Installed Orcad demo and now Oracle VirtualBox is redirected to C:\SPB_data instead of c:\users\owner.VirtualBox.
This killed my virtual machine firmware development environment.
C:\SPB_data directory did not exist until the OrCAD install.
It appears I am not alone
Here is a similar post on VirtualBox site. Their suggested solution does not work. This is an OrCAD install issue, that has become a VirtualBox problem.
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35644&start=0
Since I appear to talking to myself I might as well finish this conversation.
It appears that OrCAD has claimed the user variable 'home' and given it the value of c:\SPB_Data.
The quick fix, delete the OrCAD HOME variable value from the user's environment variable. The Virtual Machine now works and software development can continue as usual. (as a side note, mplayer also seems to be throwing a config file in the SPB_data folder, so it appears other programs are also affected by the OrCAD install.)
The long term fix. Run OrCAD on a junky PC by itself - and send a letter home saying OrCAD doesn't like to play well with others.
Thanks a lot.
A life saver...
It seems that 2 years after your post, no one in cadence thinks its important enough not to override major system variables!
OrCAD installation does not alter or overwrite %HOME% variable any more. I don't see this issue with latest installation or about an year old one. Yes, it would add HOME variable, if I does not find one already set on your system and this should not break any existing install? If this still does, then it seems that specific software (Oracle VirtualBox) is giving precedence to %HOME% environment variable, over it's default value.
It does not ".......override major system variables! "