Quick assessment of 3 Windows tools to read/write Linux filesystems on dual-boot desktops

In message , R.Wieser
writes:
John,

I've got a bit of a problem. A few of them actually:

I cannot seem to find Macrium reflect free choices of version. The only
free (home) version I could find/download is 7.

Installing went well, but it shows gibberish for the OSes partition label.
Not really happy with it.

Trying to create rescue media aborts because "the mount path does not
support reparse points". Which I think is rather normal for FAT32 (I'm
testing on a spare machine) ...

I'll leave you in Paul's capable hands: he knows far more about Macrium
than I do.

Request: Do you maybe still have a link to v5 ? I would like to see if it
works better.

Frayed knot; I downloaded 5 and 6 from the same place, I think - they
were just the latest versions at the time.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


FWIW, I don't think FAT/NTFS is a problem; I _think_ Macrium notes what
the partitions it is imaging, and restores them as they were (Paul, am I
right there?); certainly as far as what the drive you store the images
_on_ is, it transparently splits them into the necessary chunks if it's
FAT32, as I discovered.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"Oh, stick it up your nose." "Yes, which is precisely the sort of thing we need
to know, I mean, do people want fire that can be fitted nasally?" (s1, fit
six.)

R.Wieser wrote:
Paul,

You would want version 6. It's a reasonable version.

I'm not sure anymore who suggested I should download (and try) all three (5,
6 & 7) of them. Didn't think I would go about it in reverse order. :-)

Someone tossed out a breadcrumb for the previous version. Test and see if
it still works.

I just downloaded the stub installer. A good start.

The "reparse point" could be coming out of the WinPE10 kit. Try WinPE5
instead maybe.

IIRC I got only a single choice, the version you mentioned.

During the installation, you get the choice which Windows PE version/
versions (plural) to *download*.

During (Other Tasks -) Create Rescue Media, you get chance to select
which Windows PE version you want to use to *create the Rescue Media*.
It will select a default and give you a 'Change PE Verstion' button to
change it.

I don't remember which Windows version you have. The Windows PE 5.0
Paul mentioned is for Windows 8.1. The other choices are in the
selection popup, which also says which Windows PE version you need for
what. For example 5.0 for systems older than Windows 8[.1] which need
USB3.

Though I'm a bit surprised that the Rescue Media creator did offer-to-select
a WinPE version which doesn't support the already found filesystem.

Don't - again - jump to conclusions and re-do the above steps.

[...]

Frank,

During the installation, you get the choice which Windows PE
version/ versions (plural) to *download*.

Correct. I could not check at that moment (and remembered incorrectly), as
my test 'puter thought it would be funny to act up (again), and I had to
reinstall the OS. Yep, that machine definitily can use a good OS backup.
:-)

I got the choices of v3.1 or v4.0 . As v3.1 threw that I tried v4.0 , and
got a bit further (the reinstalling of the OS also seemed to have fixed the
garbage OS partition label by the way).

Now I get the message that it wants to download an "pe4x86.zip" file. Alas,
when I tell it to do soit tells me that it can't find the network - the same
network I just downloaded the Macrium6 download-stub with.

I have no idea what is causing it, and some googleing doesn't turn up
anything either. Stuck again, with no indication what might be wrong - if
anything. Sometimes I really hate computers ...

Any suggestions ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

R.Wieser wrote:
Frank,

During the installation, you get the choice which Windows PE
version/ versions (plural) to *download*.

Correct. I could not check at that moment (and remembered incorrectly), as
my test 'puter thought it would be funny to act up (again), and I had to
reinstall the OS. Yep, that machine definitily can use a good OS backup.
:-)

I got the choices of v3.1 or v4.0 . As v3.1 threw that I tried v4.0 , and
got a bit further (the reinstalling of the OS also seemed to have fixed the
garbage OS partition label by the way).

