Explorer showing partitions that should be hidden.

[Emerald Saint]

This is a LONG post - please excuse. . . .

..

I routinely use GHOST 2003 to write a back up copy of my XP working
partition to other partitions on the same HD and also to a partition on a
second HD. In conjunction with that back up process, I keep things hidden
from my working XP system by changing 'system bytes' in the partition table,
or in some situations by changing the BIOS setting for the second HD to 'Not
Installed'. To make everything work the way I want, I may also need to I
hand edit BOOT.INI and the 'Mounted Devices' registry key. I've been doing
this for years with no problem - until just recently when my system started
working differently - in such a way that totally messes up my backup
process. I believe the change may be the result of a combination of software
that I recently installed and/or uninstalled - which I describe at the end
of this post. First, here's what changed about XP:

Before now I was able to hide partitions from XP by changing the system byte
(in the partition table) to type 83h (Linux), type 82h (Linux Swap), type17h
(Hidden NTFS), type FFh (Hidden), etc.. That doesn't work any more. Windows
Explorer shows all of them.

I was able to hide a drive by changing the BIOS setting for the drive to
'Not Installed'. That doesn't work any more - Explorer shows the drive and
all hidden partitions on it. And it makes no difference if I change the BIOS
setting for 'PnP OS' to Yes or No.

I should mention that I always delete everything in the Mounted Devices
registry key before I reboot and make my changes to the partition table, or
before I copy a partition with Ghost. That way XP needs to rebuild the
registry entries based on fresh information when it is rebooted.

I need to mention here two general facts about XP that are pertinent to my
situation:

1) A quick comparison of DISKMAN and EXPLORER will tell you if there are any
primary HD partitions not being used by XP. These will be listed in DISKMAN
but they won't show up in the EXPLORER tree.

2) If you look in the 'Mounted Devices' registry key there are two kinds of
entries. One kind of entry contains the word ' Volume' and has a hexidecimal
number enclosed in curly braces, the other kind of entry contains the word
'\DosDevices\' and has a drive letter at the end of it. Each primary HD
partition will be represented by one of the 'Volume' lines. Each primary HD
partition that shows in the EXPLORER tree will be represented by one of the
'\DosDevices\' lines.

One aspect of my problem is that all of the volumes in DISKMAN are showing
in EXPLORER. Normally there are many partition types (indicated by system
byte) that XP will not include in the EXPLORER tree. This is regardless of
what is actually written in the partition - whether it is a zero-filled area
or if it contains an functional system, the system byte will keep it out of
the EXPLORER tree.

So far I didn't try using the 'repair' feature of SETUP.EXE to see if it can
fix this problem because I am very interested to discover if the problem can
be traced to some registry settings or some weird driver that can be dealt
with by hand. It's always fun to learn something like that. But there is
another reason also:

I said above that XP is now puting every HD partition in the EXPLORER tree
regardless of the system byte. Actually there is one exception I found -
that is old Linux type 81h. If I clear out the Mounted Devices key and then
boot with a DOS floppy and change a partition's system byte to type 81h,
upon rebooting XP the partition will be listed differently from the others
in DISKMAN and it won't show up in EXPLORER. All the others are showing in
EXPLORER except type 81h. That's only for type 81h (there are other Linux
types, but those don't get the special treatment). So I wonder if there is a
registry key where you can specify system byte values that you want XP to
ignore. That would be a useful piece of information.

**********************

Here are some unusual things I did recently that might be the cause of the
problem.

1) I installed Recovery Console on my HD, no problem. Recently I deleted it.

2) I had an operating Linux system on a primary partition, and I had told
Linux it was OK to be aware of the NTFS partitions that were also on the
same drive. I didn't do much with the Linux installation, and later I zero
filled the partition to see if that would fix this XP problem I'm having.

3) Immediately before the problem started I had gotten a problem with some
very old ROXIO DVD burner software - ROXIO could no longer detect my burner.
Apparently some recent Windows updates changed things so that the ROXIO
files are no longer compatible with XP. I uninstalled the ROXIO and
reinstalled it. I did that twice - but it still wouldn't work. THAT'S
EXACTLY WHEN THIS PROBLEM SHOWED UP. Right after I did that.

