Topic: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Hi

I've been using DP for six months but since December, every time I fire up the application, it just hangs completely when I click on the updates tab and it doesn't show the versions for the files that have already been downloaded.

The driver packs I downloaded in November are already in the folder - but if the application ITSELF is still hard-coded to look for the updates from somewhere on the internet and it fails to connect to that expected download location (because they're now only available via bt), I thought it would just say "no updates".

Not just hang indefinitely.

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Make sure you're using the current version of DriverPacks BASE.
http://driverpacks.net/applications/latest

The download links within DriverPacks BASE were disabled intentionally.  This was posted on the front page news.
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=4850

Wim Leers wrote:

And finally, we need to look into ways to generate more income, to be able to continue running this project. A first and obvious step, is to cease the ability to download/update the Windows 2000/XP/2003 DriverPacks from within the DriverPacks BASE for free. In the first phase, the downloads will stop working, thereby increasing our number of visitors. In the second phase, we are considering to offer users the ability to pay for the comfort of downloading/updating from within DriverPacks BASE. Users who want this would then support us financially. And those who don't really need this (and don't want to or can't support us), can still download the DriverPacks from the website.

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Sorry, I think you've misunderstood me.

Maybe I'm just unlucky and DP_BASE 10.06 is doing its own little "abort retry fail" because it's still expecting the downloads to still work and they don't.

The software isn't telling me it can't find the downloads - it is HANGING.

According to http://driverpacks.net/applications/latest, the current version is 10.06 and it was posted up on June 15th.

My local copy of DPs_BASE_1006.exe is dated 2nd December 2010 (which is when I last downloaded it from the "latest" link).
I have the wnt5_x86-32_1011.7z driver packs already in the DriverPacks folder.

The announcement on the front page news came FOUR MONTHS after 10.06 was released but I downloaded DPs_BASE_1006 from the Latest link, over a month later than the announcement.

The point I'm trying to make is, that (presumably) 10.06 is now over 6 months old, and the code that checks for updated driver packs using the old method is still in place.

No updated DP_BASE has been released since the download links were disabled but I did see something about a new release being in the pipeline (which presumably would not check for updated driver packs).

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

DPs_BASE 10.06 Should (and does for me and mr_smartepants) report the local versions and server versions and will offer to update to any latest version available. However if you click "update Selected" you should very quickly get an error message that the download is unavailable (a popup for each pack selected).

If that is not your expereince then you either have a corrupted BASE install or an issue with your machines config... I am guessing a courrupt BASE install.

Hint: Don't click Update Selected - it won't work (at least not until we start getting more than 800 a month in donations, and we have never gotten more than 800 a year in donations... soooo never)

We are working on a two tiered solution:
Tier one Torrents and manual downloads - free
Tier two CDN and automated downloads as has been in the past - donation required.

We simply can not afford to offer CDN to everyone anymore... the ROI for our sponsors is almost nonexistent and we get no donations. Sorry. Everybody wants something for nothing and nobody appreciates what we do and have offered in the past. I must include you in this group here... Not one kind word in your posts, No offer to help, no donation, only a gripe. You wish to complain that the services that we have slaved over for over 8 years and have always provided for free and that you have been using for months has an issue, and don't even say thanks for all our hard work... or mention how much work we saved you. sad Well I for one am now extreeeeeemely motivated to get right to work on that. 

There is a Beta of BASE out... but feedback from the testing team has been almost non existent, ususally this means it is working fine, but with no feedback there is no release. (people usually only take time to write if there is a problem - hey, weren't we just talking about that...)

The beta version still checks for updates ... all versions do so... but the new version simply opens an IE window to the download page when update selected is pressed and then waits for the file to finish downloading then MD5 checks it. This has more error checking and fail checking code needed now that torrents have been added. because people do silly stuff... like clicking on the download selected button when they already know that downloads have been discontinued...

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Thanks, but just for reference I am not a complete noob!

