Portable version and Windows 10 PE?

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 23 Aug 2022, 21:59

Hi, just got the donation version and was wondering if the Portable version will run on a Windows 10 PE flash drive? The old 7.6 version runs fine but I keep getting an error when trying to run the current version. The error msg is "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)".

Thanks.

Posts: 7211 · Zenju 24 Aug 2022, 07:47

I haven't tested on Windows 10 PE.

0xC000007B is STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_FORMAT

Maybe the issue is that the launcher is 32-bit, and W10 PE somehow demands 64-bit?

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 24 Aug 2022, 13:00

Yeah, looks like that is the issue, my build of PE will only run 64bit apps, but I can get around that message if I run FreeFileSync_x64.exe from the bin folder, but when I do that I get a new error msg.

I've tried it with the Portable version from the provided ZIP file and also used the installer to put it on a flash drive and use that copy.

Thanks.

Posts: 1037 · therube 24 Aug 2022, 15:03

I run FreeFileSync_x64.exe

Hacking away, so I don't know if this is Kosher or if there might be gotchas, but...

Ehh... I'll give you a tree...

ffs:.

│   Changelog.txt

│   FreeFileSync.exe

│   FreeFileSync_x64.exe

│   GlobalSettings - Copy.xml

│   GlobalSettings.xml

│   Install.dat

│   LastRun.ffs_gui

│   LastRun.ffs_real

│   License.txt

│   RealTimeSync.exe

│   User Manual.pdf

│   

├───FFS2

│   │   Changelog.txt

│   │   FreeFileSync.exe

│   │   FreeFileSync_x64.exe

│   │   GlobalSettings - Copy.xml

│   │   GlobalSettings.xml

│   │   Install.dat

│   │   LastRun.ffs_gui

│   │   LastRun.ffs_real

│   │   License.txt

│   │   RealTimeSync.exe

│   │   User Manual.pdf

│   │   

│   ├───Bin

│   │       FreeFileSync_Win32.exe

│   │       RealTimeSync_Win32.exe

│   │       RealTimeSync_x64.exe

│   │       

│   ├───Logs

│   │       

│   └───Resources

│           bell.wav

│           bell2.wav

│           cacert.pem

│           ding.wav

│           fail.wav

│           fail2.wav

│           gong.wav

│           harp.wav

│           Icons.zip

│           Languages.zip

│           notify.wav

│           notify2.wav

│           Registered.dat

│           Registered.dat.11.16

│           Registered.dat.11.17

│           Registered.dat.11.18

│           Registered.dat.11.21

│           Registered.dat.20

│           remind.wav

│           

└───Resources

        bell.wav

        bell2.wav

        cacert.pem

        ding.wav

        fail.wav

        fail2.wav

        gong.wav

        harp.wav

        Icons.zip

        Languages.zip

        notify.wav

        notify2.wav

        Registered.dat

        Registered.dat.11.16

        Registered.dat.11.17

        Registered.dat.11.18

        Registered.dat.11.21

        Registered.dat.20

        remind.wav

/ffs/, originally empty except for the /FFS2/ directory
/FFS2/ directory contains the FFS "installation" (unpack)

Basically what I did was...

Copied FreeFileSync_x64.exe from bin into /FFS2/
Duplicate /Resources/ directory to /ffs/
Likewise I then copied all the files from /FFS2/ into /ffs/

With that, if you run /FFS2/FreeFileSync_x64.exe, it should open & run.

Again, there could be gotchas...

(What I did was just a quick test, & likely much of my duplications could be paired down, I'd think.)

It looks like these files need not necessarily be in /ffs/:

Changelog.txt

FreeFileSync.exe

FreeFileSync_x64.exe

GlobalSettings - Copy.xml

LastRun.ffs_real

License.txt

RealTimeSync.exe

User Manual.pdf

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 24 Aug 2022, 19:36

tried therube's idea and that will also get around using the launcher, but it still throws the error msg I posted above, looks like it's trying to open a file somewhere that maybe it doesn't have access too or something to do with activation?

Posts: 1037 · therube 24 Aug 2022, 20:28

Is X: a local volume or something else?

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 24 Aug 2022, 21:10

X: is PE's boot drive, has the windows folder, program files folder, users folder etc.

