Release Notes for Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 6.5

October 2009

About the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 6.5

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (Microsoft DaRT), which is part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) for Software Assurance, includes tools formerly available as part of Winternals Administrator's Pak.

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 6.5 is a complete suite of powerful and versatile tools that allow you to repair unbootable or locked-out systems, restore lost data, and diagnose system and network issues while the system is safely offline.

Tools included in Microsoft DaRT 6.5

  • All existing Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) tools

  • Disk Commander

  • ERD Registry Editor

  • Standalone System Sweeper

  • LockSmith

  • Crash Analyzer

  • Explorer

  • File Search

  • File Restore

  • Hotfix Uninstall

  • System File Repair

  • System Information

  • TCP/IP Config

  • Map Network Drive

  • Solution Wizard

  • Services & Drivers

  • Disk Management

  • Disk Wipe

  • Event Viewer

  • Autoruns

  • Zip/Unzip

Supported operating systems

  • Windows® 7

  • Windows Server® 2008 R2

Minimum hardware requirements

  • 1GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

  • 1GB of system memory

  • CD or DVD drive (writeable CD or DVD drive required to create ERD CD or DVD.)

  • BIOS support for starting the computer from a CD or DVD drive

What has changed since Microsoft DaRT 6.0?

The following changes were made to Microsoft DaRT:

  • Support was added for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and support was removed for all older operating systems.

  • The option to remap the offline drive letters to match the online drive letters when you start Microsoft DaRT by using an ERD disk has been added.

  • For display drivers, the driver manufacturer is listed.

About the product documentation

For documentation on how to create an ERD repair disk, see the MSDaRT.chm Help file in the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset installation folder. For help on how to use the tools in Microsoft DaRT 6.5, see use the Help available on the MSDaRT Tools menu.

More information

For more information about Microsoft DaRT 6.5, see the following:

Providing feedback

We are interested in your feedback on Microsoft DaRT 6.5. You can send your feedback to dartreq@microsoft.com. This e-mail address is not a support channel, but your feedback will help us to plan future changes for these tools to make them more useful to you in the future.

Known issues with Microsoft DaRT 6.5

Unicode characters may not be displayed in file names

If you delete a file that has Unicode characters in its file name and try to restore the file by using the File Restore tool, the file is not found. This only occurs when you use characters from a language other than the language of the Windows DVD that was used to create the ERD CD.

Workaround: Make sure that the language that is used by Microsoft DaRT matches the language that is used by the operating system from which it is trying to restore files.

Microsoft DaRT command-line installation may fail silently

Microsoft DaRT command-line installation fails silently if run with the quiet mode option unless it is run using elevated administrator permissions.

Workaround: Run the command-line installation with elevated administrator permissions. Microsoft DaRT installation supports the typical Windows Installer options for command-line installation. Please refer to Command-Line Options (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=160689) for Windows Installer for more information about the various available switches.

File Search cannot move a folder to a different volume

Moving folders between volumes is not supported by the File Search application. If you try to move a folder to a different volume in File Search, the following error is returned: "An error occurred while writing the file <filename> . Ensure the drive has sufficient space and the destination path is accessible."

Workaround: Use the Explorer to move a folder to a different volume.

File Restore cannot unlock volumes encrypted by BitLocker

File Restore cannot access or restore files from a BitLocker encrypted volume unless you unlock the volume during Windows RE startup.

Workaround: To restore files from a BitLocker volume that is recognized by the operating system, enter a valid BitLocker recovery key and unlock the volume during Windows RE startup.

Some data may not be available on computers where the drive letters are remapped

This problem can occur on BitLocker enabled computers and multi-boot computers. This occurs because some information in the offline registry has hard-coded drive letters, and Microsoft DaRT uses different letters for the same volumes. The typical effects include not having access to certain local user accounts in ERD Registry Editor or Autoruns. Additionally, some tools may not be able to get properties that rely on resolving file paths.

Workaround: Use the new option to remap the drive letters as the ERD starts. This aligns the normal drive letters that are expected when Windows 7 is online with the ERD.

Hotfix Uninstall does not uninstall service packs

If you try to use Hotfix Uninstall to uninstall a service pack when the computer is offline, Hotfix Uninstall may indicate that it succeeded. However, the service pack remains installed.

Workaround: Uninstall the service pack when the computer is online.

Disk Wipe: Disks with spanned volumes, striped volumes, or mirrored volumes cannot be deleted

Disk Wipe does not support deleting disks that are spanned, mirrored, or striped across one or more volumes.

Workaround: Select and delete each disk in the volume separately.

Redistribution rights

Redistribution rights are not provided for any files in Microsoft DaRT 6.5.

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