Ten years ago I was writing unattends in notepad from memory, slipstreaming manually and use third party tools primarily to save time... Five years ago I was writing SMBIOS scripts for driver deployment and I used to post BIOS modifications to enable fan control on certain PCs which had the functionality disabled in the BIOS.

You're right about people clicking on the update button and you're exactly right about the expected behaviour, but in this case DPs_BASE hangs as soon as I get to the page listing the driver packs i.e. before I even have the opportunity to hit the update button (not that I'd press it).

If I leave it on that screen for about five minutes it suddenly wakes up and lists the driver packs I've already downloaded and are already in the folder.

The PC I'm using it on is a clean XP SP3 build (XP Pro royalty gold OEM created from a VLK disk) that's on a home LAN that's not connected to the internet and the PC currently has no antivirus or firewall.

I downloaded the driver packs along with DPs_BASE, WinSetupFromUSB and NLITE installers to a pen drive on 2nd December using the latest links available and installed them all from that pen drive. They all worked absolutely fine for over a week.

I've had the PC switched off for about a month so I am absolutely certain that no software has changed on it in any way, shape or form since it was working. It is still connected to the same LAN.

From my perspective the code should check for a network connection, check it's connecting to the internet, check the download links are valid, and so on.

Something obviously isn't working the way it should because it doesn't take five minutes for PING to time out. I won't discount the possibility that the software is corrupt but in this case I'd prefer to download a later beta if one is available.

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

The timeout for a failed network connections is and has been for some time written in the code.
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=3998
The related posts testing and feedback are in the hidden testing team forum.
 

You FAILED to mention the affected machine had no internet connecton in your first post and di not include your BASE version in the title... (sorry my fault entirely) Please see: "Read BEFORE you post" linked in my signature and was linked in the rules you agreed to when you signed up. AKA Rule #0.

Sorry i have only been doing computer related stuff since 1968...
i didn't realize that i had finally found somone with more experience than me... I must aplogize since I personally have only been into computers for a little over 40 years and started with machine language and assembler, and have only recently gotten my BCS um... 30 years ago. tongue


I'll do a few tests on an isolated machine and report back... I have not retested this since the CDN delivery was cut... I will do so now.
Thanks for letting us know. (finaly with enough details to duplicate the issue)

Based on the fact that you cannot properly detail and issue I don't need you on the testing team (beta access).
IE
Ommission of KEY details,
failure to read directions,
displaying a lack of respect,
continuing to fail to show appreciation for our project.
In other words yeah you appear to me to be a complete noob.
please see the definition of noob in our rules http://forum.driverpacks.net/misc.php?action=rules "Posting Guidelines"

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

OK... (Deep breath) Let's try this again. From the top:

I was not reporting a bug with the software, I was SIMPLY asking if anything has changed since December 2nd, that would affect the code in DriverPacks BASE and cause something to happen NOW that wouldn't have happened THEN.

The reason for asking, is  simple:

The PC I am using, hasn't been changed since December 2nd (same desktop PC).
The OS hasn't been changed or updated since Dec 2nd. (XP SP3 vanilla).
The local software specific to DriverPacks hasn't changed in any way, shape or form since Dec 2nd.
The network configuration (IP address, proxy / firewall config etc) has not changed since Dec 2nd.
The PC has a LAN connection but no direct internet connection. Same as it was on Dec 2nd.
There's no antivirus or anti-spyware to interfere, and this hasn't changed since December 2nd.

The ONLY change I see here, is that when I click on the tab that lists the driver packs, IT HANGS. I don't even count that as a fault - I have a pretty good idea (from a development perspective) what might cause it.

Honestly - that is why this is not a run of the mill "I click on the updates button which I know doesn't work, and it doesn't work, I'm a noob and need the same RTFM+REINSTALL-LATEST suggestions posted to me in endless permuations until I go away" situation.

If you want to read between the lines, I'm asking, is there any code inside 10.06 ON THE CLIENT SIDE that is in the process of being rewritten on the basis that download links aren't available anymore. If there is then fine, I'm a happy bunny, do you need help with modifying it, and I'll tell my mates (people who do enterprise level rollouts where this tool would be extremely helpful) that an update is in the pipeline.

