Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Marc - nice compatibility tests, thank you! For VSS error - I noticed it before, looks like VSS doesn't accept multiple programs creating snapshots at the same time. Luckily the snapshot creation only takes a few seconds, so the error probability is low.

sukarof: I have no idea why it wouldn't accept a stick with files on it. We have no such limitations. Anyway, I'm glad it worked for you, and I'll try to reproduce this problem, thank you for letting me know.

 

Dear Isso,

I am still getting the Imaging Error: C100000A on all my nine machines in real environment and not in virtual machines. Therefore, I am not able to test very much. However, this is what I have came across so far:

1. With AppGuard, the MBRGuard being "On", it goes ahead and installs without giving an error that it cannot write to MBR.

2. I tried it with uninstalling some of the software. Eventually, I uninstalled AppGuard. I was surprised to note that the AX Time Machine was installed as "boot menu". It never installed before when AppGuard was installed. So, there is some conflict with AppGuard.

3. On uninstalling the AX Time Machine, the WinRE of AX Time Machine didn't uninstall, and it is still there as "boot menu".

I had once installed Rollback Rx as demo on all my nine machines. After, the demo expired, I bought it for three machines, but had nightmare with it. So, eventually, I abounded Rollback Rx. However, the remnant of Rollback Rx on uninstall are still there on all the machines, and I am suspecting that the Imaging Error: C100000A is due to this.


Best regards,

Mohamed.

 

Just so you know, I had the pre-release of RBX v10 on my machine before uninstalling it and installing AXTM. I didn't have problems. Imaging works.

However, the uninstall of RBX never fully completes for me on my machine. After the reboot, I have to go to C:\Program Files(x86)\Shield and run the uninstall utility manually because none of the RBX files were removed from my system. Only then was RBX fully removed. And that goes for v9.1 and v10.

 

Mohamed,

Sorry to hear it, this looks very strange to me, and I suspect is a conflict with some security software.
1. It's normal, because AXTM doesn't change MBR
2,3. Very surprising, because AXTM isn't installed as boot menu! I have no idea how that can happen. What is the name of that boot entry? And could you send to me the output of "bcdedit /enum" command to info@ax64.com?

As for C100000A error - it means the driver is not installed. Did you see driver installation confirmation box while installing AXTM? Could you check the existance of the following two registry items:

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\AXTrack key

2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71a27cdd-812a-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}\UpperFilters - here there should be AXTrack value

Thank you!
Isso

 

On that laptop I have no hips or sandbox or other imaging software installed that would conflict.
Only Microsoft Security Essentials as security app and they play nice together.

Panagiotis

 

i had the C100000A error and found it was do to for some reason the files not having full admin privileges. i went ahead and removed the files and then reinstalled granting them manually. and the error went away that may explain something isso not sure.

i also had a issue with a couple av's avast was one and wsa was the other. both kept wanting to sandbox the exe when i tried to run it. i allowed the file and then things seemed to run normally.

ill be reinstalling this weekend and run it through the ringer again.

 

Hi zfactor, thank you for the information. Does "files not having full admin privileges" means that the files are blocked by your security software? Or you meant something else?

 

no i mean i manually changed the security of them to allow them full admin rights, so it seems for some reason they did not have that to start. i do not run uac at all and my account is the admin so i should not have had to do that. this was with and without and security software installed.

 

Hi MarcP,

The latest RBX v10 must be very polished by now. I tried it the demo version on my nine computers with three of them having SSDs. No problem encountered during the demo period on the SSDs. When I purchased the three licenses for my three computers, they send me a link to download the latest purchased version.

Guess what, it was the old version which didn't work with the SSDs. My nightmare started with computers crashing, restoring from image, updating the computers, re-imaging, installing RBX, waiting for activation (sometimes 24 hours) and then it will happen to the next computer. Suffered for two months while working with GOLD support, eventually Froggie on RBX suggested to download the version from their site and see what happens. Turned out Froggie was right. They themselves refunded my money after two months, without asking me.

1. Yes, I had to do the above many a times. Seem like the problem still persists.
2. It suppose to "turn off" and then "turn on" system restore on installation and un-installation. Did work properly on any computers I tested.
3. Same with scheduling of "defragmenting" the drive. It messed up my "system scheduling" that some programs like Total Uninstall didn't work. Eight months later, I found out while working with the owner of Total Uninstall.
4. WinRE on Image For Windows (IFW) doesn't work. Windows XP is easy to reinstall to bring back Windows back to it's original life. Pandlouk helped me to reinstall Windows 7 x64, which I did for my four computers. Now the WinRE for IFW works for these four computers, but still doesn't work on the othes.
5. Can go on and on bashing RBX, but it will take us away from this fine thread about AX Time Machine.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Dear zfactor,

If you don't mind, can you please list the files which you had to give manual full admin rights?

In Avast I have the auto sandboxing turned off. It gives more headaches than the benefit I receive from being turned on.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Dear Isso,

Nice to know the above. Many thanks!

lol. My bad, I added the entries myself and forgot. I guess advance age is catching up with me. lol. Always can blame the old age.

Upon uninstall, I forgot to delete the entries from EasyBCD. Here are the entries:

Entry #4
Name: AX Time Machine
BCD ID: {ea6e93ad-51d6-11e2-afd4-f6ee0f88b3dc}
Device: [D:]\AX_Recovery\sources\boot.wim
Bootloader Path: \Windows\System32\Boot\winload.exe

And, also see that uploaded image of EasyBCD.

