hacking, but maybe it heps:
SAB 1.0.0 has two par2 version:


Classic:

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229376  ./SABnzbd-0.7.20/win/par2/par2-classic.exe

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$ strings ./SABnzbd-0.7.20/win/par2/par2-classic.exe | grep -i -e "par2cmdline version" -e vincent -e "intel thread" -e unicode
Created by par2cmdline version 0.4.
par2cmdline version 0.4

and the non-classic:

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423936 ./SABnzbd-0.7.20/win/par2/par2.exe

which has different functions / content:

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$ strings ./SABnzbd-0.7.20/win/par2/par2.exe | grep -i -e "par2cmdline version" -e vincent -e "intel thread" -e unicode
Created by par2cmdline version 0.4.
par2cmdline version 0.4
Concurrent processing utilises Intel Thread Building Blocks 2.0,
directory support are Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Vincent Tan.
Modifications for concurrent processing, Unicode support, and hierarchial

So which one is working for you? I guess the classic version.

If so, I'm guessing that those new functions are causing problems on WinXP?

[cannondale0815]

The classic version is indeed working. I did originally notice that when I first ran into this issue many (many) months back. In fact, there is a sabnzbd switch that forces it to use the classic version -- it's called "Enable MultiCore Par2" -- one has to disable it, and then it's using the classic version. However, I wanted multi-core support, and therefore I just copied the old par2.exe over the new one. That said, I never verified (nor would I know how to) if this older version actually supports multiple cores. On XP, nonetheless. My XP VM is configured to use four cores btw.

P.S.: Just to spell it out, in the old 0.7.20, both the classic and non-classic are working. In the new 1.x versions, only the classic is working, the non-classic gives me the access denied error.

[safihre]

It seems 2 years ago we did some update: https://github.com/sabnzbd/sabnzbd/comm ... 1dbd7e82bc

But I helped other people using Winxp and it seems to work fine for them.
Are you sure you're not trying to run the x64 version?

[cannondale0815]

It seems 2 years ago we did some update: https://github.com/sabnzbd/sabnzbd/comm ... 1dbd7e82bc

But I helped other people using Winxp and it seems to work fine for them.
Are you sure you're not trying to run the x64 version?

100% certain. I am using the one not in the "x64" folder, but one level up. Again, not looking to cause more work for anyone. If I'm the lone ranger who still uses XP and it's working for everyone else, no need to change anything. I was just curious.

I've been using this software for a few years now and couldn't be happier!

EDIT: Out of curiosity, I also just now tried to run the par2.exe in the x64 folder, and I'm getting the exact same error "Access is denied". Perhaps the 32 bit executable was wrongly compiled for 64 bit? Both executables have a different size, so they aren't identical.

[sander]

EDIT: Out of curiosity, I also just now tried to run the par2.exe in the x64 folder, and I'm getting the exact same error "Access is denied". Perhaps the 32 bit executable was wrongly compiled for 64 bit? Both executables have a different size, so they aren't identical.

So what are the sizes?
And I believe in Windows you get the properties of a file by right clicking on it? (But I wonder if WinXP can recogzie a 64-bit file).

[cannondale0815]

Here's what I got:

SABnzbd 1.2.3:
par2.exe: 471 KB (482,816 bytes)
par2-classic.exe: 224 KB (229,376 bytes)
x64\par2.exe: 576 KB (589,824 bytes)

SABnzbd 0.7.20:
par2.exe: 414 KB (423,936 bytes)
par2-classic.exe: 224 KB (229,376 bytes)
x64\par2.exe: 503 KB (525,072 bytes)

Again, thank you very much for spending so much time looking into this!

[sander]

I used http://exe.urih.com/ on the the par2-classic.exe and par2.exe of SAB 1.0.0

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Size:	229,376 bytes
File name:	par2-classic.exe
Extension:	.exe
MIME type:	application/x-ms-dos-executable
PE details
Date compiled:	Thu, April 22, 2004, 10:58:28 AM
Linker version:	7.10
Machine type:	Intel 386 or later processors and compatible processors
PE format:	PE32
Characteristics:	None
DLL Characteristics:	None
Subsystem:	The Windows character subsystem (Console)
Min OS:	Windows 95

So Windows 95 as minimum, thus WinXP is OK.

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Size:	482,816 bytes
File name:	par2.exe
Extension:	.exe
MIME type:	application/x-ms-dos-executable
PE details
Date compiled:	Sun, May 3, 2015, 4:58:51 AM
Linker version:	12.0
Machine type:	Intel 386 or later processors and compatible processors
PE format:	PE32
Characteristics:	None
DLL Characteristics:	Image is NX compatible (No eXecute); Terminal Server aware
Subsystem:	The Windows character subsystem (Console)
Min OS:	Windows Vista / Windows Server 2008

So Windows Vista as minimum, thus WinXP is not OK.

To me that is the explanation that confirms your experience.

[cannondale0815]

Indeed it does. Did you guys compile the binaries yourself? SInce the source is from 2004, just wondering why a new binary was introduced in 1.x.

[sander]

Did you guys compile the binaries yourself?

I'm not sure, but I don't think so

SInce the source is from 2004, just wondering why a new binary was introduced in 1.x.

The par2-classic.exe stayed the same:

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sander@Streamer13:~/Downloads/windows$ md5sum ./SABnzbd-0.7.20/win/par2/par2-classic.exe
e6fdbb66a816b3d1d96a811069442ac8  ./SABnzbd-0.7.20/win/par2/par2-classic.exe

sander@Streamer13:~/Downloads/windows$ md5sum ./SABnzbd-1.0.0/win/par2/par2-classic.exe
e6fdbb66a816b3d1d96a811069442ac8  ./SABnzbd-1.0.0/win/par2/par2-classic.exe

"Only" the par2.exe changes, which is the one with TBB built-in, and which is not from the original par2cmdline source code. The par2-with-TBB aparantly is still developed/updated, or at least freshly compiled.

In my experience, the original par2cmdline (yielding par2-classic.exe) is a bit of an orphan.

[safihre]

@sanderjo I think something is wrong because we haven't used par2classic for a long time. The executable is now par2cmdline.exe: https://github.com/sabnzbd/sabnzbd/tree ... p/win/par2

But anyway, that doesn't change the problem.
Regarding that I am afraid I can't support Winxp anymore, you will have to keep copying or use the single core way.
You know Microsoft offers free Windows 7 VM's right? Officially they are 90 days valid, but can be re-activated for at least a year.

[cannondale0815]

Thanks for the info about the free VM. Eventually I'll upgrade to Win 7 or Win 10 for my VM.

Keep up the good work!

[cannondale0815]

So I took your advise and upgraded. I ditched my old XP VM and set up a new one. I was torn between Win 7 and Win 10, but decided on the latter, as I had an unused license and also read that Win 10 is optimized for better performance on low-end hardware. I am giving my VM only 1 GB of RAM, mind you . I choose the 32 bit version, which works best for low-RAM situations.

I'm super happy. In fact, I couldn't believe it at first, but Win 10 seems just as smooth in my low-end VM as XP was before. Microsoft got something right this time -- remember the Vista debacle years ago?

Anyway, just wanted to say that all is well, par2.exe obviously works without a hitch in the new environment.

Thanks for the superb support you guys have shown me here!