why does .emacs.desktop fail?

[FCC]

Hello all,
Apologies, as the very first thing, for this lengthy post. I have been
trying to solve, for a long time by now, why the emacs desktop file is
failing after restoring only the first entry in the .emacs.desktop.

This behavior does not exist if all the files are in a Linux partition
when on Linux or all are in a Windows partition when on Windows. The
problem surfaces when one uses Linux and the files to be opened are on a
shared vfat partition. On both systems I use GNU Emacs 21.3.50.1.

I have tried opening the .emacs.desktop file, going to the end of one of
the entries
(desktop-create-buffer 206 ... )
end then doing a C-x C-e. The first time this is done on *any* such
entry in the list, it works, although an error message is still generated:
----
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (void-variable desktop-buffer-ok-count)
  (1+ desktop-buffer-ok-count)
  (setq desktop-buffer-ok-count (1+ desktop-buffer-ok-count))
  (if (bufferp result) (setq desktop-buffer-ok-count (1+
desktop-buffer-ok-count)) (setq desktop-buffer-fail-count (1+
desktop-buffer-fail-count)) (setq result nil))
  (let ((buffer-list ...) (result ...)) (if (bufferp result) (setq
desktop-buffer-ok-count ...) (setq desktop-buffer-fail-count ...) (setq
result nil)) (unless (< desktop-file-version 206) (mapc ... buffer-list)
(when result ...)) (when result (unless ... ...) (set-buffer result)
(unless ... ...) (cond ... ... ...) (when desktop-buffer-point ...)
(when desktop-buffer-mark ...) (if desktop-buffer-read-only ...) (while
desktop-buffer-locals ... ...)))
  (save-current-buffer (let (... ...) (if ... ... ... ...) (unless ...
... ...) (when result ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...)))
  desktop-create-buffer(206
"/home/ferhun/mnt/OS-Shared/Work/mpm4bv/Article/110_403_Caner.tex"
"110_403_Caner.tex" latex-mode (fast-lock-mode auto-fill-mode
global-auto-revert-mode reftex-mode) 1339 (nil nil) nil nil
((buffer-file-coding-system . iso-latin-5-unix) (overwrite-mode)))
  eval((desktop-create-buffer 206
"/home/ferhun/mnt/OS-Shared/Work/mpm4bv/Article/110_403_Caner.tex"
"110_403_Caner.tex" (quote latex-mode) (quote (fast-lock-mode
auto-fill-mode global-auto-revert-mode reftex-mode)) 1339 (quote (nil
nil)) nil nil (quote (... ...))))
  eval-last-sexp-1(nil)
  eval-last-sexp(nil)
  call-interactively(eval-last-sexp)
----

Subsequently, if I move to another (desktop-create-buffer 206 ...) entry
and repeat the C-x C-e, the buffer is not restored and I get the
following error:
----
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (void-variable desktop-buffer-fail-count)
  (1+ desktop-buffer-fail-count)
  (setq desktop-buffer-fail-count (1+ desktop-buffer-fail-count))
  (if (bufferp result) (setq desktop-buffer-ok-count (1+
desktop-buffer-ok-count)) (setq desktop-buffer-fail-count (1+
desktop-buffer-fail-count)) (setq result nil))
  (let ((buffer-list ...) (result ...)) (if (bufferp result) (setq
desktop-buffer-ok-count ...) (setq desktop-buffer-fail-count ...) (setq
result nil)) (unless (< desktop-file-version 206) (mapc ... buffer-list)
(when result ...)) (when result (unless ... ...) (set-buffer result)
(unless ... ...) (cond ... ... ...) (when desktop-buffer-point ...)
(when desktop-buffer-mark ...) (if desktop-buffer-read-only ...) (while
desktop-buffer-locals ... ...)))
  (save-current-buffer (let (... ...) (if ... ... ... ...) (unless ...
... ...) (when result ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...)))
  desktop-create-buffer(206
"/home/ferhun/mnt/OS-Shared/Work/mpm4bv/Article/Microplane-Model-for-Arteries-Final.tex"
"Microplane-Model-for-Arteries-Final.tex" latex-mode (fast-lock-mode
auto-fill-mode global-auto-revert-mode reftex-mode) 92 (nil nil) nil nil
((buffer-file-coding-system . iso-latin-5-unix) (overwrite-mode)
(TeX-PDF-mode . t)))
  eval((desktop-create-buffer 206
"/home/ferhun/mnt/OS-Shared/Work/mpm4bv/Article/Microplane-Model-for-Arteries-Final.tex"
"Microplane-Model-for-Arteries-Final.tex" (quote latex-mode) (quote
(fast-lock-mode auto-fill-mode global-auto-revert-mode reftex-mode)) 92
(quote (nil nil)) nil nil (quote (... ... ...))))
  eval-last-sexp-1(nil)
  eval-last-sexp(nil)
  call-interactively(eval-last-sexp)
  recursive-edit()
  byte-code...
  debug(error (void-variable desktop-buffer-ok-count))
  (1+ desktop-buffer-ok-count)
  (setq desktop-buffer-ok-count (1+ desktop-buffer-ok-count))
  (if (bufferp result) (setq desktop-buffer-ok-count (1+
desktop-buffer-ok-count)) (setq desktop-buffer-fail-count (1+
desktop-buffer-fail-count)) (setq result nil))
  (let ((buffer-list ...) (result ...)) (if (bufferp result) (setq
desktop-buffer-ok-count ...) (setq desktop-buffer-fail-count ...) (setq
result nil)) (unless (< desktop-file-version 206) (mapc ... buffer-list)
(when result ...)) (when result (unless ... ...) (set-buffer result)
(unless ... ...) (cond ... ... ...) (when desktop-buffer-point ...)
(when desktop-buffer-mark ...) (if desktop-buffer-read-only ...) (while
desktop-buffer-locals ... ...)))
  (save-current-buffer (let (... ...) (if ... ... ... ...) (unless ...
... ...) (when result ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...)))
  desktop-create-buffer(206
"/home/ferhun/mnt/OS-Shared/Work/mpm4bv/Article/110_403_Caner.tex"
"110_403_Caner.tex" latex-mode (fast-lock-mode auto-fill-mode
global-auto-revert-mode reftex-mode) 1339 (nil nil) nil nil
((buffer-file-coding-system . iso-latin-5-unix) (overwrite-mode)))
  eval((desktop-create-buffer 206
"/home/ferhun/mnt/OS-Shared/Work/mpm4bv/Article/110_403_Caner.tex"
"110_403_Caner.tex" (quote latex-mode) (quote (fast-lock-mode
auto-fill-mode global-auto-revert-mode reftex-mode)) 1339 (quote (nil
nil)) nil nil (quote (... ...))))
  eval-last-sexp-1(nil)
  eval-last-sexp(nil)
  call-interactively(eval-last-sexp)
----

Another idea I had was if mounting the shared drive where these files to
be restored are located as root/root would be causing this problem,
although as user, I can create and delete files on this drive from
Linux. So I adjusted the fstab entries so that now the files on this
shared vfat drive is mounted as ferhun/users. Then I went ahead and
tried to load .emacs.desktop. Unfortunately nothing changed.

At this point, I seem to be out of ideas. I would appreciate if anyone
has useful ideas to fix this problem.

Thanks in advance.
-- 
FCC.
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