Lazybit

If you're someone who checks the system logs every now and then, to make sure things are running smooth - you may have noticed some errors related to Private Disk:

The PRVDISKAMD64 service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

The program works fine, despite these log entries.  The error is not critical and it has no impact on the program's functionality. But why is it there? And what does it mean?

Private Disk comes with several flavours of drivers - 32-bit and 64-bit. Upon installation, both driver types are registered, but only one of them is successfully loaded by the system.

The other type, which is not compatible with the platform, fails to load - hence the log entry is generated.

In other words, you can simply ignore these notifications.

This behaviour will be changed in the next release, so the system won't bother loading modules that are not designed for it. Until then, here is a simple solution:

1. download Autoruns from Sysinternals
2. run the program and switch to the Drivers tab
3. find the drivers the pubisher of which is Dekart
4. uncheck the versions that do not correspond to your system
5. the new settings will come into effect after a restart

On choosing the entries:

• if you have a 32-bit (x86) system, disable the ones ending with "amd64"
• for 64-bit platforms, disable the other ones (as in the example below)

What the modules mean:

• pdfilter - Disk Firewall, the application-layer access filter;
• prvdisk - virtual disk driver (the thing that makes the encrypted drive show up in My computer as a regular disk);
• prjndl - the disk encryption driver that implements AES-256 in CBC mode, our NIST-certified implementation of it.

The best way to gather detailed troubleshooting information about Windows is the built-in System information tool. It generates a report that contains details about the hardware and software configuration. Here's how it works:

1. Press Start\Run
2. Type msinfo32 and press Enter
3. Once the program is loaded, press File\Save
4. Send the generated NFO file to your geeky friend who knows what to do with it

Here's what the report will contain:

• exact version of Windows and service packs;
• installed software;
• currently running applications;
• start up programs;
• system services and their status;
• hardware and hardware drivers (and their versions);
• partition table (indicating the size and file system of each drive);
• users and user-groups.

The smart card service is a standard Windows component and it should be present on every system. However, in certain circumstances that is not the case - as a result, programs that depend on this service will fail.

I've previously discussed how to install the smart card service on Windows XP, and I've covered this procedure on Windows 2000. However, I had no solution for Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Fortunately, that is not the case anymore, a solution that works on 32-bit and 64-bit platforms was found, here is how it works.

Sometimes the smart card service is not in the list of services at all, but if you look for the files related to this service (ex: SCardSSP.dll) - they are present in the file system. So the problem is not in the fact that the modules are not there; they are - but they are not loaded.

Having had the opportunity to tinker with a problematic system, I was able to determine that the service is absent because some entries in the registry are different from their "normal system" counterparts.

In other words, the difference is only in the contents of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SCardSvr.

If the service is not listed, open regedit and view that key, it will most likely be absent. If it is present - it means that some of its sub-entries are incorrect.

1. Backup the key (right-click\Export) to a REG file
2. Delete the key
3. Download and import this REG file: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3258602/scard-vistax86x64.reg
4. Reboot the system

If the planets are aligned properly - the service will be back, and it will be running after the restart. Give your software a try, everything should work. The registry file above works with Vista x86 and Vista x64.

For Windows 7, use this one: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3258602/scardsvr-win7x64.reg (it should work on both types of platforms).

For Windows Server 2008, use the same file as for Windows 7; I tested it on x64 - it works.

I hope you'll find this helpful and that you will save all the time I've lost. Feel free to share your experience or ask any questions.

If the sky falls down and Dropbox doesn't work, here is the contents of the files.