"Not one kind word in your posts, No offer to help, no donation, only a gripe."

Well, how do you know I wasn't going to offer my assistance? I do assist on other projects out there, and indeed champion several solutions. I might not always be in a position to help financially, but I have access to a pretty extensive test lab with access to dozens of machines of different makes and models, and I have several development tools, and I know plenty of sysops who'll happily buy tools if they'll work without hassle.

With RMPREPUSB, for example, I contacted the author directly to find out about the cost of licensing it for commercial use and I'm using an official license, and recommend it to anyone who asks.

If you tot up the amount of time I've spent using DriverPacks.Net, I've had about 3 weeks' worth of actual hands-on experience and recommended it to other people. Early doors. I'm already being moaned at for having the temerity to raise one query without putting my metaphorical hand in my metaphorical pocket first.

Sheesh.

And as for being kind... Sorry, I wasn't aware I was obliged to be "kind" to short-fused people on the defensive, who slap you in the gob and then hold the begging bowl out. Respect's a mutual thing.

"You wish to complain..."

Not about the software. The ONLY reason I'm even mildly irate is that I've already had to spell it out several times that I'm using 10.06, with a local repository, freshly installed in December, and I DO know about the removal of the direct download facility. I guess I just don't like having to repeat myself.

"failure to read instructions"

In what context? If you're talking about version number quoting, I have asserted I'm using the latest version as per the 'latest' download link but to be honest, the version numbers are irrelevant to the question.

If I'm right, it's a question of workflow within the code. Even if I was using 10.01 and saw this issue, upgrading to the latest version would not have resolved the problem unless 10.06 factors in the new workflow for checking driver packs locally held and OPTIONALLY checking if updates are available.

"Based on the fact that you cannot properly detail and issue I don't need you on the testing team (beta access)."

Man, you can't have a pop at me for not following a full QMS/SCM/SQA/ITIL compliant test cycle process if
(a) I'm not a tester and
(b) you don't want me to be one...

Ah, the ironies:

1. being told that there are conversations on a HIDDEN testing forum I can't access for an issue that as far as I can see (based on the VISIBLE threads and my experience as explained already) was already resolved in 10.06 and was not causing me an issue in December.  My fault of course, that I'm not psychic.

2. being told that I'm not needed for testing and the information I've given within a week of signing up to the forum is wholly inadequate... despite ALSO being told there's not enough feedback from existing testers who presumably have been with the project for months and know what you expect.

They know what info you need, and what format to provide it in, and they have access to the beta forums so they know what issues are already being discussed.

I don't.

You also say they're not giving you the info and you're not geting enough feedback. I can help you out on that front.

Last edited by tstaddon (2011-01-25 00:43:32)

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Agian... it was not until you mentioned that fact that the machine you run BASE on does not have internet access that you provided any useful info (third post) and whch version of BASE you were useing (second post).

I get LOTS of feedback when there is an issue...
No feedback means no issues. I said that.
It does not mean the couple of hundred boys deploying to thousands of machines are lazy or not testing. They simply only report if something goes wrong.

However useing BASE on a machine with no internet would put you in a VERY small percentage of our 100+ active member tester group.

Now that i can "reproduce your issue" (something i expect that i would be able to do after your first post. "Read BEFORE you post" item #6). I will test, identify and address the issue.

I'll let you know how it shakes out.

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

LOL, I just couldn't help but laugh big_smile  You two are so similar in demeanor!

tstaddon wrote:

is there any code inside 10.06 ON THE CLIENT SIDE that is in the process of being rewritten on the basis that download links aren't available anymore.

YES.  An update is being developed with the downloads in mind.  However no timeline is given.

Considering what you said about the large array of PCs available to you for testing...would you have any with nvidia RAID controllers?  We're in desperate need of Nvidia testers in this thread.
I'd be grateful for any feedback you'd be able to provide.