I did some web research about this but so far haven't found any clues.


TIA. Bill S. - Seattle, Washington, USA

 

[Emerald Saint]

To clarify -
when I said DISKMAN I mean DISKMGMT.MSC

Bill S.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

This is a LONG post - please excuse. . . .

.

I routinely use GHOST 2003 to write a back up copy of my XP working
partition to other partitions on the same HD and also to a partition on a
second HD. In conjunction with that back up process, I keep things hidden
from my working XP system by changing 'system bytes' in the partition
table, or in some situations by changing the BIOS setting for the second
HD to 'Not Installed'. To make everything work the way I want, I may also
need to I hand edit BOOT.INI and the 'Mounted Devices' registry key. I've
been doing this for years with no problem - until just recently when my
system started working differently - in such a way that totally messes up
my backup process. I believe the change may be the result of a combination
of software that I recently installed and/or uninstalled - which I
describe at the end of this post. First, here's what changed about XP:

Before now I was able to hide partitions from XP by changing the system
byte (in the partition table) to type 83h (Linux), type 82h (Linux Swap),
type17h (Hidden NTFS), type FFh (Hidden), etc.. That doesn't work any
more. Windows Explorer shows all of them.

I was able to hide a drive by changing the BIOS setting for the drive to
'Not Installed'. That doesn't work any more - Explorer shows the drive and
all hidden partitions on it. And it makes no difference if I change the
BIOS setting for 'PnP OS' to Yes or No.

I should mention that I always delete everything in the Mounted Devices
registry key before I reboot and make my changes to the partition table,
or before I copy a partition with Ghost. That way XP needs to rebuild the
registry entries based on fresh information when it is rebooted.

I need to mention here two general facts about XP that are pertinent to my
situation:

1) A quick comparison of DISKMAN and EXPLORER will tell you if there are
any primary HD partitions not being used by XP. These will be listed in
DISKMAN but they won't show up in the EXPLORER tree.

2) If you look in the 'Mounted Devices' registry key there are two kinds
of entries. One kind of entry contains the word ' Volume' and has a
hexidecimal number enclosed in curly braces, the other kind of entry
contains the word '\DosDevices\' and has a drive letter at the end of it.
Each primary HD partition will be represented by one of the 'Volume'
lines. Each primary HD partition that shows in the EXPLORER tree will be
represented by one of the '\DosDevices\' lines.

One aspect of my problem is that all of the volumes in DISKMAN are showing
in EXPLORER. Normally there are many partition types (indicated by system
byte) that XP will not include in the EXPLORER tree. This is regardless of
what is actually written in the partition - whether it is a zero-filled
area or if it contains an functional system, the system byte will keep it
out of the EXPLORER tree.

So far I didn't try using the 'repair' feature of SETUP.EXE to see if it
can fix this problem because I am very interested to discover if the
problem can be traced to some registry settings or some weird driver that
can be dealt with by hand. It's always fun to learn something like that.
But there is another reason also:

I said above that XP is now puting every HD partition in the EXPLORER tree
regardless of the system byte. Actually there is one exception I found -
that is old Linux type 81h. If I clear out the Mounted Devices key and
then boot with a DOS floppy and change a partition's system byte to type
81h, upon rebooting XP the partition will be listed differently from the
others in DISKMAN and it won't show up in EXPLORER. All the others are
showing in EXPLORER except type 81h. That's only for type 81h (there are
other Linux types, but those don't get the special treatment). So I wonder
if there is a registry key where you can specify system byte values that
you want XP to ignore. That would be a useful piece of information.

**********************

Here are some unusual things I did recently that might be the cause of the
problem.

1) I installed Recovery Console on my HD, no problem. Recently I deleted
it.

2) I had an operating Linux system on a primary partition, and I had told
Linux it was OK to be aware of the NTFS partitions that were also on the
same drive. I didn't do much with the Linux installation, and later I zero
filled the partition to see if that would fix this XP problem I'm having.

3) Immediately before the problem started I had gotten a problem with some
very old ROXIO DVD burner software - ROXIO could no longer detect my
burner. Apparently some recent Windows updates changed things so that the
ROXIO files are no longer compatible with XP. I uninstalled the ROXIO and
reinstalled it. I did that twice - but it still wouldn't work. THAT'S
EXACTLY WHEN THIS PROBLEM SHOWED UP. Right after I did that.

