This touches on some already-answered questions, so feel free to duplicate away, but chances are I've already read them and am not satisfied.
There are 2 drivers on my system (located in C:\Windows\System32\drivers) called pefndis.sys and wfpcapture.sys. I am 100% sure pefndis.sys is a kernel driver and 99.9% sure wfpcature.sys is as well. These are 3rd party drivers installed by Mircosoft's Message Analyzer. I have discovered pefndis.sys is used to capture data on the wire and wfpcapture.sys is used to capture data above the network layer (ie, this will capture loopback traffic). I have no documentation, header files, etc, for these drivers as there was no intention of Microsoft for these drivers to be used for custom solutions as I would like to do. It just so happens I've identified wfpcapture.sys as performing the exact tasks I want, and I'd love to tap into what it can do; this seems so much more reasonable than spending the time and pain of implementing my own driver. However, my efforts have failed.
This is what I've done: I have some simple c++ code here:
void Provider::InitDriver()
{
HANDLE wfpHandle = NULL;
DWORD lastError = 0;
LPCTSTR wfpName = L"\\\\.\\wfpcapture";
LPCTSTR pefName = L"\\\\.\\pefndis";
wfpHandle = CreateFile(
wfpName,
GENERIC_READ,
FILE_SHARE_READ,
NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING,
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
NULL);
lastError = GetLastError();
CloseHandle(wfpHandle);
}
When I run CreateFile with wfpName, I get an invalid handle and lastError==2 meaning the file cannot be found. When I run CreateFile with pefName, I get a valid handle and lastError==0. Upon further investigation, most of my randomly-picked .sys files from the drivers folder produce invalid handles with error codes of 2. Occasionally I'd get an error code of 5 (Access Denied, which also seems odd since I'm running everything as administrator). Does anyone have an explanation why I cannot get a handle to wfpcapture.sys? I brought up the pefndis.sys driver because it was installed by the same program as wfpcapture.sys, and I can clearly get a handle to that, so all my strings are formatted correctly, and both files are in the same directory. I came across this post yesterday which told me IoCreateSymbolicLink can be used in the driver code to give the driver another alias. If I'm using the wrong alias, does that explain why so many .sys files return FILE_NOT_FOUND errors when I try to get handles to them?
I've tried to do some more research on the file using IL DASM (no luck, this is native code), DUMPBIN, WinObj, and DependencyWalker.
DUMPBIN /EXPORTS [...]wfpcapture.sys returns no exports. I find this extremely odd. These answers suggest .DLLs without exports are simply resources or the code is obfuscated. I am almost certain wfpcapture.sys does not just contain resources. Is obfuscation the most reasonable explanation.. any other ideas why it doesn't have any exports?
I could not find wfpcapture in WinObj anywhere. I located pefndis in Device\. Where is wfpcapture? It doesn't actually talk to a device, so that makes sense, but it is still a driver, correct? Do drivers need to register with Windows in some way before CreateFile can find them?
DependencyWalker verified what DUMPBIN told me, I think .. no exports. I have no idea how Message Analyzer (or anything else down its dependency stack) is actually talking to it.
Just a bit more background for a complete picture... wfpcapture.sys is an ETW Provider that taps into Microsoft's WFP architecture (used for firewall and IDS applications) to sniff packets above the network layer. I want code that "activates" wfpcapture.sys and then sits back and collects the events (packet captures) that wfpcapture publishes. It's this activation part that I can't figure out. If I setup Message Analyzer to start capturing localhost traffic, then turn on the part of my code that captures the events (using StartTrace(...) and EnableTraceEx2(...)), that works just fine. I am just dying to know how Message Analyzer is talking to wfpcapture.sys and what it's saying in order to get it to cooperate and start publishing events. Another fun fact: When I start a trace in Message Analyzer and do sc query wfpcapture, it tells me the service (here it is identified as a kernel driver) is running. When I stop the trace, the query tells me the service is stopped. If I manually sc start wfpcapture and verify the service is running,, and then run my event capturing code, I get nothing. This tells me Message Analyzer must be sending something to wfpcapture.sys to get it activated and publishing. My plan that spawned this whole thing was to get a handle to driver and start sending it control codes via DeviceIoControl to glean some knowledge on how it worked. I have also seen some very strong evidence that Message Analyzer is passing filter masks to the driver.
