Western Digital Passport, Password , and Windows PE not playing well.

grant56 · 27 Mar 2014

Wasted quite a bit of time on this already. I called Western Digital , who was clueless.

I'm using Macrium Reflect to backup to a WD Passport 2TB drive , with the drive password enabled.

The problem is, when you use the Windows PE environment to restore, the "WD Drive Unlock.exe" which is normally run from the "psuedo CD" the Passport creates, to unlock the drive, throws a nasty error.

"The subsystem needed to support the image type is not present"

So you can't access your data for a restore!

I have found very little about this on the net, other than one person having given up and just removed the password, which works, but defeats the whole purpose of the security.

I'm thinking there must be a way to get the unlocker to run from within Windows PE, but am stumped. If you really couldn't unlock from PE, then not only would a password be near useless, but it would be causing people additional grief.

mjf · 29 Mar 2014

Personal view:
I would always treat WD external HDDs as just plain drives and not use WD software.
You can encrypt Macrium images with a password but you need the paid version. If encryption was a big deal for me I'd spend the money on the paid version.

jumanji · 30 Mar 2014

mjf said:

Personal view:
I would always treat WD external HDDs as just plain drives and not use WD software......

Why WD HDDs alone? I would always treat any external HDD as just a HDD to store data and will as a first step delete all crap that the manufacturers put in, give a clean wipe and do a full format.

The VCD and Smartware that kicks in in Western Digital drives have always been a pain, which has been well documented by irate users. WD itself was adamant that it will not by any means give users the ability to do away with it and had said the users could have chosen those WD drives that don't come with the Smartware. One should always be careful to choose only those WD drives that don't come with that crap if at all they are bent upon only WD syndrome. (I for one completely boycott WD drives both internal and external because of their uncompromising attitude.)

mjf · 30 Mar 2014

I commented on WD because that is what the OP was using.

I use a number of WD MyBook Essentials. Smartware doesn't "kick in" if you choose not to use it. I definitely don't use it. The Sata 3.5" drive is mounted vertically with reasonable ventilation slots as opposed to the Elements series which are totally enclosed and prone to overheating.

mgruber · 27 Dec 2015

Sorry for replying an old topic, but I think this error message is related to 32/64 bit executable image compatibility.

Just checked the WD Drive Unlock.exe file and it is a 32-bit executable. Your WinPE environment may be a 64-bit one and many 32-bit system libraries aren't present and causing the mentioned error.

I have not tested it, but it's just a guess!

Hope it helps!

RolandJS · 27 Dec 2015

Was this WD ever used as a clone receiver? If so, the HD is gone 'cause DriveUnlock is gone. That's what happened to me. DriveUnlock, even without a password, has to be activated somehow by somebody, though within Windows it can be set to automatic entry. I'm not sure if formatting this DriveUnlock HD will fix the problem; I ended up returning mine and getting a HD that did not come with such things.