LockDismount v3.00

[allclownsareevil]

So what is that good for?

Microsoft changed the way programs can directly write to physical drives in Windows Vista and later.
More technical background informations about this new 'feature' (or restriction) can be found here: http://msdn.microsof...y/ff551353.aspx

Unfortunately some older (but still good and useful) programs are not compatible with this new restriction and stopped working. You will usually see an "Access Denied" error message when they try to write to .PhysicalDriveX.

This is where LockDismount can help. By locking and dismounting all volumes it will allow some of these older programs to work again.

It's a really handy util. One of those ones that when you need it, you really need it because you're usually doing some low-level disc operation. Works without installation and works well. There are other ways to achieve what this program does, but it's using scripting and copying of drivers. This is by far the easiest I've found, thought I'd submit and share.

(I understand one of the download links is to a dropbox link BUT the official download link on the homepage was to mediafire. Hardly ideal. So I mirrored the file and re-hosted it on DropBox publicly to make sure it stayed alive. Have done it once before for another forum submission which had unstable hosting and there were no issues then but if it gets up someone's nose, feel free to delete submission and rant all you like.)

Program homepage : here.
Download : here on homepage or alternate link here. (MD5: a60edd6f96d1f156c0d7490f3875cdb2 / SHA1: 2b9af106eabc1ccb18b46499b1c8e1b80cec1f1b)
Submission : here.

[loin2kolpotoru]

Thank you this might be very useful in some situations.

[webfork]

Interesting stuff ... few questions:

• Is this anything like NT6 Restriction Fix?
• Are there any tools on the site or elsewhere that require this?

Also, when I mirror files I try to list the MD5 and SHA-1 hashes for quick reference. That way, if your mirror goes down later, we can reference yours file hash as more trustworthy than some random site.

[SYSTEM]

Are there any tools on the site or elsewhere that require this?

These programs were mentioned in the reboot.pro forum thread:

Programs tested so far:

Windows 7:
- RoadKil's Disk Image v1.6
- dsfi (part of the dsfok package)
- Flashnul

Windows Server 2008 R2:
- VMware Workstation 7.11

Windows Vista:
- still looking for testers

[allclownsareevil]

Interesting stuff ... few questions:

• Is this anything like NT6 Restriction Fix?
• Are there any tools on the site or elsewhere that require this?

Also, when I mirror files I try to list the MD5 and SHA-1 hashes for quick reference. That way, if your mirror goes down later, we can reference yours file hash as more trustworthy than some random site.

Not really the same as NT6 Restriction Fix. That seems to allow you into system protected folders. LockDismount is used more for allowing access to a drive on your machine. You sometimes get programs telling you it cannot perform a certain operation because the drive is currently in use by another process. More precisely they usually need exclusive access to the drive. LockDismount locks the drive to allow access to it. A fair few (admittedly often older) programs can't function within Windows without having dedicated access to a drive.

I found myself using it when I needed to clone a memory card with various windows/non-windows partitions on it. My imaging software would not function without the memory card being locked first. Also, being a memory card, I couldn't just boot into a partitioning software's bootdisc environment because it wouldn't have detected a memory card reader as a drive. It needed to be run under windows. So I started LockDismount. Once locked, no issues, the programs worked fine. When you're finished doing whatever you're doing, press "unlock" and it releases the drive back to Windows OS just as before.

I guess this submission is perhaps of limited appeal because it's usually programs which perform low-level operations that require dedicated access to a drive ... then again, low-level drive operations are pretty important. eg: Drive imaging, restoring backups, partitioning, file recovery, manufacturer disc tools, MBR recover etc etc. So, when the time comes that you have a need for LockDismount, you probably have a real need for it. It's small enough to sit on a USB drive unnoticed until you need it, and it works a treat. I look at it that if it gets someone out of a sticky situation, that's cool and it's worth the submission.

Oh and thanks for the heads up about the MD5/SHA1 hashes. It didn't occur to me to list them. I'll add them to my original post now.