BestCrypt Volume Encryption Plugin for BartPE
Information in this article is helpful if you want to create bootable Windows CD/DVD with BestCrypt Volume Encryption software. The bootable CD is created using BartPE software. BestCrypt Volume Encryption appears on the bootable CD because of adding the Plugin to BartPE program.
What is BartPE and PE Builder?
Detailed information about BartPE bootable Windows CD/DVD is available on http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ Web site. As it states:
"Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.
It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on."
What is BestCrypt Volume Encryption?
BestCrypt Volume Encryption is an application designed to encrypt disk volumes under Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. It is one of the few applications that are able to encrypt even the boot volume, and among those few that do (Drive Crypt Plus Pack, PGP Whole Disk Encryption, CE-Infosys CompuSec) it is the most powerful, thanks to its ability to work with volumes rather than partitions or even whole drives.
Creating bootable Windows CD/DVD
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Please follow the instructions on BartPE Web site (Getting started section) to install the software. For example, you have installed it to C:\PEBuilder folder.
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Click here to download compressed BestCrypt Volume Encryption Plugin (bcve_bartpe.zip file). Extract the Plugin's files to C:\PEBuilder\plugin\BCVE subfolder.
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After extracting the Plugin's files, subfolder files will appear (full path to the subfolder for our example will be C:\PEBuilder\plugin\BCVE\files).
Let's assume that BestCrypt Volume Encryption on your computer is installed in C:\Program Files\Jetico\BestCrypt Volume Encryption folder. Please copy the following BestCrypt Volume Encryption files to the C:\PEBuilder\plugin\BCVE\files folder:
- All files from
C:\Program Files\Jetico\BestCrypt Volume Encryption %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\bcfnt.sys%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\fsh.sys%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\volsnap.sys
- All files from
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Run BartPE PEBuilder program to create bootable Windows CD/DVD. Please do not forget to check that BestCrypt Volume Encryption plugin appears among other plugins in the software.
Notes
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This plugin works if you use set of files from BestCrypt Volume Encryption version 1.98 or above.
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When you run BestCrypt Volume Encryption program, you may get message: Error 0002 in updating Rescue Data (writing to Rescue File).
It is normal, because you run the program from read-only bootable CD, but updating the rescue file on read-only medium is impossible. -
If you use the plugin to decrypt boot/system volume, please note the following. When you run the program from the bootable CD, your regular boot/system volume (C: for example) is not the one where Windows is loaded from at the moment.
Hence, if you run Decrypt Volume command for C: volume, BestCrypt Volume Encryption will decrypt it as not bootable volume. (In more detail - the program will not restore Master Boot Record (MBR) sector on the hard drive.)
To overcome the problem use the Decrypt a Volume using the Rescue File command from the Rescue menu. When you run the command, the program will suggest you should enter a path for Rescue File. It is recommended to select rescue file you created after encrypting the boot volume.
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If you have not saved Rescue File, you can do one of the following:
- Run Decrypt Volume command, then reboot computer and boot it with your Windows installation CD disk. It will allow you to recover the MBR sector.
- Run Mount Volume command for encrypted volume C:, save rescue.rsc file from C:\ProgramFiles\Jetico\BestCrypt Volume Encryption\Rescue folder to other disk. Run Dismount Volume command for encrypted volume C: and then you can use Decrypt a Volume using the Rescue File command as it was recommended above.
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Two conflicts with other BartPE plugins are detected with "Acronis TrueImage" and "Shell: XPE: Windows XPE: PnP & Multimedia v1.0.7 [Sherpya]" plugins. Both of them happen because of the same reason - they modify entry in Registry so that BestCrypt Volume Encryption (BCVE) driver becomes not inserted to the chain of disk drivers.
The plugins in their INF files have the following string:
[SetupReg.AddReg] 0x7, "ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}", "UpperFilters", "PartMgr", "some_driver_name"
The string statically sets chains of drivers as consisting of two drivers: standard Windows "PartMgr" and third party driver with "some_driver_name" name.
To get BCVE plugin working with the plugin, the string in INF file of corresponding plugin should include also BCVE driver "bcfnt":
[SetupReg.AddReg] 0x7, "ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}", "UpperFilters", "bcfnt", "PartMgr","some_driver_name"
Licensing
When you create BartPE bootable Windows CD/DVD, you use modules from different vendors: Bart Lagerweij (BartPE software), Microsoft (Windows modules) and Jetico (BestCrypt Volume Encryption modules).
Please read Licensing issues chapter on BartPE Web-page to get the information concerning BartPE and Microsoft modules.
Using BestCrypt Volume Encryption modules on bootable BartPE CD is legal for every user who has a registered copy of the software. As well using the modules is legal if they are copied from installation made for evaluation purposes. Just please note that in this case the software will work in limited mode when the evaluation period is expired.
Acknowledgments
We thank Bart Lagerweij for creating so useful and flexible software as BartPE. We are also thankful to Pepa Kokes who has created first release of BestCrypt Volume Encryption Plugin and then encouraged us to enhance our software to support BartPE.
Jetico Team