Simplified Virtual Floppy Drive 2.1

[blackvisionit]

A virtual floppy drive that mounts image files (*.img) as new browseable computer resources.

Tested from WinXP (32bit) to Win7 (64bit).

Open source & free.

Languages: English, Italian, Spanish



Here's the permalink: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2158
waiting to be rated and become public

[blackvisionit]

Program is still waiting some more support to become public!

[joby_toss]

I'm sorry, I will not test this; I use win7x64 and don't want to tweak it too much:

[JohnTHaller]

Oddly, even after signing it, it would install but refuse to start for me on Win7 x64. As it's open source, I was thinking PortableApps.com could sign and distribute it portably so it would work for everyone.

[donald]

An uncommon problem but ...

I have an SD card set as A drive, & this blocked the program from installing.

I was able to use the program after removing the SD card.

I think if this program can only use drive letter A with no option to change,

an option to select other letters manually would make a useful feature request.

(I have not bothered to duplicate this problem to confirm it yet)

[blackvisionit]

Previous users posted really confused comments.

Oddly, even after signing it, it would install but refuse to start for me on Win7 x64. As it's open source, I was thinking PortableApps.com could sign and distribute it portably so it would work for everyone.

Signing a kernel driver for Windows, required and compulsory to run it
under 64bit Windows, is a commercial feature = you've to pay for it.

I hope people don't expect me (the author) to pay for a
freeware open-source software I'm releasing for free!

The solution is simple: tweak Windows and let it run the kernel driver.

I think if this program can only use drive letter A with no option to change

VFD runs any drive letter.

Press the change button and select any unused drive letter within the A-Z range.

----------------------------------------------

The author.

[webfork]

I hope people don't expect me (the author) to pay for a
freeware open-source software I'm releasing for free!

Nope. We'll probably just add a note about Win7 x64 compatibility.

The solution is simple: tweak Windows and let it run the kernel driver.

How do you do that? I'm not okay with Microsoft telling me what programs I can and can't use. I'm already completely fed up with that on iOS. Its as if they're saying "I know you spent X dollars on this but it doesn't actually belong to you."

[JohnTHaller]

Signing a kernel driver for Windows, required and compulsory to run it under 64bit Windows, is a commercial feature = you've to pay for it.

I know that. I signed it with my own paid certificate that we use for PortableApps.com to try it out.

I hope people don't expect me (the author) to pay for a freeware open-source software I'm releasing for free!

Not at all. I was offering to work with you to be able to sign it so we could get it working on x64 and distributing it in PortableApps.com Format (fully open portable format using 100% open source tools to build) so that it would automatically detect x86 vs x64 and use the appropriate drive, automatically run as admin via a UAC prompt showing that it's a valid signed program and even appear in the appropriate language. Essentially making it easy for users to run anywhere. And it wouldn't cost you anything since we already have a certificate.

The solution is simple: tweak Windows and let it run the kernel driver.

The tweak to run unsigned drives under Windows x64 is pretty flakey (I tried it previously) so signing is the best solution when it's possible.

If you're interested, we could get it packaged up and working on all OS variants pretty easily. Well, once I figure out why it will install but not start even though it's signed.

[SYSTEM]

The solution is simple: tweak Windows and let it run the kernel driver.

How do you do that? I'm not okay with Microsoft telling me what programs I can and can't use. I'm already completely fed up with that on iOS. Its as if they're saying "I know you spent X dollars on this but it doesn't actually belong to you."

IIRC, Microsoft made driver signing mandatory in order to reduce malware. Drivers run in kernel mode and are able to do anything.

Anyway, I found the following instructions:

Q) How to turn off "Driver signature check" on Vista

A) Normally you can disable it by pressing F8 when booting and select
"Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"

If you want to disable it forever, do as the followings guide:

1, Run cmd.exe as administrator
2. Execute the followings in the cmd shell:

bcdedit -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit -set nointegritychecks ON

WARNING: Turning off "siging check" might put you in danger of other
evil softwares like virus/trojan horse.

http://www.ext2fsd.com/?page_id=7

[blackvisionit]

I will never pay microsoft a cent...

A mandatory signing has to be free! Otherways it's a tax...

If somebody wants to pay them for the vfd.sys driver signature feel free to do it!
Software is open, redistributable and remixable! Then send me a copy...

---------------------------

I run the suggested tweak under Win7 x64 and driver
worked and installed well. If you follow the same suggested
steps I expect you should get the same result...

bcdedit -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit -set nointegritychecks ON

I discarded this option because its something much more aggressive than the dseo13b approach...

[webfork]

Anyway, I found the following instructions

Very cool, thanks.

[Midas]

Worked as expected under XP Pro SP3 x86 -- although current entry instructions not entirely straightforward. I'll be upvoting it, since there aren't many (free) alternatives for emulating floppies, although it's a much needed option when fiddling with non-standard computer bootup methods.