Am I completely wasting my time here? That driver is not meant for my consumption, and poking and prodding it to learn about it may be a long shot, but I'm certain it does exactly what I need and I've never written a driver in my life; trying to do that seems foolish when this is sitting right here. Message Analyzer is free, I'm not trying to steal software. Could there possibly be some DRM associated with the driver that's boxing me out? I'd love to hear the thoughts of anyone out there who has Windows driver experience.
Ok, lot of questions there, hope this doesn't get flagged as too broad.
I have an application that relies on the in built Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. It has worked flawlessly on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1. While the first call to midiOutOpen on Windows 10 works, subsequent calls result in error code 1, meaning 'Unspecified error'. The code is simple:
result = midiOutOpen(&_midiOutHandle, midiOutputDevice, NULL, 0, CALLBACK_NULL);
Any ideas regarding how to resolve this hugely appreciated.
I see it. Tracing through the machine code, I see the modMessage() function fail and return MMSYSERR_ERROR. Exactly why isn't clear to me, it looks like a missing initialization problem.
What is strange about this mishap is that there are not a lot of complaints about it, you'd expect plenty of other programs fall over as well. Or for that matter for them to be tested before Win10 shipped. Next thing I tried is adding the one thing that happens in any non-trivial audio app that I skipped in my test program. Partly inspired by seeing "ATL" back in the symbols of modMessage, although it wasn't anywhere close. I added this as the first line in main():
CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_MULTITHREADED);
Badaboom, no more error. Use COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED if you call this on the main thread of a UI thread. CoUninitialize() at the end to clean up.
Explaining it is difficult, initializing COM should not be necessary when you use MIDI. With it in place, calling midiOutOpen gets one more DLL loaded, clbcatq.dll. That's a COM+ support module. So sure looks like Win10 requires COM to be initialized.
I put a MessageBox (with nothing important to say) just before midiOutOpen, and IT WORKED!
I'm using Visual Studio 2013 C++.
WASAPI doesn't work for me anymore in sharing mode, although I think I'll be able to make it work.
When I use the CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_MULTITHREADED), this helps for the midi open problem but has bad influence for using mciSendString with opening an MP3 song, which results always in error 266 in same program. Eg.:
open "d:\\music\\Fernando.mp3" type MPEGVideo alias Fernando.mp3 wait
(without the CoInitializeEx this open works and the mp3 song plays in Windows 10).
On some Windows 10 Systems the midi and mp3 open well without calling the CoInitializeEx, on others it does not play midi. It is not documented in MCI api that it must be called and causes indetermined problems. For me it is not clear when or why it must be called and when I should better not call it.
The Windows 10 incompatibility relating MCI of Microsoft is intolerable.
All Systems since XP are MCI compatible and only Windows 10 causes troubles.
I'm an amateur programmer, and I'm getting desperate and mad because of a big issue: most of my programs are blocked by Avast Antivirus, while some aren't, and I don't understand why.
The more I try to investigate, the less I understand what the problem could be.
I'm requesting your help to find a solution so that my programs are no longer blocked, or, as a default, at least some strong clues that would explain why it might be the case.
There are already many topics about that on the web. However, most of them give only superficial answers: they just explain how antivirus software works with signatures and detection heuristics, or state that you just have to add the offending application in the white list without asking any other question. While it is certainly correct, it's not acceptable answers in my sense, because I'm still left with my own programs that refuse to work without any concrete idea to start investigating.
First of all, the only antivirus software that blocks my programs is Avast 7.x. No other antivirus software see any inconvenient to run my software. Secondly, I haven't installed Avast myself; it is installed on a friend's machine.
