Verification fails on recent Windows 8.1/10 systems
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:56 am
Hi!
We have a .Net application for bulk USB stick preparation that uses usbitcmd
(1.70) to write the sticks. Our app starts usbitcmd processes essentially as
usbitcmd.exe r DEVICE koe.dd /p /d /s /v
when we use usbitcmd to write and verify. This used to work fine on Windows 7
and Windows 8 and still works fine on Windows 7. However, on updated Window 8
(8.1) and Windows 10 systems the verification step now fails frequently, but not
always, with the output
Error: Device and image are different!
However, manual verification (by reading back the stick image and comparing to
the written image) shows that the disk was written without errors.
One thing we noticed is that recent Windows versions attempt to write the file
System Volume Information\IndexerVolumeGuid
if it doesn't exist and apparently managed to write the file in time to mess up
verification. So, we now work around this by having that file already in the
disk image.
However, even with that work around, verification still fails. Our app is
typically used to launch several usbitcmd processes in parallel and the
verification failure happens more frequently when used through our app.
However, we have managed to reproduce the verification failure also by running
usbitcmd from the command prompt.
Any idea on what might cause verification to fail on recent Windows versions?
How could the verification problem be fixed?
You should be able to download our ClickOnce installable USB writing utility
from here:
http://static.abitti.fi/AbittiUSB/prod/setup.exe
The GUI is in Finnish and Swedish only. To try writing with verification,
you can follow the following steps:
Install and run the AbittiUSB program - you need to grant admin rights
Click "Asetukset" (top-right)
(Settings)
Click "Varmenna opiskelijoiden tikut" to make it checked
(This turns on verification)
Click "Tallenna asetukset"
(Save settings)
Click "Lataa uusin versio" under "Opiskelijan tikku"
(This downloads and uncompresses the "Opiskelijan tikku" disk image)
Insert one or more USB sticks with at least 4GB capacity
(You should see the stick appear in the bottom section)
Click to check/select the added USB sticks
Click "Kirjoita opiskelijan tikuiksi"
(Write stick with the "Opiskelijan tikku" image)
After the disk image (koe.dd) has been downloaded to
Users/???/AppData/Local/YtlDigabi
you can also try to write it from the command line using usbitcmd. It is more
difficult, but possible, to reproduce the problem from the command line. It may
be necessary to run multiple usbitcmd proceses in parallel (writing to different
USB sticks/devices) and may need to be done several times.
Regards,
Vesa Karvonen
We have a .Net application for bulk USB stick preparation that uses usbitcmd
(1.70) to write the sticks. Our app starts usbitcmd processes essentially as
usbitcmd.exe r DEVICE koe.dd /p /d /s /v
when we use usbitcmd to write and verify. This used to work fine on Windows 7
and Windows 8 and still works fine on Windows 7. However, on updated Window 8
(8.1) and Windows 10 systems the verification step now fails frequently, but not
always, with the output
Error: Device and image are different!
However, manual verification (by reading back the stick image and comparing to
the written image) shows that the disk was written without errors.
One thing we noticed is that recent Windows versions attempt to write the file
System Volume Information\IndexerVolumeGuid
if it doesn't exist and apparently managed to write the file in time to mess up
verification. So, we now work around this by having that file already in the
disk image.
However, even with that work around, verification still fails. Our app is
typically used to launch several usbitcmd processes in parallel and the
verification failure happens more frequently when used through our app.
However, we have managed to reproduce the verification failure also by running
usbitcmd from the command prompt.
Any idea on what might cause verification to fail on recent Windows versions?
How could the verification problem be fixed?
You should be able to download our ClickOnce installable USB writing utility
from here:
http://static.abitti.fi/AbittiUSB/prod/setup.exe
The GUI is in Finnish and Swedish only. To try writing with verification,
you can follow the following steps:
Install and run the AbittiUSB program - you need to grant admin rights
Click "Asetukset" (top-right)
(Settings)
Click "Varmenna opiskelijoiden tikut" to make it checked
(This turns on verification)
Click "Tallenna asetukset"
(Save settings)
Click "Lataa uusin versio" under "Opiskelijan tikku"
(This downloads and uncompresses the "Opiskelijan tikku" disk image)
Insert one or more USB sticks with at least 4GB capacity
(You should see the stick appear in the bottom section)
Click to check/select the added USB sticks
Click "Kirjoita opiskelijan tikuiksi"
(Write stick with the "Opiskelijan tikku" image)
After the disk image (koe.dd) has been downloaded to
Users/???/AppData/Local/YtlDigabi
you can also try to write it from the command line using usbitcmd. It is more
difficult, but possible, to reproduce the problem from the command line. It may
be necessary to run multiple usbitcmd proceses in parallel (writing to different
USB sticks/devices) and may need to be done several times.
Regards,
Vesa Karvonen