More snapman.sys and StorageProtect Desktop

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Ed Y, Jun 4, 2008.

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  1. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    I'm on a Vista Home Premium system, recently new. Everything working great and happy with it. This is just a simple home desktop PC. I was going to try and use TI and installed TI 10.0 (latest version). Couldn't get it to verify any backup images and to be honest, got tired of the problems with that.

    After much research, got ShadowProtect Desktop 3.2. At the beginning of the install, it tells me that I have snapman.sys from Acronis True Image installed. I had previously uninstalled TI 10.0 so came back here and got the manual uninstall procedures and ran them. It appears I still have snapman.sys in the Sys32/drivers folder even after that. After doing some more research in this forum, I checked the 3 registry entries where it was recommended that snapman entries be removed, then delete the driver.

    I have no snapman entries in those registry entries but I am using Vista not XP so I'm not sure if I'm in the wrong place. I sure don't want to just delete snapman.sys and not be able to boot. What would I do then to recover??

    Sure would appreciate any help. I'm about sick to death with software that can't properly remove itself upon uninstall.
     
  2. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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  3. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    Yes, I did. It doesn NOT remove snapman.
     
  4. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    If you have a standard Vista DVD, you could boot to it, enter the Repair Mode, start a Command Prompt and rename snapman.sys to something else (snapman_sys.bak, for example).

    If the computer doesn't boot, you can just reboot to the Vista DVD Repair Mode and rename the file back. If the computer does boot okay, then I would think it's not being used by the system.
     
  5. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    Wish I did have the standard Vista DVD. Seems like anymore, unless you build the PC yourself (which I didn't, bought Acer, which I like), there is no Vista DVD provided.

    I'm wondering if I had problems could I just boot from the ShadowProtect DVD Recovery disk and fix the renameo_O?
     
  6. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    That's another good reason to have a BartPE or VistaPE CD. You could also use a Live Linux CD (like Knoppix or Ubuntu). I don't know if the SP recovery disk would work or not.

    You may be able to boot into Windows Safe Mode if renaming the file causes problems but doesn't stop Safe Mode from running.

    Since you've already done a manual uninstall, I would think that the file isn't being used. SP may be checking something else and thinking that TI is still installed when it actually isn't or it may just be checking if the file exists on the system (which it currently does).
     
  7. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    Thanks for the suggestions. I'm fairly computer literate but you're pointing me to areas that I'm not familiar with. I was hoping safe mode might work but if it doesn't, I'm up the creek without a paddle and would have to start all over again with a basic Vista system. Wouldn't look forward to that.

    I'm also thinking like you, that everything but the file itself has been removed and if I just renamed it I might be OK BUT ........................ If the boot fails, o_Oo_Oo_Oo_O?? I'm between a rock and hard place, I guess.
     
  8. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Renaming the file (TI 11 version) on a Vista Ultimate system wouldn't let the computer boot into either the Normal or Safe Mode versions.

    Renaming it back via VistaPE returned Vista to a normal booting state.

    ---

    Does your computer have a Recovery Partition that will allow you to boot into Vista's Repair Mode?
     
  9. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    Acer does have some kind of recovery partition but documentation is very sketchy and I haven't gotten into it in detail. Guess I need to do that.:'(

    What's involved with me getting a VistaPE DVD or CD?
     
  10. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Take a look at the link in my signature. Even a plain VistaPE CD is very handy.
     
  11. rodnh

    rodnh Registered Member

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    I know nothing about Vista but that sounds wierd to me. It is my understanding that snapman.sys is an Acronis product file, not an MS one. I am curious as to why deleting it or renaming it would prevent Vista from booting. I got rid of all traces of Acronis (TI 9) some time back, including removing snapman.sys. That did not prevent XP from booting. Has TI 11 somehow got more hooks into the Vista boot process with snapman.sys such that it can't be removed (or renamed)? If that's true, it seems once you install it, you never really can get rid of it with that Vista installation. That should go over like a lead balloon for Vista users.

    Rod
     
  12. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    The test I ran was in a VM. I renamed the file while TI 11 was still installed, not after TI was uninstalled or the Cleanup Utility was run. Both the Normal and Safe Mode booting attempts caused an error, but the computer rebooted so fast that I couldn't see what it was (some text error message screen). Here is a partial screenshot I was able to get:
    snapman_error.jpg

    I was trying to see what would happen if the file was actually still being used. I seriously doubt that it is still being used on Ed Y's computer since TI has been uninstalled and the Cleanup Utility has been run.

    I reran the test after uninstalling TI and got the same problem. I then ran the Cleanup Utility and still got the same problem.