Now I get the message that it wants to download an "pe4x86.zip" file. Alas,
when I tell it to do soit tells me that it can't find the network - the same
network I just downloaded the Macrium6 download-stub with.

I have no idea what is causing it, and some googleing doesn't turn up
anything either. Stuck again, with no indication what might be wrong - if
anything. Sometimes I really hate computers ...

Any suggestions ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

It's not actually the WinXP FAT32 doing it.
WinXP SP3 NTFS does it too.

Here's the matrix, assuming I didn't bumble
something along the way. This meant spinning
up a bunch of VMs.

WinXP SP3 NTFS

5 3.1,4
6 3.1,4 5&10 gray
7 3.1,4 5&10 gray

Vista NTFS

5 3.1,4,5
6 3.1,4,5 10 gray
7 3.1,4,5 10 gray

Win7 NTFS

5 3.1,4,5
6 3.1,4,5,10
7 3.1,4,5,10

Win8.1 NTFS

5 3.1,4,5
6 3.1,4,5,10
7 3.1,4,5,10

Win10 NTFS

5 3.1,4,5
6 3.1,4,5,10
7 3.1,4,5,10

Version 5 of Macrium probably doesn't
know WinPE10 is there.

Version 5 plus WinXP cause WinPE5 to go missing.

Versions 6 and 7 know all the options.

Paul

Paul,

Thanks for that matrix. Alas, it does not mention FAT32 (which I have on my
testing 'puter)

Versions 6 and 7 know all the options.

I've tried using Macrium 7 , and its the one which only gives v3.1 and 4 as
choices (the other ... 3 are grayed out). v3.1 complains about not being
able to find mount points, and v4 can't find the network when it tries to
download "pe4x86.zip".

In other words, while trying to create rescue media I've tied both available
options, and neither can complete the action.

Next step will probably be that I uninstall Macrium 7 and have a go at 6.
But by god, what a finicky product. :-( And to add insult to injury, with
error messages that are confusing and do not give any clue to how to resolve
them.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

P.s.
I will probably still try to figure out where it tries to download that
"pe4x86.zip" file and see if I can do it by hand. If only to see if the
"network problem" in reality just means "file not found" ...

I will probably still try to figure out where it tries to download that
"pe4x86.zip" file and see if I can do it by hand. If only to see if the
"network problem" in reality just means "file not found" ...

As I thought, it isn't a network problem at all.

The Macrium "create rescue media" option opens a connection to
"updates.macrium.com" (succeeds), than sends 78 bytes of binary data
(succeeds), after which it tries to read some, which fails with an 0x2746
error: "An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host".

In other words: the connection was there, but the other side didn't like
what we told him and slammed the door shut.

So, its their own program that fails to (fully) talk to their own server,
without even as much as *trying* to give an accurate reason for it. It
also means that its an un-passable hurdle, rendering the program effectivily
worthless. :-((

If someone has another view on the matter - leading to a resolution - than
I'd like to hear. Though currently I'm rather ****ed off.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

R.Wieser wrote:
I will probably still try to figure out where it tries to download that
"pe4x86.zip" file and see if I can do it by hand. If only to see if the
"network problem" in reality just means "file not found" ...

As I thought, it isn't a network problem at all.

The Macrium "create rescue media" option opens a connection to
"updates.macrium.com" (succeeds), than sends 78 bytes of binary data
(succeeds), after which it tries to read some, which fails with an 0x2746
error: "An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host".

In other words: the connection was there, but the other side didn't like
what we told him and slammed the door shut.

So, its their own program that fails to (fully) talk to their own server,
without even as much as *trying* to give an accurate reason for it. It
also means that its an un-passable hurdle, rendering the program effectivily
worthless. :-((

If someone has another view on the matter - leading to a resolution - than
I'd like to hear. Though currently I'm rather ****ed off.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

I might have mentioned in a previous post, that two CDNs
are involved.

The Microsoft content comes from a Microsoft-related CDN, and
that would be the one shutting the door in your face. Macrium
probably doesn't know the link they offered, didn't work.