I have Windows 7, and he has Windows XP. I'm completely sure that the problem is avast only: when it is temporarily disabled, or if the program is added to its white list, everything works nicely as expected.
Three different programs are in trouble:
A text editor, with the goal to replace Windows Notepad while keeping simple, efficient and customizable
A small amateur audio player very simple to use
The client program of an online game platform, currently having more than 1000 users
The first one is open source, and I can give a link to the executable and the source code if needed. The two others are closed source but free to use, I can give a link to the executable of the current version only.
The only obvious common things between these three programs are me as a developer, my Windows 7 machine that compiled them, the compiler family which is MinGW/GCC, and they are all Win32 GUI applications without any framework (no MFC, no WPF, no Qt, wxWidgets or whatever; just pure Win32/C GUI applications).
Here are my observations and thoughts so far:
Versions 1.1, 1.2.1 and 1.3 of my text editor are blocked. They are in C, not C++, have been compiled with GCC 3.4.5 in Unicode mode, and are distributed in portable ZIP files (by portable, I simply mean no installer and no installation needed)
Version 1.4.1 of the same text editor isn't blocked. It has been compiled with GCC 4.7.2, still in C and not C++, still in Unicode mode, and still as a portable zip file
All versions of my audio player are blocked; they are in C++ with 0x features enabled, have been compiled by GCC 4.7.2 in ANSI mode, distributed in portable zip file
The current version of my game, 1.7.2, isn't blocked. it is in C, has been compiled with GCC 3.4.5 in ANSI mode, and is distributed as an Inno Setup 5 installer.
The new version of my game, 2.0.0, which is currently a private beta, is blocked. It is in C++ with 0x features enabled, has been compiled with GCC 4.7.2 in Unicode mode. I share it with my private beta-testing team as zip files within a private Dropbox folder
The problem is caused by Avast 7.x auto-sandbox. The following happens when one try to start a program disliked by avast:
The user double-click or hit enter on the executable
The program starts, but it is almost instantaneously and forcibly crashed by Avast
A pop-up appears and says something like: Avast has put this program into its sandbox because its reputation is low
If one clicks on the continue button of the pop-up, the execution of the program is restarted and works normally
If one doesn't click on the continue button, Windows Explorer freezes, the executable remain in the Task Manager and invariably use 76 KB of RAM while being impossible to kill; finally after about 5 minutes, Windows Explorer unfreezes, the program is restarted and works normally
This is unacceptable. Newbie users of my program, especially the game, don't know how antivirus software works; don't know how to put it into the white list and why it will unblock it; don't know how to change settings of their antivirus software; if they see the pop-up, won't understand it and will end up being afraid or disappointed because they can't play without knowing why; and if they don't see the pop-up, I can't expect them to wait 5 minutes with a half-freezing computer. each time they want to play.
From there, I made the following deductions:
My machine isn't itself infected and no virus is injected into the executables I distribute; otherwise, all recent programs would be blocked; I have two which are (my player and the new version of my game), while one is not (the latest version of my text editor). The 1.7.2 of the game has been compiled in march 2012, while the 1.4.1 of the text editor is from October 2012.
The newest version of GCC 4.7.2 is not in cause, by the same reasoning; same for ANSI vs Unicode compiling.
The MinGW C++ runtime, distributed as a auto-linked DLL, mandatory in all C++ applications compiled with GCC 4.7.2, is probably not the cause, because many well-known programs use it; and my text editor is blocked and is in C, and thus don't use it.
My audio player and my game have the audio library in common; this later is not the cause, because the version 1.7.2 of my game works and the newest private beta not. And of course, that audio library is also used in many other known or less known applications that aren't blocked.
Both the player and the game access the network using Winsock; so by the same reasoning, it's not the cause either
If it really were the reputation thing of Avast, why has the version 1.4.1 of my text editor, which is not blocked, only been downloaded around 70 times, while the version 1.3 which is blocked has been downloaded more than 300 times? It looks completely illogical. Are 70 users sufficient to claim something about reputation? Is it more with 300 users? I really don't think so... probably a critical mass of a dozens thousands users is necessary.
