Fixed: HxD: Access denied while editing floppy directly

[guga50]

I get "Access denied" when i try to edit every floppy disk sector directly (on Vista) exept of sector "0". I tried to "run as administrator" but with no avail. I CAN modify sector "0" but CAN'T "1", "2" and next sectors.
Tried other hex editors: FlexHex said that it could open floppy for editing under Vista only when "run as administrator", but i tried and it didn't help. It opened floppy only in read mode.
WinHex modified all sectors without problems but it's designed in a strange way: every time when you need to scroll a pair of lines you have to wait half a minute as it seems to be reading all the floppy over again.
Anybody help!!!

[Maël]

Have you tried with the current beta version of HxD?

Make sure you choose "Run as administrator" in the context menu for the HxD.exe (appears when right-clicking on the HxD.exe). This is necessary for Vista when UAC is activated, since only then you become a real administrator.

My tests worked successfully with Vista Business and a floppy disk. On (removable) hard disks there are some restrictions due to the increased security in Vista. I'm looking for solution regarding that.

If it doesn't work, please tell me what you did in details (opened HxD using "Run as administrator", made sure "Readonly" was not checked, ...), since that is the only way I can track down where the problem happens.

Regards, Maël.

[guga50]

Downloaded last version and... TA DA-A-A!!! It's working (and even without "run as administrator") . Thank you Maёl. Latest version and my version both have the same number the only difference is the date. That was the reason why editor said "no updates available" while checking for updates.

P S I'm using vista ultimate. uac is off.

[Maël]

Yes, that's right I made a small change to 1.7.1 without increasing the version number.

Though I think it worked also with the 1.6.1 version, which I didn't change.

Anyway, good that it works and thanks for the answer.

[Zach]

I'm having the same problem as guga.

I was originally using version 1.7.6.4, and then updated to version 1.7.6.6(side note: the english mirrors do not have v1.7.6.6). Regardless of which version, I always got the Access is Denied error when I tried to save my changes after directly editing a floppy.

My steps:

0.Open HxD, running as administrator
1.Click the icon to select a disk
2.Choose logical drive B: (floppy drive)
3.Move to Sector 19(Root Directory)
4.Change the file names
5.Use ctrl+s to save (error)
6.Click the save icon(error)
7.Use the menu save options(error)

I'm using Vista Home Premium.

any help would be appreciated, thx.

[Maël]

Regardless of which version, I always got the Access is Denied error when I tried to save my changes after directly editing a floppy.

You are right I could reproduce it under Windows Vista, but not Windows XP. This seems to be a Vista specific issue I'll have to check more thoroughly. What you can try to do is to unmount the floppy disk, see RemoveDrive at http://www.uwe-sieber.de/drivetools_e.html or http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272

Note though that I haven't tried if unmounting solves the issue.

[Maël]

side note: the english mirrors do not have v1.7.6.6

Currently Download.com is slow to update, sorry about that.

[Maël]

Update: XP and Vista (maybe Windows 2000 too) have a program called mountvol.

Enter the command

Code: Select all

mountvol x: /d

in the command prompt (also called dos box) to unmount the drive with drive letter x. (Adapt x to match the drive letter of the drive you want to unmount).

Source code to implement (un)mounting: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/winsdk/slxMountVol.aspx

[hahnski07]

I am having the same problem.

Currently running Windows Vista Home Premium as "Uber" Administrator

It gives me an access denied error anytime I try to save to anything but sector 0.

I am running version 1.7.7.0

Thanks for your help.

P.S. I don't know if this matters but I am trying to edit drive A, which is a virtual floppy drive. It was created using VFD.

[Maël]

You can try my suggestion above. Like said above it's probably Vista-related and you can try the suggestions posted above. I'm going to look if a solution is possible. Probably if you have a normal floppy drive (not a virtual or one with a specific driver) you wouldn't get this problem.

[smeezekitty]

when i open a floppy diskette in windows vista
and make a few tweeks direct to the sectors
i pressed saved and i was greeted with an access denied message
it only happens of vista as far as i know do you know how to fix it?

[Maël]

It's a known problem related to Vista (I merged with older topic). Next version is going to fix this.

[smeezekitty]

upgrade to the newest version and it should fix it (it did for me )

[Maël]

There is indeed a problem when writing certain sectors which are inside the partition. For example when writing to sector 1745.

[smeezekitty]

just wrote to sector 1745 with HxD newest version with Windows vista 32 bit sevice pack one with no fuss