ValiDrive Controlled Folder Access Issue

[CoreyCoop]

Just downloaded ValiDrive 1.0, tried to use it and it says that CFA (Controlled Folder Access) is enabled, but when I check it is not enabled. I do have Bitdefender Total Security, so I added ValiDrive.exe to it's exclusion list for everything I could find to no avail, but even when I disable BitDefender, ValiDrive still says CFA is enabled. I searched "site:Bitdefender.com Controlled Folder Access" and "site:Bitdefender.com CFA" but found nothing.
I'll try other computers, and reboot in Safe Mode, but I cannot on this computer at the moment.
Any ideas?

 

[PHolder]

While technically at version 1.0, it's not yet officially announced or released yet. (I expect there will be a notice here once it's officially released.) Accordingly, still in development, no support is provided here and there is no means to provide feedback either. For development efforts Steve exclusively uses his newsgroups https://www.grc.com/discussions.htm . There are already discussions about this issue on the newsgroups.... I'm sure there will be an update to version 1.1 before very long.

EDIT: In mentioning your post to Steve, he's decided to come give you a personal response.

 

[Steve]

Hi Corey:

Yes. This problem was discovered after I had formally released v1.0 so I'll be updating ValiDrive to v1.0.1 shortly.

The trouble, as you discovered, is a false positive detection of CFA (Controlled Folder Access) being present. This "belief" prevents ValiDrive from proceeding since, if it's true, Windows terminates any violating app "with prejudice" and without notice. So in this case it's necessary to warn the user beforehand even if it MIGHT be true.

Two of our early testers encountered this yesterday but they found, as you might, that using a different machine will prevent this from happening. So until I get v1.0.1 released you should be able to use ValiDrive on many other machines.

All the best!

 

[Steve]

We're now at v1.0.1 and the CFA false-positive should be handled.

 

[RDRguy]

Hi Steve,

I've also just downloaded ValiDrive version 1.0.1 to "validate" one of my Sandisk Extreme 128GB SD cards installed in my ThinkPad Z61m Laptop SD slot and I couldn't get ValiDrive to recognize that an SD card was installed in the system. As required by ValiDrive, removing then re-inserting it had no effect.

However, Windows 10 does indeed detect the SD card, that it was installed, removed then re-installed and has no issues with read or write access to it.

Is this because, though the card is removable flash, the SD card slot is not part of the laptops' USB infrastructure?

If so, can/will ValiDrive be updated sometime in the future to provide this added (maybe out of scope) capability to be able to sense and read/write SD cards installed in system "on board" SD card slots? Same question for SpinRite v6.1 or v7.

BTW ... my current goto SD Card tester ... H2testw (v1.4) ... does detect & test SD cards installed in the laptops' card slot but as we both know it's a destructive write & it takes a long, long time to complete especially on large memory cards.

In any event, a big "Thank You" to you & your team of experts for developing another very important & needed useful tool that will help us keep our systems operating properly & as efficiently as possible.

Greg

 

[PHolder]

Is this because, though the card is removable flash, the SD card slot is not part of the laptops' USB infrastructure?

I would presume yes. In my experience, USB device removal is more like ripping the device out of the PC whereas most SD card devices stay present but appear "empty with no media", more like the old floppy drives. (Just to let you know, I again forwarded your post to the newsgroup... perhaps Steve will return again with another reply. Trying to guess in advance what info may be helpful, perhaps you could provide specific info about your SD card reader?)

 

[Bruce]

SD cards work fine for me. I have a Dell desktop with a built in 4 slot reader, CF cards, SD cards, etc. I test SD cards all the time with ValiDrive. This is a Transend 32G card:

Report #1

test date and time	10/9/2023 at 15:51
declared drive size	32,127,320,064 (32.1GB)
validated drive size	32,127,320,064 (32.1GB)
highest valid region	32,127,320,064 (32.1GB)
hub or drive vendor	generic-
hub or drive product	sd
serial number	20100818841300000

 

[Bruce]

Just tried my Dell laptop with a SD card and also worked fine with the built-in SD reader.

 

[Bruce]

I would presume yes. In my experience, USB device removal is more like ripping the device out of the PC whereas most SD card devices stay present but appear "empty with no media", more like the old floppy drives. (Just to let you know, I again forwarded your post to the newsgroup... perhaps Steve will return again with another reply. Trying to guess in advance what info may be helpful, perhaps you could provide specific info about your SD card reader?)