Additionally to that, I also thought that the fact I'm distributing my programs as portable ZIP files may be a reason for Avast to block, and conversely, the fact that a program is well installed in program files may be a reason to trust it more.
So I made a simple experience: I compiled a new Inno Setup 5 installer for the beta 2.0.0 of my game, as well as one for the version 1.3 of my text editor, and discover that the installers themselves were blocked!
I made another experience with my friend, where I tried to find exactly the place where the programs crash, based on using MessageBeep (MessageBox is also blocked!). I didn't noticed anything problematic. The game is blocked when SetDlgItemText is called for the first time in the login dialog box, but if I remove all SetDlgItemText it is blocked further down. In the text editor, it is blocked while populating the menu bar...
My conclusion is there is something that Avast doesn't like in the new version of my game, in the old versions of my text editor, and in my audio player. Something that is absent in the newest version of my text editor. What could it be? Do you have any clue? Do you have only an idea on how I could proceed to find what it is so that I can hope to fix it? Is there only a way to analyse such a problem, or is the whole world screwed by Avast?
Note that I'm a single person and not a company, all those programs are free to use, I have not pay any IDE to develop them, and I'm not paid by the users when they use them, so I assume that a certificate is probably not affordable at all. Moreover, I don't know if it's a true solution, how to sign an application compiled with GCC, and I really don't want to switch to an "usine à gaz" like Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC). I would prefer strongly forget that option if there is any other solution, even a very dirty one.
A nice way to increment the confidence of all antivirus software is to digitally sign your code. Thawte has the cheapest well-recognized certificates starting below 100 € / year.
Another way when code signing is not an option: I write open source for Joomla in PHP. After I received the first indications that Avast marked my file as a (false) positive, I contacted them and they whitelisted my file within hours.
In order to make my life easier, I am creating a separate file with the supposedly "dangerous" function, so that future changes to the program won't require to resubmit it for whitelisting.
Possibly the speed in their response was helped by the fact that reading a short PHP file is faster than reverse engineering compiled code; nonetheless they were kind, quick and effective.
Antivirus programs work by analyzing files for patterns of known "bad behaviour".
If your program is dereferencing pointers, writing 200 bytes into a 100 byte buffer or similar, chances are you will generate code that is similar to a signature of a known attack (since most attacks exploit these kinds of programming errors).
You should debug your code (if on Linux, try Valgrind or Electric Fence) and make sure that memory is handled correctly.
You can be interested in the article The Case of Evil WinMain.
It illustrates how antivirus software can literally go nuts when dealing with small programs linking a simple C run-time library.
The only thing you can do is signal the problem to the antivirus makers and hope in a fair behavior from them.
All right, I figured it out. Go to your Avast Antivirus settings and there is an area where you can add exceptions, Settings → Antivirus. Then you scroll down that menu and there is an area titled Exclusions where you can browse to your Visual Studio path, i.e., C: → john → Documents → VisualStudio2010 → projects.
Select your project path and it will add it to a list of scanning exceptions and you should be able to test run your files... it worked well for me. I also disabled deep scan in the same menu due to a suggestion from another member.
I recently encountered an issue where some of my applications would not run. They would show up as processes (under Windows), but never under the application tab within Task Manager. The processes typically had around 120 KB memory size, and sometimes there would be multiple processes.
The culprit is Avast DeepScreen. From Avast:
The DeepScreen Technology allows Avast to make real-time decisions when an unknown file is executed.
In my case, MATLAB was blocked, as were some other applications.
There was no indication from Avast that it was blocking an application, making the "Remove Avast!" comment above quite appropriate.
Avast has a feature called cybercapture/deep scan.
This is what's causing your troubles.
It doesn't even bother with the heuristics.
