I’ve been doing this for many, many years. I use a geezer technique: a batch file!

I use Map Network Drive to map by laptop’s C: drive to L: (for laptop) and then the batch file copies things from C: to L. For the actual copying, I used to use the XCOPY command; now I use ROBOCOPY. All was well in Mudville until I migrated to Windows XP. Now I find that XP won’t let me mess with files in the Windows directory. This is unfortunate because there are several.INI files in Windows that I would like to sync over to my laptop. I can understand why Windows would want to be protective of Windows, but geez, I just want to copy a few.INI files!Do you know of a way around this?

—Rex Swain All versions of Windows after Windows 98 feature a program that protects Windows system files— called Windows File Protection (WFP) in Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and System File Protection (SFP) in Windows ME. It runs in the background, and protects key system files from being overwritten, deleted or modified by malware or users. There are a couple ways around this protection. The first and best known is a Registry hack that’s pretty ugly, and requires the use of a hex editor.

This method ( ) has been covered extensively, so I won’t reproduce it here. The second method is to use a freeware tool called Windows File Protection Switcher ( ). This program does only one thing: It toggles WFP on and off. If you want to run WFP most of the time, you might even trigger Windows File Protection Switcher from your batch files, flipping it off at the beginning of your process, then flipping it back on at the end.

You also can move the INI file contents by using Notepad to edit both INI files, and copy/paste the content. Trademarks: Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Windows Secrets series of books is published by The Windows Secrets Newsletter, WindowsSecrets.com, WinFind, Windows Gizmos, Security Baseline, Patch Watch, Perimeter Scan, Wacky Web Week, the Logo Design (W, S or road, and Star), and the slogan Everything Microsoft Forgot to Mention all are trademarks and service marks of iNET Interactive. All other marks are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Normal process usually entails hex editing sfc_os.dll. I am testing SP3 RC1 and I could not find anyone who had hacked it yet. Searching the net I found a guy who figured out a way to make XP think it was in safe mode thus SFC/WMP is disabled. The cool thing about this hack is no matter what previous or future version you are running WFP can be disabled in the same manner. Using the hex editor method the values constantly change.

Windows File Protection Switcher. Windows XP and 2. To patch the. Windows File Protection (WFP) Patcher / Switcher Whenever you want to edit/delete/replace a.

He also found out a way to enable the security tab when your machine is not a member of a domain. FYI just in case: rshx32.dll = Security tab sfc_os.dll = WFP Credit goes to Neowinian on neowin.net forums for the solution: Here's how to make the Windows XP file system think it's in safe mode. This will disable Windows File Protection, and also add the Security tab when you right-click on a file in Explorer and select Properties. Step 0: XP ships with a simple hex editor called DEBUG.EXE that is required for this procedure. If you deleted it, put it back in the windows system32 directory -- you can remove it afterwards if you wish. Ezdrummer Authorization Code Keygen Generator For Medal Of Honor there. Step 1: Click Start>Run, type in SERVICES.MSC and press the key. Find the entry labeled Cryptographic Services and double-click it.

Change the startup type to Disabled and click Apply, then click the Stop button, and then click OK. (Note: if you already had Cryptographic Services disabled, omit this step as well as step 8.) Step 2: Open a CMD.EXE Command Prompt window and type the following commands: cd windows system32 ren rshx32.dll rshx32.old ren sfc_os.dll sfc_os.old You will probably receive warning messages from Windows File Protection after each REN command. Make sure to select the options to ignore the warning and allow the files to be renamed. Step 3: Type the following commands: cd del rshx32.dll /s del sfc_os.dll /s cd windows system32 copy rshx32.old rshx32.dll copy sfc_os.old sfc_os.dll IMPORTANT!!!

You MUST rename the files in Step 2 before you can copy them in Step 3, or this procedure will not work! Step 4: Type the following command: DEBUG rshx32.dll You'll now have a minus-sign as a prompt. Type the following command: S 100 8000 74 00 5C 00 4F DEBUG will return a line of the form: 0ADE:0AC0 The four-character letter-number combination after the colon is what you must enter in the command below.

Now type the following three commands: E 0AC0 74 00 00 00 4F (use the value returned to you above and not 0AC0!!!) W Q Step 5: Type the following command: DEBUG sfc_os.dll You'll now have a minus-sign as a prompt. Type the following command: S 100 8000 74 00 5C 00 4F DEBUG will return a line of the form: 0ADE:0AC0 The four-character letter-number combination after the colon is what you must enter in the command below. Now type the following three commands: E 0AC0 74 00 00 00 4F (use the value returned to you above and not 0AC0!!!) W Q Step 6: Type the following commands: copy rshx32.dll dllcache copy sfc_os.dll dllcache Step 7: Close the Command Prompt window, open Regedit, and go to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control SafeBoot Create a new DWORD value called OptionValue and give it a value of 1. Close Regedit. Step 8: Run the SERVICES.MSC program, select Cryptographic Services, change the startup type to Manual, and click Apply. Do not start the service!