Posts: 4056 · xCSxXenon 24 Aug 2022, 21:11

X:\ is also a RAM disk, whereas that error is looking for a physical disk

Posts: 4056 · xCSxXenon 24 Aug 2022, 21:12

Yeah, looks like that is the issue, my build of PE will only run 64bit apps, but I can get around that message if I run FreeFileSync_x64.exe from the bin folder, but when I do that I get a new error msg.

I've tried it with the Portable version from the provided ZIP file and also used the installer to put it on a flash drive and use that copy.

Thanks. Grinch843, 24 Aug 2022, 13:00

You don't use the installer to create a portable version. The ZIP version is the only way to use it portably

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 24 Aug 2022, 21:15

You don't use the installer to create a portable version. The ZIP version is the only way to use it portably xCSxXenon, 24 Aug 2022, 21:12

Yeah, I'am using the one in the ZIP file from the download page, I just did the installer option as a test to see if it made a difference.

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 26 Aug 2022, 18:25

Zenju - Any ideas on what I can try to get this to work under PE? v7.6 works fine, but I figured it was time to upgrade to a current version.

Thanks.

Posts: 6 · Gekko 1 Sep 2022, 18:29

I'd like to add my experience to this discussion.

I boot to PE from "WinPE10_8_Sergei_Strelec_x86_x64_2022.01.03_English" on a USB HDD. It creates a ram drive (X:\) for the operating system. When trying to start FreeFileSync under that environment I get the same error that is in post #3.

I managed to get the same PE OS to run but as a flat boot (the operating system runs from the USB HDD as drive "C:\"). In this case FreeFileSync runs OK.

It seems FreeFileSync will not run while the OS is on a ram drive but will when the OS is on a physical drive.

IIRC, the last version of FreeFileSync to run as a portable from a ram drive was a modified version 10.19.
Edit: the above line should have been:
IIRC, the last version of FreeFileSync to run as a portable with the OS on a ram drive was a modified version 10.19.

I have not been able to get a Donor Version to work with a ram drive; it works fine from a physical drive. I have seen this since FreeFileSync v11.xx.
Edit: the above line should have been:
I have not been able to get a Donor Version to work with the OS on a ram drive; it works fine with the OS on a physical drive. I have seen this since FreeFileSync v11.xx.

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 1 Sep 2022, 21:35

I wouldn't mind seeing a "Technician" version made available, don't need any of the extras like real time sync or even the multi-threaded option, just needs to be truly portable and will run from anywhere, I don't even mind that you have to be online for the activation check. I'd even be willing to donate a few extra bucks as well :-)

Posts: 4056 · xCSxXenon 1 Sep 2022, 21:57

I'd like to add my experience to this discussion.

I boot to PE from "WinPE10_8_Sergei_Strelec_x86_x64_2022.01.03_English" on a USB HDD. It creates a ram drive (X:\) for the operating system. When trying to start FreeFileSync under that environment I get the same error that is in post #3.

I managed to get the same PE OS to run but as a flat boot (the operating system runs from the USB HDD as drive "C:\"). In this case FreeFileSync runs OK.

It seems FreeFileSync will not run while the OS is on a ram drive but will when the OS is on a physical drive.

IIRC, the last version of FreeFileSync to run as a portable from a ram drive was a modified version 10.19.

I have not been able to get a Donor Version to work with a ram drive; it works fine from a physical drive. I have seen this since FreeFileSync v11.xx. Gekko, 01 Sep 2022, 18:29

Why are you running FFS from the RAM drive at all? You run it from the USB drive directly

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 1 Sep 2022, 22:25

Why are you running FFS from the RAM drive at all? You run it from the USB drive directly xCSxXenon, 01 Sep 2022, 21:57

Not sure its a problem of where FFS is being run from, I think it's because windows is being run from the RAM drive and I'am guessing FFS is trying to find something from the windows folder and it can't find it because FFS is only looking at physical drives????

Posts: 6 · Gekko 2 Sep 2022, 20:07

@xCSxXenon
I am not running FFS from the ram drive; I am running it from the USB HDD.
I agree with Grinch843's assessment, FFS is looking for something on the drive where Windows is running from and cannot find it on a non-physical drive.