The log file (waiklog.txt) in the Macrium file, shows the components
that make up the 354.2 claimed download. Mine might be in "All Users"
if the program was installed for "All Users". This file will have
the details of the failure.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Macrium\waik\waiklog.txt

Beginning Wim build - 10/4/2018 7:00 AM
=======================================

Copying PE files from pre-existing install - 10/4/2018 7:00 AM
================================================== ============

Looking for Zip file - 10/4/2018 7:00 AM
========================================

Downloading 354.2 MB of cab files - 10/4/2018 7:00 AM
================================================== ===


690b8ac88bc08254d351654d56805aea.cab1
5d984200acbde182fd99cbfbe9bad133.cab1
a32918368eba6a062aaaaf73e3618131.cab1
3b71855dfae6a44ab353293c119908b8.cab1
56dd07dea070851064af5d29cadfac56.cab1
eacac0698d5fa03569c86b25f90113b5.cab1
630e2d20d5f2abcc3403b1d7783db037.cab1
a7eb3390a15bcd2c80a978c75f2dcc4f.cab1
d2611745022d67cf9a7703eb131ca487.cab1
dism.cab1
wimmount.cab1
BootSect.exe

Unmounting the Wim - 10/4/2018 7:01 AM
======================================

....Macrium\Reflect\Windows AIK\Tools\x86\imagex.exe" /unmount "c:\boot\macrium\WADKFiles\mount" /commit

It's possible C:\boot is the mount point.

Over the years, the Microsoft end, the name changed
from WAIK to WADK.

*******

Now that we have file names, we can pump that back into
Google and find interesting stuff. For example, using
the "690b8ac88bc08254d351654d56805aea.cab1" as a search
term, gives the actual Microsoft download links.

http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v...0/features.xml

gives this link, and this might be the broken part not
coming from the Microsoft CDN like it should.

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...4d56805aea.cab

And that *is* downloading... Which means the "wget" or
equivalent inside Macrium isn't working correctly with the web site.

If you're hackerific, you might be able to download
all the components manually and stage them.

That particular cab is 132,796,464 bytes.

Paul

Paul,

I might have mentioned in a previous post, that two CDNs are involved.

As I can see from my own logs, not at my side. The only connection is made
to "updates.macrium.com" (5.159.225.27:443).

The Microsoft content comes from a Microsoft-related CDN, and that would
be the one shutting the door in your face.

Nope. It looks like it didn't even get that far.

The log file (waiklog.txt) in the Macrium file, shows the components that
make up the 354.2 claimed download.

Mine just says "no internet connection", which I know, from my own logs, is
.... incorrect (a lie).

This file will have the details of the failure.

I hope you did not bet on that. :-)

Now that we have file names, we can pump that back into Google and find
interesting stuff.

That was my idea. But as I'm not getting *anything* I've got zero to go
on ...


I just delete the log and tried again. This is the result:

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

Beginning Wim build - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
=======================================

Copying PE files from pre-existing install - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
================================================== ============

Looking for Zip file - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
========================================

No internet connection.

Unmounting the Wim - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
======================================


ImageX Tool for Windows
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved.
Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Committing: [c:\boot\macrium\WADKFiles\mount]...

Unmount Error: Did not find an image mounted to
[c:\boot\macrium\WADKFiles\mount].

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

Hmmm... I just realized that it attempts to set up an SSL connection (port
443). If Macrium has updated its encryptions for its servers but just tries
to use whatever
the OS has available in that regard it has effectivily shut-out anyone not
being able to update those anymore. Like every person stil running XP. Like
me ...

Any chance to work around that ?

And by the way, that means its not a (vague and uncommittal) "network
problem", but a rather specific "Unable to negotiate a shared encryption"
one. I would have expected to at least see (some bytes representing) that
status coming back, instead of the crude "slam the door" method.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

On 4-10-2018 12:41, R.Wieser wrote:
I will probably still try to figure out where it tries to download that
"pe4x86.zip" file and see if I can do it by hand. If only to see if the
"network problem" in reality just means "file not found" ...

