VM: Origin Symlink to Share Issue

As written here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=40777.msg427949#msg427949

Feel free to move this thread to Support if this is not the right place. Being advertised as working I found this section appropriate

I have just succesfully merged my gaming system and my low-power Unraid Server.

I can play games with my passed through GPU (only thing necessary to get it working was setting my igfx as primary video source in UEFI).

My 3tb steam library enticed me to do go virtual. With the technique shown here I am finally able to administer my files right (on/off SSDs). Steam works well from a mapped network drive.

Uplay accepts network paths when run as admin. Working fine also.

Origin does neither. I have tried symlinks, mapping a network drive and also just the direct network paths. All are not accepted.

Any suggestions?

Could it be that my small vdisk size conflicts with some Kind of disk space check?

As in: origin is fooled by the symlink but does check my small C drive that has insufficient space for a 40gb download. A tiny vdisk being the whole point of using a VM in Unraid with a huge array...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

EDiT:

Meanwhile I have removed the mapped network drive, it is not necessary for the whole project. Even steam accepts a symlink, so why not have all programs use the same path?

Working/How:

Dolphin-Emulator/Symlink

Steam/Symlink

Uplay/Network Path

3rd Party/Symlink

Not Working:

Origin

I don't really see how this is unraids defect.

It most likely is the too small space on the main disk. How much free space is there?

Since Steam and Origin were advertised as working in the linked video I do think this is an unraid issue of some sort.. not a fatal one, howerver.

My vdisk has 20 Gb free space left. Installing Jade Empire (a 6 Gb download) fails when installing (see images).

Steam notices that its folder behind the symlink has 2tb free space left. So there seems to be something else producing this error.

On the Games share there is splendid space and the vdisk space should suffice for installing the games I tested the process with.

There is no image of the error 

Since the post does not follow the defect report guidelines, I am inclined to move the thread to the KVM subforum. I will leave it here for a while but please read the sticky.

There is no image of the error 

Its in the first post because of the img size limitation.

Since the post does not follow the defect report guidelines, I am inclined to move the thread to the KVM subforum. I will leave it here for a while but please read the sticky.

Sorry for that. Feel free to move this immediately

On my origin symlink I have used a location that is also a part of a mapped network drive. I also used the IP and not the name of the server for the symlink.

From the screenshot origin reports the path with both / and \. That is weird.

Hey, that might actually be it. Ill try this out later.

Thanks for the help and merry Christmas 

I hope it works 

Merry Christmas to you too!

Sooo, I have tried this out again, neither direct installs to the share or a mapped drive, or even a symlink to either the share or the mapped drive seem to be working for me (ip or netbios name).

Since the only portion of my games not running are the EA Origin ones, I will keep my VM setup as my daily driver.

Anyone with a working Origin path on a network share, could you please post your exact setup?

For now, I have managed to get Origin working on a VHD on my games share

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg318052(v=ws.10).aspx

For my 250GB of Origin games I have created a VHD of 500 GB that is dynamically expanding. This was extremely easy to do and uses microsofts own tools. (the VHD only takes up the space actually taken by the data put onto it, so the 500GB VHD holding my entire Origin library is only slightly larger than 250GB). For BF4 (which I deem only playable running off an SSD) I have created a secondary VHD half the size of the main Origin one, that is located on the cache.

My gaming VM now is set up using a

-50 GB vHD run on Unraid.

-4TB dedicated games share on unraid that is symlinked to C:\Games

-500GB Windows VHD (Dynamic size) on the share (windows path: C:\Games\Origin\Origin.vhd) that is mounted as O:\

-250GB Windows VHD (Dynamic size) on the cache (windows path: C:\Games\Origin\Origin_SSD.vhd) that is mounted as P:\

This way all my games, even the Origin ones can easily be moved to and from the cache drive and are accessible from the VM.

If there is any update on the Origin part, I will of course stop using the VHD.

Thanks, limetech for making this possible!

TLDR:

I have succesfully set this up as follows: Steam/Uplay/Other Games run fine from a local Symlink

e.g. in CMD (admin) go to C:\ there mklink /D Games \\unraid\games\

Origin was resistant to running of a share. I created two VHDs in Windows' own drive management tool. The smaller of which sits on my cache drive, the larger on the array. This way all games I own (3+ TB) run fine in a VM on unraid!?

Any updates on this, any tips on how to get Origin to work with shares?

Any updates on this, any tips on how to get Origin to work with shares?

I tried rix's suggestion above and the VHD method works fine.