I have edited my first post to clarify the conditions of operation.

Posts: 4056 · xCSxXenon 3 Sep 2022, 14:14

@xCSxXenon
I am not running FFS from the ram drive; I am running it from the USB HDD.
I agree with Grinch843's assessment, FFS is looking for something on the drive where Windows is running from and cannot find it on a non-physical drive.

I have edited my first post to clarify the conditions of operation. Gekko, 02 Sep 2022, 20:07

That clears it up! I couldn't imagine any good reason FFS would look at other places than where it is located. I'm now realizing that the whole issue is because of that exact thing. Hopefully that gets worked out

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 7 Sep 2022, 17:33

Yeah I would like to see this fixed as well, being able to run from a PE flash drive would be nice, it's one of the main reason's I went ahead and got the donation edition.

Posts: 3 · c932 19 Sep 2022, 03:19

Me either, please fix this issue ASAP. thanks!

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 20 Sep 2022, 17:08

Me either, please fix this issue ASAP. thanks! c932, 19 Sep 2022, 03:19

Hopefully the dev is working on it :-)

Posts: 6 · Gekko 5 Oct 2022, 01:45

@Zenju
I, also, donated with the hopes of using FFS under WinPE. Unfortunately, the WinPE OS is running from a RAM drive which FFS cannot access.

Would you please reply to this thread with your view on the subject? Will FFS be able to run from a USB drive while the OS runs from a RAM drive?

Thanks for the cool program and for your attention to this request.

Posts: 6 · Gekko 18 Oct 2022, 11:18

I just tried to run FFS v11.27 Donors Edition Portable from a USB HDD (G:\) while the WinPE 10 OS is running from a RAM drive (X:\). It failed to run, and I got the following error message (I hope this information is useful in resolving this condition.):

FreeFileSync -- An exception occurred....................................X

Installation files are corrupted. Please reinstall FreeFileSync.

Cannot read file attributes of "X:\".

Assertion failed: "diskExtents.Extents[0].DiskNumber !=
static_cast<DWORD>(-1)"

.......................................................................................OK

Posts: 3 · c932 26 Oct 2022, 00:00

Dev team please acknowledge to so many donators that demand this fix, thanks!

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 26 Oct 2022, 18:04

Yeah, kinda would like to know if this is going to be fixed or not.

Posts: 4056 · xCSxXenon 26 Oct 2022, 18:55

I haven't tested on Windows 10 PE.

0xC000007B is STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_FORMAT

Maybe the issue is that the launcher is 32-bit, and W10 PE somehow demands 64-bit? Zenju, 24 Aug 2022, 07:47

He said this at the top... From what I know about Zenju is that it's on his list of TODOs, but he doesn't do "progress reports", it will just be added in an update and then he'll go through his directory of forum posts with the issue to amend to the thread that it is fixed LOL. As for where on the priority list it is, who knows

Posts: 6 · Gekko 2 Nov 2022, 02:18

I'd like to add some more of my experience to this discussion.

I booted to WinPE10 (x64) from "WinPE10_8_Sergei_Strelec_x86_x64_2022.01.03_English" on a USB HDD. But this time it is set up to "flat boot"; it does not create a ram drive but does identify the USB HDD as "X:\" and the operating system runs from there (the USB HDD).

With this setup, FFS v11.27 Donor Edition runs perfectly. I hope this helps in some way.

Posts: 6 · Gekko 10 Nov 2022, 22:50

@Zenju

Since I now qualify for the Donors Edition (since v11.15), and v11.2 Free does work with the WinPE OS on a RAM drive; can I get a Donors Edition of v11.2?

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 8 Sep 2023, 12:54

Any update on getting FFS to work in a WinPE enviroment?

Posts: 4056 · xCSxXenon 10 Sep 2023, 14:30

Still not functional. Different error though, I hope that means it is being look at
Updated error message when trying to run FFS 12.5 Portable from a USB drive in WinPE:

: 2023-09-10 10_28_45-Raritan Multi-Platform Client.jpg (55.8 KiB) Viewed 10612 times

Posts: 17 · Grinch843 15 Sep 2023, 13:41

Yeah, at this point I'd be willing to pay for just a true PORTABLE version, something that doesn't need to be run off a flash drive only......