WinPE 3 and USB 3.0

A drive connected to a USB 2.0 port should be recognized, even if it is a USB 3.0 drive. USB 3.0 is backward compatible with USB 2.0.

I use a Vantec USB 3.0 enclosure and it is correctly recognized when connected to a USB 2.0 port, whether or not the WinPE has drivers for the USB 3.0 ports in the computer.

If the drive is not recognized, the problem can be related to the USB 3.0-to-SATA chip in the drive, which is different to not having drivers for the USB 3.0 ports in the computer.

 

My buddie's system with the add-in USB3 PCI-X card did not see the drive at all until he loaded the drivers. IIRC when he loaded 2 of the 3 he got USB 2 and the third got him the USB 3 speed.

 

They aren't stating that. They are stating plugging in a USB 3.0 drive to a USB 2.0 port.

 

Hi just hoping someone has had success with Etron USB 3.0 drivers and Paragon WinPE. I load the 32bit driver using the Driver Load option but when I attach the drive (Seagate 1TB) to the USB 3.0 port and start the 'Full Scale Launcher' it eventually shows an I/O Error screen. Of course the drive works fine if connected to a USB 2.0 port.

 

You should be loading at least two INF's, are you doing that?

 

The Etron Driver appears to have only one inf.
These are the files listed in the x86 directory.
DIFxAPI.dll, EtronHub3.sys, etronxhci.cat, EtronXHCI.INF, EtronXHCI.sys, ETSetup32.exe, vcredist_x86.exe
There is also a root directory which contains
0x0409.ini, Etron USB3.0 Host Controller.msi, ISSetup.dll, setup.exe, Setup.ini, setup.iss, Silence Install.bat

I followed the instructions at https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1863001&postcount=97 and created USB drive with the Etron driver pre installed and if I boot from that USB I can see the Drive on the USB 3.0 port using the 'EXPLORE' program so it would appear the driver loaded correctly. However if I then go into the 'PAR' (Paragon Launcher) program it does not load but if the drive is disconnected the 'PAR' program loads but then hangs if the drive is plugged in again.
Wouldn't that tend to indicate the problem lies with the Paragon Software?

 

If you go into your Device Manager>Universal Serial Bus Controllers, do you see an Etron entry?

Any USB 3.0 card that I've heard of so far use the Renesas Electronics chip and there will be that same name in your Device Manager location that I mentioned above.

Mine shows two entries for Renasas, one controller and one hub. From WinPE, I load the controller, then the hub and I'm good to go.

Open your INF with a text editor and see what says also.

 

Hi and Thanks for your help with this, it's really appreciated.

Attached is a screen shot of the USB section of the Device Manager which show the Controller and the Hub. I've also included the Etron USB inf file and it appears that there are entries to load both the Driver and the Hub from within the one file.

Edit: Yes this MB has x2 Etron Controllers for a total of 4 USB 3.0 ports

 

Looks like you have two drivers but one INF that loads both. I do know I "must" load my controller first or it doesn't work.

Maybe you need a seperate INF for each. It's just TXT file so it's easily modified.

Here's my INF for my controller: View attachment nusb3xhc.txt . Not sure if your up to comparing and making changes. I'll try to look at both myself later.

 

Thanks again.

If you could also post your Hub inf too, that would be a big help. Then I can easily compare and make my two inf's.

 

Okay here it is: View attachment nusb3hub.txt . One thing I forgot to ask, you are using the 32-bit drivers and not 64-bit aren't you?

 

I don't think this is a driver issue after the last lot of tests I did.

Separated the inf file into a Controller and a Hub inf, booted into Paragon WinPE and in the Load Driver option I saw the drive was not recognised so I installed the Controller inf, then installed the Hub inf. I was trying to think of a way I could now verify the drive was recognised and thought well just go back into the 'Load Driver' option and see if it's there and yes, it is there and it had been assigned a drive letter. Thinking all was good I went into the Backup option but once again it just hung and eventually came up with a Disk I/O error. If I select the "Ignore all errors" options Backup eventually starts but the disk shows as being a 981GB unformatted drive.

So my reasoning that it's not a driver issue is that in the option to 'Load Driver' the drive can be seen and I can browse to any of folders and even load other drivers which I have stored there. It's only when I try and run the Paragon Suite programs such as Backup, Restore, Partition that I get the Drive I/O error. Oh and Yes I have run a full diagnostic on the drive too.

BTW I also tried loading just the single Etron inf and that also worked and I was able to browse the drive in the 'Load Driver' option but of course the same error occurred when trying to use any of the 'Suite' programs. So separating the inf in my case was not the solution - damn

Edit: Yes, using 32bit drivers Oh and also I'm going to generate a Support Request since I'm still within the 30 days since purchasing the software period.

Edit:Edit: Have just generated a Support Request so will be interested in their answer. Oh and also I pointed them to this thread for more details of the problem.

 

Looking back, I wonder if you left something out when you created your Paragon image causing this?

 

Left something out?

The first time I tried just downloading the Paragon WinPE ISO (Paragon-201-PEE_WinPERCD_10.0.17.13908_001.iso) and followed the instructions in the 'Building Recovery Media' section of the User Manual to make a USB - it was very easy and (I think) impossible to leave something out.
I then created a WinPE as per the https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showp...1&postcount=97 method and that had the same problem too.

 

I haven't played with building my own WinPE in about a year since I got HDM and used their WinPE download. I really didn't follow your link not wanting to relearn the procedure all over again. Back then I did it from scratch, no GUI was used. With help from user SIW2, I had to include several files from Paragon B&R2010FA folders at that time, so I thought that you might have left something out as I did back then.