Yes, the entry is there. See uploaded AXTrack.reg as AXTrack.txt

The UpperFilter is there. There are two .sys files in the UpperFilters, as follows:

fltsrv : Acronis Disk Director
AXTrack

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Dear zfactor,

I didn't find any services running for AXTM. However for the following files, under properties, I gave "everyone : full control":

AXCore.dll
AXTMApp.exe
AXTMImageBroser.exe
CreartePE.dll

AXMount.sys
AXTrack.sys

I also turned off Avast and AppGaurd completely. But still getting the Imaging Error: C100000A.

Many thanks and best regards,

 

Here working fine too.

I did a backup of my w7 partition (i have a dual xp/w7 machine with terabyte's bootit EMBR).

Restore was a breeze, and all working fine.

Quite happy, and waiting for this successful product.

 

Mohamed,

You almost made me believe in miracles with that EasyBCD screenshot until I read that you've added the entry yourself

Could you please also check UpperFilters here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{533c5b84-ec70-11d2-9505-00c04f79deaf}

and see if AXTrack is there. If it is, then I think that the reason might be Acronis driver sitting in UpeerFilters. Looks like it doesn't allow AXTM to communicate with AXTrack driver.
We'll be doing some compatibility tests as soon as we enter the beta. I'll be more informed about such issues then.

 

Thank you for testing it out flamerz! I'm happy to see it working for you

 

Hi Isso,

I myself start believing in the miracles of EasyBCD, until I realized that I was hallucinating.

Yes, I checked and the AXTrack driver is there and with no other drivers. This is my wife's machine and she has hardly anything on it. I can remove Acronis Disk Director, buts Acronis is well known for leaving uninstall remnant, including lots of drivers.

On my machine, I have almost all the imaging programs imaginable. This also includes Acronis True Image. So, it is good news that you will be doing compatibility test soon.

Best regards,

 

Thank you Mohamed! I'll get back when I have the compatibility tests done with Acronis products.

 

alladin i may have narrowed this down to a conflict with acronis. i went ahead and id a fresh win 7 install. and installed ax64 and it worked fine without any issues like we had earlier. i then did another fresh install and installed acronis. then went and installed ax64 and got this issue back. i then went and uninstalled acronis and the issue persisted so i am thinking this has something to do with either a driver from acronis or maybe acronis is modifying something needed to run ax64.

im going to run splunk (not sure if you are familiar with it) to monitor the installation of both acronis and ax64 and see whats really going on file / registry wise. ill report back when i get this done hopefully by wed.

 

Hi zfactor,

Many thanks, and I will wait for your results.

Best regards,

Mohamed.

P.S. Isso will be doing some compatibility test with Acronis and his software. I surely would like to keep Acronis True Image Home.

 

zfactor, thank you very much indeed - very interesting information!

I think I know what's happening: both Acronis and AXTM install drivers to UpperFilters, but Acronis puts his one first, so gets loaded before AXTM. Then it simply blocks all AXTM controls - very nasty behavior, but quite common too. I'll see what can be done about this.

 

Dear Isso,

Acronis doesn't care in which order it's driver is installed. Usually, the program which is installed last, the driver of that program installs at the top. Only your program and Shadow Defender, the drivers are installed at the bottom, even though they are last to be installed.

I am disusing the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

The only program which cares the driver to be at the top is Rollback Rx. But it doesn't watch for this situation, and any program which is installed after Rollback Rx, the driver is installed at the top for that program.

TeraByte Image For Windows (IFW) is very special for Rollback Rx. It is the only imaging program which can capture all the snapshots of Rollback, while doing HOT (within Windows) imaging. Here is the situation with IFW and Rollback Rx.

If Phylock.sys (IFW) is above Shield.sys (Rollback Rx), then the following situation occurs:

1. If one does HOT normal imaging, then the baseline snapshot of Rollback Rx is captured. A very dangerous situation.

2. If one does HOT sector to sector imaging, then all the snapshots of Rollback Rx are captured.

If Shield.sys (Rollback Rx) is above Phylock.sys (IFW), then the following situation occurs:

1. If one does HOT normal imaging, then the current snapshot of Rollback Rx is captured. An excellent situation.

The other two programs which I have experience with and conflict with Rollback Rx are:

1. O&O Disk Image.

2. Jetico BestCrypt.

If the drivers of the above two programs are above Shield.sys (Rollback Rx), then they work perfectly and so does Rollback Rx.

If the drivers of the above two programs are below Shield.sys (Rollback Rx), then on every restart Rollback Rx goes into tizzy. It starts a chkdsk and delete bunch of files, almost rendering the system useless.

I hope the above is useful. What I have posted above is from experience and from thoroughly testing Rollback Rx. Also Froggie (TheRollbackFrog on this forum) had lots of input into this.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Hi Isso,

In the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71a27cdd-812a-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}\UpperFilters

I manually moved the AXTrack.sys above the fltsrv.sys (Acronis Disk Director), and still I am getting Imaging Error: C100000A, even after reboot. Same error before reboot and after reboot.

However, Acronis Disk Director is working flawlessly.

Maybe, you need to put your driver in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

I am tempted to add it manually, however I don't have a recent image that I can restore to.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Mohamed,

Very interesting and useful information indeed, thank you! It'll save me a bunch of time later when working on compatibility.
I'll try that registry key you mentioned, thanks!

Isso

 

I'm reminded of the Shadow Protect - Acronis True Image conflict over the snapman driver...See Nate's post here...

http://www.storagecraft.com/support/forum/desktop-trial-true-image-disk-director#comment-16667

Also here......

http://www.storagecraft.com/support/kb/article/147


-cheers,
feandur

 

Interesting reading, thank you Feandur. Storagecraft came with an ultimate solution though:

Currently, the only solution from StorageCraft is to uninstall Acronis TrueImage completely and reboot.

I'll see if I can find any way to keep both AXTM and Acronis on the same machine.