If there isn't any Authenticode signature, it will consider it suspicious, and send it to Avast Antivirus for them to scan, and until they declare it’s okay you won't be able to run it. Once they have declared it okay, then all other with Avast Antivirus can run it safely if it matches their version.
Most of the antivirus programs give options to enable exceptions.
Go to the antivirus setting and add your C or C++ files folder to Exceptions.
Here is how you can use PowerShell to exclude your applications from Windows Defender and Microsoft realtime protection:
// Create Windows Defender exclusion
string cmd = "powershell -Command \"Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath '" + GetAppPath() + "'";
Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo() { FileName = "cmd.exe", Arguments = "/c " + cmd, CreateNoWindow = true, WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden }).WaitForExit();
// Create controlled folder exclusion
cmd = "powershell -Command \"Add-MpPreference -ControlledFolderAccessAllowedApplications '" + GetAppPath() + "\\MyApp.exe" + "'";
Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo() { FileName = "cmd.exe", Arguments = "/c " + cmd, CreateNoWindow = true, WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden }).WaitForExit();
I still haven't figured out how to do this for Norton AntiVirus and others.
Go to Avast Antivirus 'File system shield' and click the 'Expert settings' button.
Then find and click the 'Exclusions' option from the menu on the left side. Add your project folder in the file exclusion list. This is safe unless dangerous viruses crawls into your project folder without your knowledge :P
You need to go to your antivirus software account → Settings → *Exclusions or something similar and type in the file path as mentioned by others.
I did it with Avast Antivirus. The first time around it didn't work, so I uninstalled and installed. Then I went to exclusions and it works now.
I am trying to develop an IThumbnailProvider for use in Windows 7. Since this particular thumbnail would also be dependant on some other files in the same directory, I need to use something other than IInitializeWithStream to a path to work with, this being IInitializeWithItem. (Alternatively, I could use IInitializeWithFile, but that is even more frowned upon apparently.)
No matter what I do, I cannot get it to work. I have Microsoft's FileTypeVerifier.exe tool which gives the green light on using IInitializeWithItem, but when explorer calls it, it only seems to try IInitializeWithStream, ever. (This was tested by temporarily implementing said interface, and Beep()ing away in its Initialize()) Did I forget to configure something?
In short: how do I get this to work?
Okay, I finally found out what is the matter. To quote the Building Thumbnail Providers link on the MSDN website:
There are cases where initialization with streams is not possible. In scenarios where your thumbnail provider does not implement IInitializeWithStream, it must opt out of running in the isolated process where the system indexer places it by default when there is a change to the stream. To opt out of the process isolation feature, set the following registry value.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
CLSID
{66742402-F9B9-11D1-A202-0000F81FEDEE}
DisableProcessIsolation = 1
I knew I was running out of process since I read elsewhere that thumbnailproviders ALWAYS ran out of process. But since that particular snippet is on almost -all- shell extension handlers, I interpreted it to be a overly happy copy-paste job, since it was -required- to run in-process the way I understood it.
And I was wrong. I hope this will help someone else in the near future. :)
I'm trying to use VDMEnumProcessWOW to find all 16 bit host processes on Vista. I call it, and it appears to not find any results even though I do have a 16 bit app running.
I've also tried calling VDMEnumTaskWOWEx with the process id I got for ntvdm.exe from Windows Task Manager, and that also returns no results.
ntvdm.exe has user name joeBlogs, and the application I've written to call VDMEnumProcessWOW is running as a service under the SYSTEM account. Is the problem that I need to have them running in the same session?
EnumProcesses works ok across sessions, but is VDMEnumProcessWOW different, or is there something else I'm missing? The documentation I've seen on this so far is a little sparse.
The VDM does contain the WowExec.exe task that the function's documentation says is required.
Thanks.
You can request the hotfix through this link.
Yes, a colleague just answered this. He ran into this problem before. It appears that VDMEnumProcessWOW does not work across sessions.
Also, Vista has some other problem enumerating 16 bit processes (I'm not exactly sure what they symptom is). There's a Microsoft supplied HotFix that is required to make this work.