Windows 8.1 (64), Paragon Hard Disk Manager Suite v14 I was just looking in the Device Manager for an unrelated reason and noticed a new entry called "User-mode block device" containing a device named "Block device mounter" which reports that "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load he drivers required for this device (Code 31)" Anyone know what this is, is it important, and how should I proceed to fix it (assuming it needs to be fixed)? Thanks, Russell
Here's a few more details on the driver: Driver Version 1.0.0.1 Driver Date: 11/15/13 Digital Signer: Paragon Software GmbH Looking at the "Driver File Details" there are 7 DLL's listed (three Microsoft and four Paragon) with one of the Paragon DLL's (vimbase.dll) displaying a small black box instead of a 'digitally signed' icon. Beside the "Digital Signer" entry it's marked "Not digitally signed". Is that perhaps what's preventing the driver from loading?
I checked this in an HDM 14 installation in Windows 7x64, and "Block device Mounter" works correctly. And yes, vimbase.dll is reported as "Not digitally signed".
I believe Win8.1 is more fussy about driver signing then was previous versions. I'm surprised Paragon missed that if it was to support Windows 8.1, one of its selling points. I wish I knew what that driver is supposed to do so I'd know what's not apparently working. That the heck's a "Block device mounter"? I could use a workaround to "disable driver signature verification on 64-Bit Windows 8.1', but I'll wait a bit a few weeks to see if an update is released to correct this. Or perhaps it's not related to the unsigned driver ... R
Maybe it makes sense to create a thread here "known faults in 10.1.21.136 and wishes to the next build"?
I was using HDM14 PRO for this: I had disabled unsigned drivers in my Win 8.1 and the user mode Block device installed without an apparent problem. Hence, I didn't even know it was there. However, I needed to clean up my hard drive by copying out several partitions to a scratch disk using Smart Backup, removing the copied partitions from my hard drive, and restoring the partitions I needed from the scratch disk. The Smart Backup went fine. I deleted the partitions from my hard drive and created a new partition on it. At this point, I got a small box with an error in it and HDM14 would no longer function. I tried to load the WPE HDM14; it got the same error. I had to go back to HDM12 to get things working again. However, I could not reload the partitions I had saved with HDM14. Fortunately, I had Smart Backups of the partitions I needed in HDM12. I used these to restore my partitions. After all of this, HDM14 would load again. I tried to report the problem to Paragon, but the reporting system was broken. I am afraid to use HDM14 until I see a new version. The error I got from HDM14 was not very informative, and I don't remember if there was a code; sorry. Beware.
I checked driver that was listed as not signed (vimbase.dll) but its own Digital Signature Details reports that "This digital signature is OK". Strange that the driver reports that it's not. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the error as I'm no expert on driver signing etc..