As I thought, it isn't a network problem at all.

The Macrium "create rescue media" option opens a connection to
"updates.macrium.com" (succeeds), than sends 78 bytes of binary data
(succeeds), after which it tries to read some, which fails with an 0x2746
error: "An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host".

In other words: the connection was there, but the other side didn't like
what we told him and slammed the door shut.

So, its their own program that fails to (fully) talk to their own server,
without even as much as *trying* to give an accurate reason for it. It
also means that its an un-passable hurdle, rendering the program effectivily
worthless. :-((

If someone has another view on the matter - leading to a resolution - than
I'd like to hear. Though currently I'm rather ****ed off.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


I have downloaded and installed Aomei backup software.
When you get their clone ISO, they ask whether you want
a win or a unix based one.
The win version takes ages to put together, but the unix version
takes only a few seconds.
The CD takes some time to boot, because its a Linux in memory.
The interface then loads automatically, and looks very clean(see website).

R.Wieser wrote:
Paul,

I might have mentioned in a previous post, that two CDNs are involved.

As I can see from my own logs, not at my side. The only connection is made
to "updates.macrium.com" (5.159.225.27:443).

The Microsoft content comes from a Microsoft-related CDN, and that would
be the one shutting the door in your face.

Nope. It looks like it didn't even get that far.

The log file (waiklog.txt) in the Macrium file, shows the components that
make up the 354.2 claimed download.

Mine just says "no internet connection", which I know, from my own logs, is
... incorrect (a lie).

This file will have the details of the failure.

I hope you did not bet on that. :-)

Now that we have file names, we can pump that back into Google and find
interesting stuff.

That was my idea. But as I'm not getting *anything* I've got zero to go
on ...


I just delete the log and tried again. This is the result:

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

Beginning Wim build - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
=======================================

Copying PE files from pre-existing install - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
================================================== ============

Looking for Zip file - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
========================================

No internet connection.

Unmounting the Wim - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
======================================


ImageX Tool for Windows
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved.
Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Committing: [c:\boot\macrium\WADKFiles\mount]...

Unmount Error: Did not find an image mounted to
[c:\boot\macrium\WADKFiles\mount].

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

Hmmm... I just realized that it attempts to set up an SSL connection (port
443). If Macrium has updated its encryptions for its servers but just tries
to use whatever
the OS has available in that regard it has effectivily shut-out anyone not
being able to update those anymore. Like every person stil running XP. Like
me ...

Any chance to work around that ?

And by the way, that means its not a (vague and uncommittal) "network
problem", but a rather specific "Unable to negotiate a shared encryption"
one. I would have expected to at least see (some bytes representing) that
status coming back, instead of the crude "slam the door" method.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

I notice in a ProcMon trace, it's checking a number of TCPIP
related entries, but it also looks for "RAS Autodial". By
any chance would you have both a DUN (dialup networking)
as well as regular Ethernet ?

Paul

R.Wieser wrote:
Paul,

Thanks for that matrix. Alas, it does not mention FAT32 (which I have on my
testing 'puter)

Versions 6 and 7 know all the options.

I've tried using Macrium 7 , and its the one which only gives v3.1 and 4 as
choices (the other ... 3 are grayed out). v3.1 complains about not being
able to find mount points, and v4 can't find the network when it tries to
download "pe4x86.zip".

I'm on Macrium Reflect Free v7 and I have *four* choices (3.1, 4.0, 5.0
and 10.0), not five, and none of them are greyed out. So there's already
someting strange right there. (Or perhaps 5.0 and 10.0 are shown because
they can be used for my Windows 8.1. system,)

If you indeed have five choices, what is the fifth choice?

The fact that you selected 3.1 implies that you have a Windows 7
system. Is that correct? (You didn't respond to my earlier "I don't
remember which Windows version you have." comment.)

