Warning note from OS when copying exe to flash

[Roger Fink]

Problem:



When I copy an executable file to a flash drive, something I've done a
million times without incident, I now get the following note:



"The file [any executable, say msicuu2.exe, or a non-microsoft app] contains
more than one data stream, but the destination volume does not support this
feature. Some data will not be preserved as a result.



Information that will not be preserved includes:



:Zone.Identifier:$DATA"



I then get the choice to finish or cancel the operation.

I guess my question is, is this note benign, and if so, how can I get rid of
it?


The problem isn't with the flash drive, since the warning came up when I
substituted a second flash drive as well.

 

[John John - MVP]

You can safely ignore the warning. This is caused by the fact that the
files that you are trying to copy have Alternate Data Streams, ADS exist
only on NTFS volumes, if you copy the files to another file system, like
FAT32 on your flash drive, the stream cannot be copied. You are seeing
these warnings because you downloaded the files to an NTFS volume with
Internet Explorer and IE inserted the data stream to the file, if you
had downloaded the files to a FAT32 volume IE would not have been able
to insert the stream. One way or the other it doesn't change the actual
executable file itself. If you download the files with another web
browser you won't have the :Zone.Identifier:$DATA stream. There is lots
of information on the net about this:

http://www.alcpress.com/articles/ads.html
NTFS Streams

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897440.aspx
Streams

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/alternate_data_streams.html
AlternateStreamView - View/Copy/Delete NTFS Alternate Data Streams

http://www.nirsoft.net/blog/2009/02/finding-alternate-data-streams-with.html
NirBlog: Finding alternate data streams with AlternateStreamView

John

 

[Roger Fink]

I don't use IE very much any more except for WU, but I did use it to
download the Windows installer clean-up app, and I guess one other
"conventional" executable. Thanks for the clarification.

You can safely ignore the warning. This is caused by the fact that
the files that you are trying to copy have Alternate Data Streams,
ADS exist only on NTFS volumes, if you copy the files to another file
system, like FAT32 on your flash drive, the stream cannot be copied.
You are seeing these warnings because you downloaded the files to an
NTFS volume with Internet Explorer and IE inserted the data stream to
the file, if you had downloaded the files to a FAT32 volume IE would
not have been able to insert the stream. One way or the other it
doesn't change the actual executable file itself. If you download
the files with another web browser you won't have the
:Zone.Identifier:$DATA stream. There is lots of information on the
net about this:

http://www.alcpress.com/articles/ads.html
NTFS Streams

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897440.aspx
Streams

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/alternate_data_streams.html
AlternateStreamView - View/Copy/Delete NTFS Alternate Data Streams

http://www.nirsoft.net/blog/2009/02/finding-alternate-data-streams-with.html
NirBlog: Finding alternate data streams with AlternateStreamView

John

Problem:



When I copy an executable file to a flash drive, something I've done
a million times without incident, I now get the following note:



"The file [any executable, say msicuu2.exe, or a non-microsoft app]
contains more than one data stream, but the destination volume does
not support this feature. Some data will not be preserved as a
result.



Information that will not be preserved includes:

Zone.Identifier:$DATA"

I then get the choice to finish or cancel the operation.

I guess my question is, is this note benign, and if so, how can I
get rid of it?


The problem isn't with the flash drive, since the warning came up
when I substituted a second flash drive as well.

 

[John John - MVP]

You're welcome.

John

I don't use IE very much any more except for WU, but I did use it to
download the Windows installer clean-up app, and I guess one other
"conventional" executable. Thanks for the clarification.

You can safely ignore the warning. This is caused by the fact that
the files that you are trying to copy have Alternate Data Streams,
ADS exist only on NTFS volumes, if you copy the files to another file
system, like FAT32 on your flash drive, the stream cannot be copied.
You are seeing these warnings because you downloaded the files to an
NTFS volume with Internet Explorer and IE inserted the data stream to
the file, if you had downloaded the files to a FAT32 volume IE would
not have been able to insert the stream. One way or the other it
doesn't change the actual executable file itself. If you download
the files with another web browser you won't have the
:Zone.Identifier:$DATA stream. There is lots of information on the
net about this:

http://www.alcpress.com/articles/ads.html
NTFS Streams

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897440.aspx
Streams

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/alternate_data_streams.html
AlternateStreamView - View/Copy/Delete NTFS Alternate Data Streams

http://www.nirsoft.net/blog/2009/02/finding-alternate-data-streams-with.html
NirBlog: Finding alternate data streams with AlternateStreamView

John

Problem:



When I copy an executable file to a flash drive, something I've done
a million times without incident, I now get the following note:



"The file [any executable, say msicuu2.exe, or a non-microsoft app]
contains more than one data stream, but the destination volume does
not support this feature. Some data will not be preserved as a
result.



Information that will not be preserved includes:



Zone.Identifier:$DATA"


I then get the choice to finish or cancel the operation.

I guess my question is, is this note benign, and if so, how can I
get rid of it?


The problem isn't with the flash drive, since the warning came up
when I substituted a second flash drive as well.