    Next, after uninstalling DD and running the Cleanup Utility, I could rename the snapman.sys file and Vista still booted okay. Just uninstalling DD may have worked, but I went ahead and ran the cleanup anyway.
     
  13. mustang

    mustang Developer

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    The snapman issue is very simple. Snapman.sys is the driver for the snapman service. Snapman stands for the Acronis Snapshot Manager Service. This service starts automatically when Windows boots. The snapman service does not get listed with other Windows services. If snapman.sys is deleted from Windows\Drivers and the service is still trying to start, Windows will give a BSOD on boot. You can see if the snapman service is running by using a command prompt. At the command prompt enter net start snapman. If the service is running, the system will tell you the service has already been started. If it is not running, you will get an error message. You need to manually delete the snapman entries from the registry and reboot in order to stop the snapman service. This is because the snapman service does not respond to a net stop snapman command.

    The main problem here is that uninstalling TI does not remove the snapman service. After you uninstall TI and reboot, the snapman service is still intact and running. Part of the reason for this is that other Acronis products, such as Disk Director, share the snapman service. You can always tell if the snapman service is running by issuing the net start snapman command. The system will let you know the status of the service.

    To stop the snapman service from running, just make the following three registry edits using regedit:

    1. Look at HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. See the "UpperFilters" line on the right side. Remove snapman from that line using Edit/Modify.

    2. Look at HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}. Remove snapman from the "UpperFilters" line using Edit/Modify.

    3. Look at HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\snapman. Delete the entire snapman service from the left side.

    You can now delete snapman.sys from Windows\Drivers and reboot without fear of a BSOD. You need to make all three edits above to avoid trouble. If snapman is still listed in the "UpperFilters" but snapman.sys has been deleted, you will also get a BSOD on boot.
     
  14. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    Mustang,

    Are those registry locations the same for XP and Vistao_O? I do not see any entries for snapman in all 3 places on my vista machine. But I still can't make myself take the leap and delete the file. If it does crash on the reboot, I'm out of luck until I can create a VistaPE CD, I guess.
     
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2008
  15. Bruce Mahnke

    Bruce Mahnke Registered Member

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    Attention MudCrab

    Mustang’s posting (#13) might be worth including in your help files. Perhaps might need to add if it applies to both Win XP and Vista.

    Bruce
     
  16. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    On my Vista machine, all 3 registry entries are in the locations shown in Mustang's post #13.
     
  17. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    Thanks for all the help, everyone. I'm building the VistaPE stuff now. When I have that done and can boot from it, then I'm going to rename snapman.sys, reboot normally and hopefully I'm fixed. :)
     
  18. mustang

    mustang Developer

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    The registry enties are exactly the same for XP and Vista.

    Ed,

    In Vista just open a command prompt as Administrator. Issue the command net start snapman. If the system returns anything but the service is already started, you can safely delete snapman.sys and reboot. I've never fooled around with the Acronis Cleanup Utility, but I would suspect it removed the snapman registry entries from your system and just left snapman.sys itself behind. Leaving snapman.sys in Windows\Drivers without having the registry enties in place is harmless.

    I don't know what Shadow Protect 3.2 is checking about snapman. They may be checking to see if the service is running. I suspect they are only checking to see if snapman.sys exists in Windows\Drivers. If it does, they though up the warning. When the snapman service is running, Shadow Protect tends to BSOD during a backup. Storeage Craft blames Acronis for writing a bad driver. Acronis just seems to ignore the issue, so the problem continues.
     
  19. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    Thanks Mustang. I ran the "net start snapman" and got an invalid name. Guess it is gone for good and I will delete it.
     
  20. Ed Y

    Ed Y Registered Member

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    MudCrab,

    I just sent you a PM regarding creating the VistaPE CD. Everything went fine. WinBuilder finished running. The only error that showed in log was a message saying that C:\Program Files\Windows AIK could not be deleted.

    When I checked the Iso folder under WinBuilder, nothing was there. The folder is empty.

    Do I just start all over again with running WinBuilder?? I'm confused.
     
  21. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    I just checked on a clean Vista SP1 system and doing a normal uninstall of TI 11 (8,053) cleaned up all three of the registry key entries. (I didn't check with TI 10 (4,942).)

    Running the Cleanup Utility left those keys just as they were after the uninstall.

    Both the uninstall and the Cleanup Utility left the snapman.sys file on the computer. No problem renaming the file or deleting it. System boots fine.

    Note: DD was not installed for this test, only TI 11.

    I've made note of it.
     
  22. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    I sent you a PM.
     
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