There is actually some software that removes the drive letters from your 4-slot reader so they do not take up space. The drive letter only shows up when something is inserted.

USB Drive Letter Manager - USBDLM

It runs as a service and I no longer see the 4 wasted drive letters from my 4 slot reader when no cards are inserted. He also has a nice utility called USBTreeView which lays out your whole USB subsystem.

 

[Steve]

However, Windows 10 does indeed detect the SD card, that it was installed, removed then re-installed and has no issues with read or write access to it. Is this because, though the card is removable flash, the SD card slot is not part of the laptops' USB infrastructure? If so, can/will ValiDrive be updated sometime in the future to provide this added (maybe out of scope) capability to be able to sense and read/write SD cards installed in system "on board" SD card slots? Same question for SpinRite v6.1 or v7.

With a bit of your help, yes! Since this will also affect SpinRite v6.1's and v7's ability to install onto removable media, I'd love to get this fixed.

ValiDrive is watching for the disappearance and reappearance of devices having specific "Device Instance Paths." I'm currently watching for two paths: "usbstor#disk" and "scsi#disk". What I need to know is that that machine you have shows for the "Device Instance Path"... then I should be able to add it to the list of drive types that ValiDrive (and future SpinRites) looks for.

If, with the drive inserted, you open Windows Disk Management. Then right-click on the drive in question and select "Properties". Then select the "Details" tab and the "Device Instance Path":

Could you share what you see for those two topics in the settings tab? My guess is that it'll be something other than those two strings I'm currently watching for.

Thanks!!!

 

[lancem631]

Along the lines of access, ValiDrive is unable to run as administrator under Windows 11-ARM running under Parallels ARM Virtual Machine on M1 MacBook Air Sonoma.

 

[jeff3820]

Along the lines of access, ValiDrive is unable to run as administrator under Windows 11-ARM running under Parallels ARM Virtual Machine on M1 MacBook Air Sonoma.

It can run fine Under Parallels/ARM Windows 11. In Windows, right click on the Validrive file and choose properties. Then change the emulation type to Safe Emulation. Click OK, then Apply. It will now work fine.

 

[RDRguy]

Could you share what you see for those two topics in the settings tab? My guess is that it'll be something other than those two strings I'm currently watching for.

Thanks!!!

Steve,
Per request, below you'll find the Device Instance Path & Compatible Ids for the SD Card when it's installed in the ThinkPad Z61m motherboards' SD card reader slot.

The ThinkPad Z61m, being an old relic (2006 vintage) that it is, interfaces the onboard SD card reader controller with the systems' PCI Bus interface rather than the USB system interfaces.

As such, I'm also including a pic of the ThinkPad Z61m devices installed on the laptop and the Device Instance Path & Compatible Ids for both SD Card associated controllers ... the Texas Instruments PCIxx-12 FlashMedia Controller and the SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller should they be needed/helpful.

BTW, this laptop is mainly used as my "test bench" for testing out Windows / program / driver updates & potential new 3rd party software so no big deal if it's not worth it to make this work ... I can always pick up an SD Card / USB Adapter from Amazon to circumvent the issue.

 

[Steve]

It can run fine Under Parallels/ARM Windows 11. In Windows, right click on the Validrive file and choose properties. Then change the emulation type to Safe Emulation. Click OK, then Apply. It will now work fine.

Thanks for that, Jeff! I've captured your tip for the FAQ page since I've seen others with the same issue.

 

[Steve]

Steve,
Per request, below you'll find the Device Instance Path & Compatible Ids for the SD Card when it's installed in the ThinkPad Z61m motherboards' SD card reader slot.

[snip]

BTW, this laptop is mainly used as my "test bench" for testing out Windows / program / driver updates & potential new 3rd party software so no big deal if it's not worth it to make this work ... I can always pick up an SD Card / USB Adapter from Amazon to circumvent the issue.

Thanks for understanding. It does appear that this might be a "one off" issue, and I'd prefer not to clutter up ValiDrive's code with such. If we see more of this as ValiDrive spreads I'll revisit that thought. Thanks again!