Avast 21.4.2464 Rescue Disk does nothing

[rocksteady]

Tried to create a new Rescue Disk USB. UI Says "Creating Rescue Disk". Progress bar does not move at all 0% even after waiting several mins. Old version of Rescue Disk is still on USB, so attempt was made to overwrite it.

Then tried the CD iso route. Same result. No action after waiting several mins.

I have Avast Free 21.4.2464 (build 21.4.6266.561)

Situation goes from bad to worse with Rescue Disk. This gives me no confidence that Rescue Disk will work when the need arises. Can Avast please test software fully before it is released to the public.

[NON]

On the first try ISO creation stalls, but on second try it works fine for me.

[rocksteady]

Today, after doing at least 2 System Resarts and 1 Avast Repair, Rescue Disk finally starts, stalls at 14%, then 29%, finally 57% and then announces "We failed to create a Rescue Disk".
I have now done that 3 times for USB and 1 time for CD. I can't even download and save the .iso
It fails at 57% every time.
Annoyingly the process wiped the old Rescue Disk content from my USB, so now have no Rescue Disk. Not happy.

[Martin Kudlicka]

Hello rocksteady,
sorry about this. Can you please post here aswToolsSvc.log? Or at least end of it with error message regarding rescue disk component? Thank you.

[Martin Kudlicka]

Hello rocksteady,
according to logs you send me by PM I can't find any problems in the code. The error code 0x5 means ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED , probably something else is interfering with the rescue disk process. I remember something similar happened before... it might help turning off selfdefense or shields (or at least fileshield). I understand it's not desired. In our testing environment it's running without problems with all shields on. I will ask QA for further investigation.

[rocksteady]

... it might help turning off selfdefense or shields (or at least fileshield).

No.
Even with everything turned off I get the exact same result. 57% then Failure.

Is there another way I can download the .iso I can then create a bootable USB using Unetbootin.

[Martin Kudlicka]

It's not possible to pre-create iso for download due to licensing conditions of Windows PE. It was possible only with old WindowsPE 1.x used with BartPE.
If you can provide us procmon log it can help me to find out if there is any other process interfering with creating of rescue disk. But at the moment I can't reproduce it.

[rocksteady]

Hi everyone,

there is a new beta version ready - 21.5.2465 (build 21.5.6297).

....

Known issues

• Rescue Disk cannot be created due to recently changed location of some file(s)

AVAST Team

So according to this Avast AV Beta version announcement, Avast team are aware of a "known issue" with Rescue Disk creation.
I assume there is a fix now being Beta tested?

[Martin Kudlicka]

This bug was related to changes of Chromium files which affected PE Browser functionality.
About your issue - I am still not sure what is the cause of 0x5 error when creating rescue disk on your PC. One thing that came to my mind is that the file Avast is modifying is write protected. I made a change for next release to remove this (possible) write protection.
Another change I have prepared for next beta is possibility to switch from WinRE image back to WinPE image on Windows 10 (manual registry property setting). I noticed in log you sent me WinRE image is used for Rescue Disk. We can try it if the first change doesn't help.

[rocksteady]

I see some changes are listed in Avast AV 21.5 regarding Rescue Disk. Will those changes overcome the Rescue Disk problems I have encountered in last two versions?

[bob3160]

I see some changes are listed in Avast AV 21.5 regarding Rescue Disk. Will those changes overcome the Rescue Disk problems I have encountered in last two versions?

You'll certainly know if you try it.

[Martin Kudlicka]

Hi. As bob wrote, you will know when you try it . Those Rescue Disk release changes were mostly related to bugs not directly related to Rescue Disk but other parts of AV affecting Rescue Disk.

But as I wrote few posts earlier I made one change to remove write protected attribute before modifying Windows PE files which could have triggered the same error as you had. It didn't happen for me neither in our testing environment so it's just a guess.

Then there is one more possible workaround in this new release - I noticed in logs you sent me yours Rescue Disk is based on WinRE image which is used instead of WinPE when possible. This is new feature since previous version. You disable it now by property at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AVAST Software\Avast\properties\settings\RescueDisk , create here value UseWinRE (DWORD) and set it to 0.
You shouldn't see message "using recovery image" in aswToolsSvc.log anymore.

I suggest to create DVD ISO first to check that Rescue Disk can be created so you won't lose the one on USB. Creating process for ISO and USB is the same except the very end - creating ISO or formatting USB.

[rocksteady]

Today, after doing at least 2 System Resarts and 1 Avast Repair, Rescue Disk finally starts, stalls at 14%, then 29%, finally 57% and then announces "We failed to create a Rescue Disk".
I have now done that 3 times for USB and 1 time for CD. I can't even download and save the .iso
It fails at 57% every time.
Annoyingly the process wiped the old Rescue Disk content from my USB, so now have no Rescue Disk. Not happy.

You will see from my earlier post that I was unable to download the ISO as part of the CD creation process.

I will let you know how I get on with 21.5, but I have postponed that update due to the email certificate bug that has been reported and acknowledged by Avast team.

[rocksteady]

After updating to 21.5 today. I was able to download rescuedisk.iso. I was also able to create a rescuedisk USB.
I tried to boot the USB but it failed at command box showing "winpeinit" or something.
More text flashes up before screen goes blank. After a while Win10 boots instead of rescuedisk.

[Martin Kudlicka]

Thanks for info. It seems like the first fix helped to create Rescue Disk but there is another problem. Could you please upload somewhere rescuedisk.iso from your PC so I can take a look where is the problem during boot?
You can then try to create UseWinRE property I wrote before to use WindowsPE instead of WinRE as base image for Rescue Disk. It can solve your problem but I would be really interested to investigate your current iso (if possible) to find out where is the problem now.