 

[BillW50]

In Roger Fink typed on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:38:53 -0400:

I don't use IE very much any more except for WU, but I did use it to
download the Windows installer clean-up app, and I guess one other
"conventional" executable. Thanks for the clarification.

What do you use if you don't use IE? As Firefox is a security risk
(can't turn off the security hole called XPCOM, unlike IE security hole
called ActiveX). And Google Chrome doesn't run under Windows 2000 from
what I have heard. I haven't ran Opera in years, does that still run
under Windows 2000?

 

[Sid Elbow]

What do you use if you don't use IE? As Firefox is a security risk
(can't turn off the security hole called XPCOM, unlike IE security hole
called ActiveX).

But turning off Active-X in IE6 leads to reminder pop-ups (which have to
be closed) for each and every Active-X object encountered - with no
option of turning them off. Given the profusion of these objects on many
websites, it's hardly a solution for non-masochists.

 

[BillW50]

In Sid Elbow typed on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:47:08 -0400:

But turning off Active-X in IE6 leads to reminder pop-ups (which have
to be closed) for each and every Active-X object encountered - with no
option of turning them off. Given the profusion of these objects on
many websites, it's hardly a solution for non-masochists.

No option of turning them off? Are you sure? I remember that years ago,
but that has been a long time ago. Maybe updates fixed that?

 

[Roger Fink]

John John, or anyone else who wants to chime in - I wrote the initial post
in Word 2000 (recently upgraded from 97) and copied and pasted it in to OE,
where it looked OK, and then posted. On my computer that "posted" post has
four blank lines between paragraphs. I have been seeing this consistently
since I switched from 97. I'd just like to know, is that the way it reads on
other computers, or is this only something I'm seeing? (I asked about
correcting this in an Office newsgroup but the response was politely
dismissive - big changes from 97 to 2K, etc).

Of course there is no problem in composing in OE, and that's probably what
I'll do.

You can safely ignore the warning. This is caused by the fact that
the files that you are trying to copy have Alternate Data Streams,
ADS exist only on NTFS volumes, if you copy the files to another file
system, like FAT32 on your flash drive, the stream cannot be copied.
You are seeing these warnings because you downloaded the files to an
NTFS volume with Internet Explorer and IE inserted the data stream to
the file, if you had downloaded the files to a FAT32 volume IE would
not have been able to insert the stream. One way or the other it
doesn't change the actual executable file itself. If you download
the files with another web browser you won't have the
:Zone.Identifier:$DATA stream. There is lots of information on the
net about this:

http://www.alcpress.com/articles/ads.html
NTFS Streams

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897440.aspx
Streams

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/alternate_data_streams.html
AlternateStreamView - View/Copy/Delete NTFS Alternate Data Streams

http://www.nirsoft.net/blog/2009/02/finding-alternate-data-streams-with.html
NirBlog: Finding alternate data streams with AlternateStreamView

John

Problem:



When I copy an executable file to a flash drive, something I've done
a million times without incident, I now get the following note:



"The file [any executable, say msicuu2.exe, or a non-microsoft app]
contains more than one data stream, but the destination volume does
not support this feature. Some data will not be preserved as a
result.



Information that will not be preserved includes:

Zone.Identifier:$DATA"

I then get the choice to finish or cancel the operation.

I guess my question is, is this note benign, and if so, how can I
get rid of it?


The problem isn't with the flash drive, since the warning came up
when I substituted a second flash drive as well.

 

[Sid Elbow]

No option of turning them off? Are you sure?
Yes.



I remember that years ago,
but that has been a long time ago. Maybe updates fixed that?

Nope. It was fixed in IE7.

 

[BillW50]

In Sid Elbow typed on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:53:19 -0400:

Nope. It was fixed in IE7.

Well let's assume what you say is true. This is still far better than
Firefox not allowing the user to disable XPCOM (Firefox's version of
ActiveX) without hacking of the OS. If users had to hack the OS to
disable ActiveX, it would be all over the media and the Internet. But
when Firefox is far worse, nobody says anything at all. Why is that?

 

[Sid Elbow]

Well let's assume what you say is true. This is still far better than
Firefox not allowing the user to disable XPCOM

"Far better"? I would guess that you've never actually tried to run IE6
in that configuration (Active-X turned off) for any length of time.

Or you're the masochist that I mentioned before

 

[BillW50]

In Sid Elbow typed on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:49:34 -0400:

"Far better"? I would guess that you've never actually tried to run
IE6 in that configuration (Active-X turned off) for any length of
time.
Or you're the masochist that I mentioned before

I have been running Windows XP with IE6 for the past 3 years everyday.
Always updated except for .Net and SP3 which I passed on (except two
test machines I do have SP3 which I am learning was a big
mistake).Before 3 years ago I was running Windows 2000 99% of the time.
And for the last 3 years I haven't except the last month or so running
Windows 2000 on one of my netbooks. And for the life of me with IE6
updated, I don't recall being bothered because ActiveX was turned off
for years now.

So while I am open minded to your claim, count me as skeptical until I
actually see it. I am sure if the tables were turned, you would want to
see the same.