If your system is Windows 7, Windows PE 4.0 is - as the selection
popup says - *not* an appropriate choice.

In other words, while trying to create rescue media I've tied both available
options, and neither can complete the action.

Did you try to download all the (relevant) Windows PE versions at
install time, like I suggested? If not, why not.

Next step will probably be that I uninstall Macrium 7 and have a go at 6.
But by god, what a finicky product. :-( And to add insult to injury, with
error messages that are confusing and do not give any clue to how to resolve
them.

I would only use (the latest version of) v7. v6 and v5 are no longer
updated and you might run into a problem which is fixed in v7.

P.s.
I will probably still try to figure out where it tries to download that
"pe4x86.zip" file and see if I can do it by hand. If only to see if the
"network problem" in reality just means "file not found" ...

In message , Frank Slootweg
writes:
R.Wieser wrote:
Paul,

Thanks for that matrix. Alas, it does not mention FAT32 (which I have on my
testing 'puter)

Versions 6 and 7 know all the options.

I've tried using Macrium 7 , and its the one which only gives v3.1 and 4 as
choices (the other ... 3 are grayed out). v3.1 complains about not being
able to find mount points, and v4 can't find the network when it tries to
download "pe4x86.zip".

I'm on Macrium Reflect Free v7 and I have *four* choices (3.1, 4.0, 5.0
and 10.0), not five, and none of them are greyed out. So there's already
someting strange right there. (Or perhaps 5.0 and 10.0 are shown because
they can be used for my Windows 8.1. system,)

If you indeed have five choices, what is the fifth choice?

The fact that you selected 3.1 implies that you have a Windows 7
system. Is that correct? (You didn't respond to my earlier "I don't
remember which Windows version you have." comment.)

If your system is Windows 7, Windows PE 4.0 is - as the selection
popup says - *not* an appropriate choice.

You're all way ahead of me with all these details. FWIW: I made my
Macrium CDs (I made one each for 32-bit and 64-bit systems, though the
32-bit one would AIUI work on both) when v5 was the latest version; I
made them on an XP system (that had an NTFS HD, if that's relevant). I
have used the CDs I made then, on various systems: on that XP system
(which would not boot the 64-bit one, so I assume it was 32-bit
hardware); on several Windows 7 systems, mostly 64-bit but this one
32-bit (the W7 I mean, not the hardware); and I think one W10 system
(when we changed its HD to an SSD; even v5 did the necessary tweaks to
suit an SSD). I think in all cases the partitions _being imaged_ were
NTFS; in all but one case the drives _on which the images were made-
were also NTFS, so a single image file resulted. (In the one case that
used a FAT32 drive for the image, it made a _set_ of image files, though
those presented as a single image in Macrium when doing a restore.)
[]
I would only use (the latest version of) v7. v6 and v5 are no longer
updated and you might run into a problem which is fixed in v7.

I think I'd probably go for 6 over 5 - I _think_ it has USB3; I think
Paul's mentioned some circumstance (I think it was with certain
hardware?) under which 7 _might_ not be better than 6.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Radio 4 is one of the reasons being British is good. It's not a subset of
Britain - it's almost as if Britain is a subset of Radio 4. - Stephen Fry, in
Radio Times, 7-13 June, 2003.

Arlen H Holder
news alt.comp.freeware, wrote:

On Thu, 27 Sep 2018 20:05:57 -0000 (UTC), Diesel wrote:

MS could most likely, care less.

You mean "couldn't care less" (not "could care less"), don't you?


Suffice to say Paul is intimately familiar (more so than I),
with the various tweaks Microsoft does so that the Linux
methods, over the years, have to be changed.

As Am I, as are others who've written low level code for
years....