I switched to HDM but did create a WinPE for HDM just to see if it works. I've forgotten pretty much all that stuff.

 

Yes it was disappointing the Paragon WinPE and the "Roll-your-own" WinPE methods both had the same problem. In the "Roll-your-own" WinPE there are other Utilities that can be loaded (like "Explorer") and the USB3 HDD can be browsed from any of those Utilities which leads me to believe it's not the Drivers or WinPE but the Paragon Software itself.
Today I found a new Etron Driver - Version 1.09 but (I knew it would be) still the same problem in both WinPE methods.
So patiently waiting for Paragon Tech support -

 

Just an update, Paragon Tech support asked me to send them the log files by using the "Log Saver" option in the 'Advanced Launcher' - I don't know how I missed that in the first place.... doh!

 

It may take a while with them. I had a ticket in where from WinPE, USB 3.0 was no faster than USB 2.0. From Windows USB 3.0 was faster than USB 2.0. This went back/forth for weeks and the last time we exchanged screen grabs in Windows and pictures of WinPE screens. One day weeks later, I get an response to check the lastest build. They finally fixed it.

Back then, their products had a screen where it shows R/W speeds, etc. but that has since been removed. All one can do now is time it by hand.

 

Tech support was in contact quite promptly and we had a number of communications back and forth but alas nothing since my last on the 8th. They were asking me about other devices being attached to the USB ports (both 2.0 & 3.0) I provided them with all the information I could but also reminded them that the USB3 HDD was able to be seen and accessed in the Paragon WinPE environment once the driver had been loaded i.e. I could go back into the Load Driver option and access the USB3 HDD and even load other drivers that were stored on it, so it was only the Paragon "Suite" programs that threw up the Drive I/O error.
Now this is just my $0.02 worth - but I think they now realise that the driver and USB3 HDD are not the problem but may be some API or other driver that Paragon uses in the "Suite" programs that is causing the error, hence the silence since the 8th while they investigate.
Also would like to say, that being an Electronics/Software Engineer myself, I think their Tech support has been very good at understanding the problem and providing intelligent responses so I'm happy with their support so far.........

 

This thread is awesome, especially wptski has given me a lot of knowledge. My issue is: I recently bought a WD My Book Essential 3 TB. My motherboard supports only USB 2.0, but I installed an USB 3.0 PCIe card to gain the high speed features of the HDD. The Paragon Linux boot CD has no problem with the 3.0 USB drive, but I wanted a WinPE boot disk supporting USB 3.0. The Setup CD that came with the card, was not very helpful, it only installed the drivers needed, namely the x64 drivers. To unpack the 32 bits drivers, I had to run the setup on a 32-bit computer.

I had success, my WinPE now recognize My Book on the USB 3 port. My next difficult task, was to configure WinPE for my localized keyboard. It is NOT funny to search for the back-slash and so on. Success once again! I added the some applications like Total Commander and Irfan View along with Paragon B&R 2011 Home. The B&R is of course the most important program on the CD, but now a problem has occurred. If I start Launcher.exe, the program says “Could not load Hard Disk Manager Library (hdm.dll)”. But the the file is part of the installation (in the same folder as Launcher). What is wrong? I have studied the Boot.wim file on the Paragon WinPE disk, but I have not found the solution. The Paragon CD has a winpeshl.ini in Windows\System32 to run Run_PE.exe and Starnet.cmd executing %systemdrive%\programs\Runner\silent.exe and %systemdrive%\programs\Show_License\Show_Lic.exe.

BTW, I have learned a lesson. Do not try to stop the process when your are using DISM to mount your wim-file. I ended up with several files in the winpe_x86-folder that was impossible to delete. And I was not allowed to create a new WinPE environment, the same with a Safe mode boot, I had to trust my Paragon image backup, but in this way I learned to use the restore feature. I successfully recovered my Cartition along with the MBR and the System area. I really like this software, some users think that Paragon software is not user-friendly, but I disagree.

 

I've forgotten most of what I learned setting a WinPE but I do remember saving img at various stages.

I've used Total Commander for years but it has a snafus with W7 which may have been fixed by now. Irfan View? A photograher I guess. Had that on my XP machine along with many others.

 

Hi John Doe,

You need prgiso.dll, wnaspi32.dll and qtp-mt334.dll either in the Paragon program folder in your wim, or in system32 in your wim.

If they are not there - you can copy them in from your hard drive Windows\System32 (if you are using 64 bit o/s you will find them in Windows\SysWOW64 directory).

 

Thanks for you precise post, SIW2. I have found the three files, wnaspi32.dll and qtp-mt334.dll are already in my wim file, in the subdirs \program, \rmb and \verifycd. But I missed prgiso.dll found in SysWOW64. I have a note that the prog also asked for qtp-mt334.dll.

I look forward to having the spare time to do another try. You know, as a retired person, I have so much to do! To create my own WinPE CD is an inspiring challenge to a tired brain.

 

Are you doing this from scratch or using a GUI of some sorts? Doing it from scratch can be a challenge, retired brain here too!

 

Paragon's WinPE CD starts the execution with RUN_PE.EXE (36 864 bytes) in \Windows\System32. Anybody who knows what this exe is doing? Is it an alternative to wpeinit.exe? A MS TechNet article tells that “If winpeshl.ini is present in %windir%\System32 folder, the startnet.cmd script is ignored.” The Paragon CD has both winpeshl.ini and a startnet.cmd, and obviously this command is executed (“start License Show”). I should like to be enlightened.

@wptski: I am doing it from scratch (after reading some forum treads and severtal TechNet articles).