(Note: omit this step if Cryptographic Services was disabled before you began this procedure.) Step 9: Reboot your system. You will now have the security tab at all times, and Windows File Protection will be disabled. If you would like to remove the tab and re-enable Windows File Protection, use Regedit to change OptionValue to 0, and then reboot your system. The method used to patch RSHX32.DLL and SFC_OS.DLL should work on any version of the file, including future versions issued in upcoming service packs or hotfixes. Please note that if you apply these patches, they will take precedence over safe mode. This means that you must first set OptionValue to 1 in the registry before you boot into safe mode in order to see the security tab and to have Windows File Protection disabled.

Edited January 12, 2008 by snooz. This is the Internet's word of mouth. A very dangerous thing.

Is the original (?) article about getting the Security tab appear in XP home. Notice it suggests naming it OptionValuf to differ from the original. Rshx32.dll is patched.

But what about the others? Are you ready to patch your whole OS? Not to mention that I still fail to comprehend how this dll relates to SFC. But maybe that's just me. Or THAT is the method that the author has discovered. But I wouldn't risk to patch it on a live system (while I don't have that problem with sfc_os.dll).

I haven't tried this tweak and don't recommend it to anyone. All I know is, last time I created an OptionValue in the registry (I like to tinker with Regmon a lot, and I saw many applications were trying to read it) I lost my soundcard and other drivers. I believe this is the value that gets set when you choose which flavor of Safe Mode you want - with networking, etc. And by the way, many drivers don't start in safe mode. Do you really want to be constantly in safe mode?

To back up my claims, here's a list of files in system32 folder that query the OptionValue entry: advapi32.dll credui.dll cscdll.dll dhcpmon.dll filemgmt.dll kernel32.dll localsec.dll lsasrv.dll msgina.dll msv1_0.dll netcfgx.dll netid.dll ntdll.dll ntkrnlpa.exe ntoskrnl.exe ntshrui.dll pautoenr.dll rshx32.dll samsrv.dll services.exe sfc_os.dll smlogcfg.dll smss.exe syssetup.dll winlogon.exe Found through searching unicode strings. There may be others, this is a heavily nLited system. It seems this is an (undocumented by Microsoft?) way of determining if we're in safe mode or not.

Since I was the 'Neowinian' who originally posted the above patches, I'm wondering why the OP didn't put a link to my post (don't care about credit per se, but this seems like 'ripping'). Anyway, to GrofLuigi.note that this patch moves 'OptionValue' in the two DLLs to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control SafeBoot from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control SafeBoot Option and effectively gives the user control over operation of the Security tab and WFP. By setting OptionValue to 1, you see the Security tab and WFP is disabled. By setting it to 0, WFP is enabled and the Security tab disappears. The possible downside is that the patched OptionValue now takes precedence over Safe Mode for these two functions -- which for my purposes is no downside whatsoever, but it might be a problem for others. I also documented this possible downside in the patch posted above. All other DLLs will respect the OptionValue that XP puts in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control SafeBoot Option when it loads in Safe Mode.

Edited January 14, 2008 by mhc. Where do I begin.

Oh yeah, I know. Have you ever looked at the hex code in RSHX32.DLL or SFC_OS.DLL?

I have, and what I did above is a FAR better way to hack these programs than, for example, finding the mysterious '-63' check in SFC_OS.DLL. Are you aware that SFC_OS.DLL does a simple check for safe mode just like it does a simple check for -63? And that RSHX32.DLL checks for safe mode for the sole reason to determine whether to display the Security tab in XP Home? And that for these reasons, the above patches affect no other operation in XP? Geez, these patches aren't like eliminating core XP components that can break the most popular programs sold in the marketplace.it's just altering simple checks in two DLLs! I would be reacting differently if you actually TRIED the hacks and found problems with them. Right now you're shooting from the hip with statements that IMO have no basis in reality.

Oh, FWIW, what I did above is hex editing. And what you call hex editing is also fooling the operating system as much as what I did above. The difference is that the above way is a better solution, period, than attempting to hack actual code since it is version-independent. And since the registry value set by NTOSKRNL.EXE to signify safe mode is checked by so many DLLs when they are loaded, that value will not change at this point in XP, so hacking that location in SFC-OS.DLL and RSHX32.DLL will remain valid for the remainder of XP's life.

Edited January 15, 2008 by mhc. Sfc_os.dll: Change the xor eax,eax inc eax to nop nop nop at offset EC95, EC96, EC97: 33C041 to 909090 Fyyre, I don't know where you got that but it's not good. 'xor eax, eax' and 'inc eax' should be 33C040 not 33C041 And at offset EC95 there is no 'xor eax, eax' but 'xor ecx, ecx' which is 33C9 ----------------------- To permanently disable Windows File Protection - Windows XP Pro SP3 (5.1.2600.3264) Without using the registry. At offset EC84, replace by 3BC0EB3290 cmp eax, FFFFFF9D jne 76C6F891 by cmp eax, eax jmp 76C6F8BA Edited January 21, 2008 by jdoe.

UpdateStar is compatible with Windows platforms. UpdateStar has been tested to meet all of the technical requirements to be compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, 2008, and Windows XP, 32 bit and 64 bit editions. Simply double-click the downloaded file to install it. UpdateStar Free and UpdateStar Premium come with the same installer. UpdateStar includes such as English, German, French, Italian, Hungarian, Russian and. You can choose your language settings from within the program.