I did some web research about this but so far haven't found any clues.


TIA. Bill S. - Seattle, Washington, USA

What you say is all correct. I don't know why the hidden
partitions are visible in Explorer on your machine, so let
me report a few things I've noted on my own machine.

- Hidden partitions are listed in the top part of diskmgmt.msc.
They are not listed at the bottom.
- In diskmgmt, hidden partitions are shown as having a FAT32
file system with a status of "Healthy (Unknown Partition)".
- When I right-click a hidden partition in diskmgmt.msc then
the only not-greyed out options are "Delete Partition" and Help.
- Hidden partitions are not enumerated when running the
command mountvol.exe.
- One of my hidden partitions is of type 78. My partition
table editor (ptedit.exe) has no description for this type.
- When I compare the boot records of two FAT partitions,
again using ptedit.exe, the only non-trivial difference that
catches my eye is Field21 (Reserved). On the visible
partition it is F6F6F6F6F6F6F6F6. On the hidden
partition it is all "0"s.

The above observations might get you a little closer to the
resolution of your puzzle. You can get ptedit.exe from here
in case you need it. You must run it off a DOS boot disk.
ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/

 

[Emerald Saint]

<snip>
- Hidden partitions are listed in the top part of diskmgmt.msc.
They are not listed at the bottom.

I have 3 possible views: 1)disk list, 2) volume list, 3) graphical. All
three views are showing the same thing.
But then, my system is broken, nothing is hidden. When I right click one of
the partitions (I am trying to hide) I get these options:
Mark Active, Change Letter, Format,
Delete, Properties, Help

Most of the partitions I'm testing with are not actual partitions (which
never made a difference before) but just zero-filled space. One of them is
actually a formatted NTFS partition marked as type 81h. When you mark them
81h diskmgmt.msc doesn't even call then (Unknown Partition) - otherwise it
does call them that.

I will check out your link for PTEDIT.EXE
I'vee been using Ranish http://www.ranish.com/part/part243.zip for years.
It includes two versions of a boot manager internal in it. I never used
it's boot managers with XP.
There is a very interesting list of known partition types here:
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html

Apparently you are using XOSL in a dedicated partition.
How do you like it? What different OSs do you run with it?
We have a PC here with multiple copies of WinME and a copy of DOS622/Win311
that we multiboot using XOSL. I've never tried XOSL with XP.
I'm thinking of tinkering with GRUB boot loader once I get more experienced
with Linux.




-

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

<snip>
- Hidden partitions are listed in the top part of diskmgmt.msc.
They are not listed at the bottom.

I have 3 possible views: 1)disk list, 2) volume list, 3) graphical. All
three views are showing the same thing.
But then, my system is broken, nothing is hidden. When I right click one
of
the partitions (I am trying to hide) I get these options:
Mark Active, Change Letter, Format,
Delete, Properties, Help

Most of the partitions I'm testing with are not actual partitions (which
never made a difference before) but just zero-filled space. One of them
is
actually a formatted NTFS partition marked as type 81h. When you mark
them
81h diskmgmt.msc doesn't even call then (Unknown Partition) - otherwise it
does call them that.

I will check out your link for PTEDIT.EXE
I'vee been using Ranish http://www.ranish.com/part/part243.zip for years.
It includes two versions of a boot manager internal in it. I never used
it's boot managers with XP.
There is a very interesting list of known partition types here:
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html

Apparently you are using XOSL in a dedicated partition.
How do you like it? What different OSs do you run with it?
We have a PC here with multiple copies of WinME and a copy of
DOS622/Win311
that we multiboot using XOSL. I've never tried XOSL with XP.
I'm thinking of tinkering with GRUB boot loader once I get more
experienced
with Linux.

I have used XOSL for DOS and for all versions of Windows.
It works fine and would expect it to work just as well with Linux,
simply because it does not modify the various OSs in any way. It
simply passes control to their boot process. Furthermore XOSL
is one of the few boot loaders that allows me to boot into an
OS that resides on a primarly or logical partition, on a master or
a slave disk connected to the primary or secondary disk controller.