Full story »

A fresh version of smart card Logon for Windows 7 x64 is now available: httx://dl.dropbox.com/u/3258602/DKbeta/Logon-x64.msi

The software is also compatible with:

• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008

This is a free version without any feature limitations. Get it while it is hot! ;-)

A fresh beta of Logon for Vista is now available for download: http://files.dekart.com/beta/Logon-2.23.1-TVMonday.msi

Changelog:

• It works in Windows Seven
• It works with biometric scanners integrated into most modern laptops, as well as other fingerprint scanners (no additional configuration is needed, as long as the fingerprint scanner driver is installed)
• Key backup feature has been added
• Various bug-fixes

Note: The download link is obsolete, copy the final release version instead

A new version of Secrets Keeper is about to be released. It will be called Keeper. You can download a preview from this address: http://files.dekart.com/beta/Keeper-nohands.zip

An installer is not yet available, but we're working on it. At this point just unzip it. Run the included BAT file to enable the integration into MS Office and Windows Explorer.

Of course, no story is complete without screenshots, so here we go (screenshots are clickable):

Keeper's main window, nothing special in it, but notice that the main menu is not shown by default.

The key management window enables you to manage the passwords and contacts stored on your keys. Keeper will generate passwords for you, as well as evaluate their strength. You can have an unlimited number of groups and contacts in each group.

The email addresses will be used when you click the "encrypt and email" option.

The file encryption dialog. You can choose whether you wish to use a password from a key connected to the system (otherwise type it by hand). If you use a password from the key, you can choose which group to encrypt the data for.

• You can create self-extracting archives, so people who don't have Keeper on their computers can still decrypt the files you sent them (if they know the right password, of course);
• You can wipe the original files, to make sure they cannot be recovered using forensic methods. This is handy if you're encrypting your po world domination plans;
• Encrypt and email will automatically start the default mail client and create a new message, with the encrypted file attached to it.

The settings window looks like any other settings window.

Note that the update checking feature does not work yet, therefore if you wish to track Keeper's progress, check this page every now and then.

Keeper integrates itself into the Microsoft Office suite, enabling you to encrypt files or decrypt them from within Word, or other programs from Office.

Keeper 4 also integrates itself into the context (right-click) menu of Windows Explorer. This gives you quick access to features such as:

• File wiping - remove sensitive data without leaving a trace
• Encrypt
• Encrypt and email

If you right-click an encrypted archive, you will see options such as:

• Decrypt...
• Decrypt here
• Decrypt to <name of file>
• Decrypt each archive into separate directory (when selecting multiple archives)
• Decrypt each archive into separate directory and make me a cup of tea

As you can see, Keeper 4 is a huge step forward from Secrets Keeper 3.5. The new version is prettier, it provides an excellent user experience, and it will run on platforms other than Windows ;-)

A new release is going to be made public in the nearest future - Private Disk 2.11 is here. This version brings us one step closer to Private Disk 3.0, adding some new features.

Private Disk Explorer is the major new feature of this release - it enables you to access your encrypted disks even on systems where you don't have administrator privileges.

Yes, that's right! Private Disk is the first program of its kind that can run on any computer, in any circumstances; from Windows 9x to Vista and the not-yet-official Seven - your encrypted files are at your fingertips.

You will be able to explore NTFS and FAT32 images, regardless of their size, having the possibility to add new files to an image, remove existing ones or replace them with updated versions.

From now on Private Disk is unarguably the best option for those who need rock-solid encryption and mobility.

Other changes include:

• faster start-up times - the 2.10 had a noticeable delay in its start up time, caused by the run as a service mode. This problem has been addressed, and now Private Disk is as quick as snappy as it used to be in the old days.
• improved Disk Firewall mechanism - Disk Firewall is another unique feature of Private Disk, we continue to tweak it and bring it closer to perfection, and to what it will become in the 3.0 version of Private Disk. In the 2.11 release the Disk Firewall is quicker and more stable.
• better portability support - in 2.10 we added a feature that created encrypted key backups automatically when the image was mounted; this feature is a great idea, but it lead to errors in cases when the image was stored on read-only media, thus making it impossible to write the backup somewhere. This problem has been fixed now.

Overall Private Disk became more polished and more reliable. Currently only the English and the Russian versions are available, other language versions will follow shortly.