Rix,

I have tried your suggestion of using VHDs and it works great.  I have a question for you....Do you have a way of auto mounting these VHDs on a reboot of the VM?  I find that if I reboot the VM, I get a message that the file is in use by another process.  I have used process explorer and it does not show the file in use by anything, however if I wait or retry to attach them later (haven't measured time) they then are able to attach.  Do you unmount them before a reboot?    I am using a Steam Link to playback games on a TV in the kids room and from time to time something crashes and we need to reboot the VM from the unraid VM manager and I am looking for a simple way to make sure these VHDs can attach right away on a reboot.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Dan

Rix,

 

I have tried your suggestion of using VHDs and it works great.  I have a question for you....Do you have a way of auto mounting these VHDs on a reboot of the VM?  I find that if I reboot the VM, I get a message that the file is in use by another process.  I have used process explorer and it does not show the file in use by anything, however if I wait or retry to attach them later (haven't measured time) they then are able to attach.  Do you unmount them before a reboot?    I am using a Steam Link to playback games on a TV in the kids room and from time to time something crashes and we need to reboot the VM from the unraid VM manager and I am looking for a simple way to make sure these VHDs can attach right away on a reboot.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Dan

You can use the Simple VHD Manager to auto mount the VHD. You can find the software here

You have to uninstall the Origin client from the OS disk and install it on the network share (where the games are installed).

Source: I had the same problem and this fix worked for me

And dont forget to enable linked connections so applications with "elevated permissions" (Run as administrator) can see the network share as well! https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3035277

In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey:

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

 

Right-click Configuration, click New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.

 

Name the new registry entry as EnableLinkedConnections.

 

Double-click the EnableLinkedConnections registry entry.

 

In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, type 1 in the Value data field, and then click OK.

 

Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

Saarg and f3dora,

Thanks for the information.  I am having an issue still with attaching the vhd.  If I reboot the VM and try and attach it manually through disk management I get an error that says the file cannot be accessed because it is in use by another process.  Again I used process explorer and it doesn't show anything using this file.  If I try with the simple VHD manager 1.2 I get a different message:  "The file cannot be attached! The file is corrupt or not supported by the system."    However if I wait long enough I am able to attach the VHD.  Not sure if it is related...I am unable to attach a VHD through the simple VHD manager gui...however since I enabled the right click context menu options and I am able to attach the VHD by right clicking and selecting mount or by double clicking the VHD.

I really need to figure out this inability to attach a drive after a reboot of the VM.

Thanks,

Dan

I worked on this some more.  Samba is locking the file.  I telnet into unraid console and stopped samba then started samba and I was able to mount the VHD.

So now I need to Google for a solution/setting to keep samba from locking these files on a VM reboot.

Dan

I worked on this some more.  Samba is locking the file.  I telnet into unraid console and stopped samba then started samba and I was able to mount the VHD.

 

So now I need to Google for a solution/setting to keep samba from locking these files on a VM reboot.

 

Dan

Once I configured VHD mounter to automatically mount the VHD, I didn't have any problems with samba. I have used it for months and still no problem.

Guys you dont have to use VHDs or symlinks, the normal unraid shares work! You just have to install the origin client on the mapped network share.

f3dora,

Thank you for your post.  I did as you suggested and installed Origin on my mapped network share (on my cache drive) and it works perfectly.  Nice simple solution!

Thanks again to everyone for their input.

Dan

@f3dora tried this just now in W10 and didnt work unfortunately. Have you found another working solution?

indeed installing origin on a network share and then installing the games doesnt work, win 10 v 1703.

VHD was my only solution for now but still wanne find another way instead of vhds.

Any update on the Origin issue?

Finally installed a Win10 Gaming VM, Steam & UPlay installed easily (Steam over mapped network drive, UPlay over network share) but Origin doesn't install to mapping or share.

UAC disabled, registry has EnableLinkedConnections set, yet an error everytime I try to install the Origin client.

BTW - for people using VHD - why not add an additional HD to the VM itself from the unraid GUI instead?

Thanks

Shlomi

I also had the problem, that Origin dosen't want to download the games on a Network Share. After lots of trying i found the reson why. Origin has a service called "Origin Client Service" which is required to download a Game. This service is executed under the SYSTEM user account, which doesn't know of your Network Share mappings. The easiest way to solve this is to disable the service. Now Origin cannot start the service and runs the Executable as Administrator of your User. To allow the Programs, which run as administrator, to see the Network Share you have to follow these instructions: https://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/ee844140(v=ws.10).aspx. You culd also map the Network Share in  the SYSTEM user but this is generally not a good idea, because then the SYSTEM user could be atacked throu that share. Also running the service under your user has the drawback that origin would not work in multi-user environments. My solution has the drawback that Origin prompts you with an UAC for the first download after Origin started. 

Here the detailed steps to realize my solution: 

1. type services.msc in to the Search field and open Services

2. Search for "Origin Client Host" in the list and duble click it

3. set the Startup type to disabled

4. Click OK and close the Services window

5. type regedit in to the search field and open the entry regedit

6. Locate and then right-click the registry subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.

7. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value.

8. Type EnableLinkedConnections, and then press ENTER.

9. Right-click EnableLinkedConnections, and then click Modify.

10. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

11. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

12. Now Origin should be able to to download to the set installation-path even if it is a network share

I succeeded to get this working with VHDX. However, I am facing quite a severe issue. I have set up a script to mount the VHDX upon startup. Unfortunately, this requires me to remember to unmount the VHDX before restarting my Windows VM. Otherwise, the VHDX cannot be started again.

I found another thread with another community member facing the same issue: 

Any thoughts?