Paul explained in this post, rather elegantly, what I alluded to
prior.
Message-ID:
http://alt.comp.os.windows-10.narkiv...quick-assessme
nt-of-3-windows-tools-to-read-write-linux-filesystems-on-dual-boot
-desktops#post48


Yep. I also explained, and provided a little demonstration he can
test with concerning XP and vista (or later if he'd like, the results
are laughingly, the same; which is the entire point with the warning.
NTFS changes aren't all well documented and some users may not even
be aware of the subtle differences, but those of us who are more than
users or even power users ARE aware of these little gotchas because
we have to work with and around them; it's part of our ****ing real
life job); norton ghost corp edition 11.5 doesn't recognize NTFS as
NTFS beyond XP. Vista and XP aren't that much different, certainly
not to the point where a software package couldn't identify the file
system! So you'd think...

And yet, I re-iterate, everything linux does with NTFS is via reverse
engineering. As a professional malware researcher myself as well as
former software cracker, I know from first hand experience that
reverse engineering efforts are not foolproof, nor are they 100% in
all cases. I'm not even sure if Paul knew vista and xp ntfs file
system was different enough to make a very well known in corporate
circles tool (norton ghost! corporate edition no less) be unable to
identify it on vista or later. It's NTFS right? And, as far as you
seem to understand, NTFS is NTFS... right? Then, by all ****ing
means, write and write away! Be not concerned for your data, NTFS is
NTFS and as Paul has stated, Knoppix has supported it for years now,
along with other distros. Btw, it's the kernel that does the
supporting, not the particular distro; short of using additional 3rd
party drivers; which is how it was done prior to being implimented in
the kernel directly.

Now that MS has gotten much more involved with linux, they may
release more documentation? for their proprietary file system, but,
they may not choose to do so. Nothing is really forcing them to.

And As i've mentioned previously, I've been writing code and hacking
at the software level for decades to get these machines to do more
than what they'd originally do for me. [g] If Paul trusts NTFS
writing support under linux without question, that's his choice and
more power to him.

I do not blindly (as much as I really do enjoy linux) trust it to do
that unless, I have to write to it from linux and cannot for whatever
reason use the proper OS to do it with. A PE bootdisk environment
makes for an excellent NT based repair disc. No risk of ****ing up
the file system, either.

As for permissions issues, reading NTFS from linux doesn't have any
risks that I'm aware of, so it's fantastic for a mass data grab
without having to deal with user account permissions/file
permissions, folder permissions etc. If you're doing more detailed
work on an NTFS file system, I'd recommend a PE disc before I'd opt
for a linux disc, if I know i'm going to be doing writes.

At the end of the day, it's your data and your machine, do what with
it you will. It all looks great from here.


--
To prevent yourself from being a victim of cyber
stalking, it's highly recommended you visit he
https://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php
================================================== =
Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than
native wit to be an author. --Jean de la Bruyere

R.Wieser wrote:
Paul,

I might have mentioned in a previous post, that two CDNs are involved.

As I can see from my own logs, not at my side. The only connection is made
to "updates.macrium.com" (5.159.225.27:443).

The Microsoft content comes from a Microsoft-related CDN, and that would
be the one shutting the door in your face.

Nope. It looks like it didn't even get that far.

The log file (waiklog.txt) in the Macrium file, shows the components that
make up the 354.2 claimed download.

Mine just says "no internet connection", which I know, from my own logs, is
... incorrect (a lie).

This file will have the details of the failure.

I hope you did not bet on that. :-)

Now that we have file names, we can pump that back into Google and find
interesting stuff.

That was my idea. But as I'm not getting *anything* I've got zero to go
on ...


I just delete the log and tried again. This is the result:

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

Beginning Wim build - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
=======================================

Copying PE files from pre-existing install - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
================================================== ============

Looking for Zip file - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
========================================

No internet connection.

Unmounting the Wim - 10/4/2018 1:54 PM
======================================


ImageX Tool for Windows
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved.
Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Committing: [c:\boot\macrium\WADKFiles\mount]...

Unmount Error: Did not find an image mounted to
[c:\boot\macrium\WADKFiles\mount].

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

Hmmm... I just realized that it attempts to set up an SSL connection (port
443). If Macrium has updated its encryptions for its servers but just tries
to use whatever
the OS has available in that regard it has effectivily shut-out anyone not
being able to update those anymore. Like every person stil running XP. Like
me ...

Any chance to work around that ?

And by the way, that means its not a (vague and uncommittal) "network
problem", but a rather specific "Unable to negotiate a shared encryption"
one. I would have expected to at least see (some bytes representing) that
status coming back, instead of the crude "slam the door" method.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

I had a play with it some more, and
working at the file level is just too tough for me
to organize. The manifest has four file sets in it,
and some of the file names overlap (they're distinguished
by which folder on the Microsoft server they come from).

I wasn't able to see what they're using for the download
tool. All the calls come from "reflectbin", so any
scripting or Powershell they might be using, is nicely
hidden. I don't know how they're able to hide all this
stuff inside one process.

*******

What I did, is went back to ReflectDL.exe from 2014, for
version 5.2 or 5.3 or so.

The downloader can download

v5.3.7277_reflect_setup_free_x86.exe
pe4x86.zip === made from ~10 download files from MSFT

Perhaps you could prepare that "kit" on a more capable
OS, then bring it back to the WinXP Sp3 FAT32 setup.

I was able to get pe4x86 to make a rescue.iso on
a WinXP SP3 NTFS and also see it fail on a WinXP Sp3 FAT32.
So the complaint about reparse point support, is a generic
one about FAT32 not having the feature at all. Rather than
it being a "Win8 Reparse point versus WinXP capabilities"
issue.

If I had nothing but a WinXP machine, I'd have VirtualBox
on it, and spin up other OSes to get stuff done. Note: *Don't*
use Windows 10. It is slug-slow in VirtualBox. It runs in
there, no problem, but it could take a couple hours before
it settles down enough for you to actually do something.

Whether you use an appliance version of Win7, or grab
a 3.5GB ISO9660 installer and install a VM that way,
it's going to be ~4GB of files either way.

This is an example of where I got a few appliances for
my collection. I didn't collect a complete matrix, and
there are holes in the collection. This is what I
used for the WinXP SP3 NTFS case - there used to be
a WinXP VM on here, but it and the Vista one were removed.

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-u...dge/tools/vms/

Virtual Machine

IE8 on Win7 (x86)

Select Platform

VirtualBox

Then, you can run Windows 7, run the ReflectDL.exe file
and make a pe4x86.zip. That's a way of avoiding the problems
of downloading a Win7 installer DVD at this late point in
time.

To solve the WinXP FAT32 problem is going to be more
difficult. Because you'd need the rescue.iso to be
ready, before doing backup/restore of the WinXP partition.

You can convert a WinXP FAT32 partition to NTFS using
the built-in function "convert.exe". The disadvantage
of the utility, is it makes "small clusters". Which are
not really the right size. Converting the volume to
NTFS would be one-way, which is why you'd want to
backup the volume first, then restore later after
the smoke clears.

Making rescue media inside the Win7 VM isn't perfect,
but the rescue iso might be good enough to backup
and restore the WinXP FAT32. And then you could
try convert.exe perhaps. The rescue.iso only has
to be good enough, to support your main hard drive,
plus whatever hard drive you use for backups.

Still a lot of rough edges to cut yourself on.

Paul

On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 00:04:56 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Well, you don't have to worry about the Wikipedia claim
that FAT32 supports ~250 million files. I started testing
that on Windows 10. It got to around 3 million files
and the machine crashed. Sweet.

My video recorder allows me to plug a USB drive into it
to copy files from the internal hard drive but it must be
formatted FAT32. That limits file size to 4GB when 1 hour
of HD video could be 6GB.

If I try to copy a file 4GB to a FAT32 drive with Windows
it say insufficient space even when the drive has plenty of
space.

Paul