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Hi,

The only RAID controller I've seen recently was on a Dell Dimension 5200 but off the top of my head I think that was an Intel controller which worked fine when I slipstreamed the latest drivers - provided I *also* included the most RAID Monitoring utility as well. When I didn't do that, the POST screen sometimes reported an error with one of the disks when configured to stripe.

I'm guessing a similar principle applies with the NVidia RAID controller; drivers alone should suffice.

I have a batch file here which allows you to do stuff like query the WMI for specific versions of software and drivers, and you could probably use that to build up a combination check script, e.g. if controller driver=* and vendor=* then install this app after installing the drivers. I'm testing it today on IBM systems (14 different models, laptop and desktop) to remove the existing fingerprint software completely so I can test out a completely different fingerprint solution.

Incidentally, I thought I'd seen your handle somewhere... Your multi-OEM addon is the testes canes! To be perfectly honest I've only looked at it, but that's a class effort.

Hi OverFlow,

Got to say, in my experience over 90% of my clients don't have direct connections to the internet and 50% of those who go through layered firewalls and proxy servers by enforced policy, have all manner of issues with unmanaged Windows Updates and apps like Windows Live Messenger (check the Microsoft forums, I've posted a workaround for people having difficulty installing Windows Live Messenger under these circumstances). These issues can be compounded on machines that aren't joined to the domain, e.g. visitors' laptops.

Actually, last week was the very first time in 4 years that I went to a corporate site where direct access to the internet was a given.

Corporate customers of mine want to save hundreds of man hours on build management and could use this project IF they can be assured it will work "out of the box" on their network. Right now, based on the information you've provided, that kind of environment isn't considered so what to you seems to be a non-issue is in fact a monumental ball-ache for people like me who'd evangelise this package to those who'd throw money at you.

To give you an idea of the opportunity you're passing up - this year four small companies I know who are too small to go for an enterprise build management facility, went out and bought new PCs just because Windows needed to be reinstalled on an old machine and the downtime to them to wait for me to take it away, restore it to a usable state and ship it back, cost more than the new computer. I still got the work but they needed a working PC within 4 hours and I physically cannot get to them and complete the rebuild in that short a time.

I could rattle off some recovery disks for them, or put in corporate imaging, but it's not as if these guys aren't technically savvy. They simply don't have the time to mess about.

Of course, there is one other issue with the corporate environment - BitTorrent is blocked at just about every customer I've ever been to. I know small businesses with less than 10 people who use managed business broadband connections provided through a local service subsidised by the state, and even that has a block on BitTorrent.

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Note: Driverpacks has been around almost ten years and is downloaded over a million times a week and has been for over seven years. Have you looked at the list of places that use DriverPacks http://driverpacks.net/well-known-users Huge corps, huge universities, Governements.

Your situation is not new or unique in any way shape or form. This issue was reported and fixed in the past. BASE has always automatically used proxy when one is discovered on a network. ECT. We have LOTs of users on secured networks and isolated networks. Not unusual at all. You would not be the first to tout us... Perhaps you will be the first to get them to donate... I won't hold my breath, heard all that BS a thousand times. I'll belive it when Wim emails me and sais that the server bill isn't coming out of his pocket this month.


Back to the topic. No there is either something unique to that site (and obvioulsly you arent going to volunteer anything useful) or there is a new issue caused on certain networks with the unavailabilty of the packs. I havent tested it lately BUT I will bet money that a stand alone machine will not hang at all.

More:
BASE does a series of tests for internet starting with a DNS test.
If the DNS does not resolve then the update routine is completely aborted.
It is possable that your DNS server on this network is getting hammered and that is the delay.
(I have to Guess that this particular machine will resolve DriverPacks.net - that info was ALSO not provided)
It is not a 'simple' ping test... although ping is used if certain criteria are met. (like DNS is successful but the update list is not retrieved)
We have redundent file locations and backup routines.
BASE could only hang IF it FIRST believed that internet was available.
Belive it or not the code for internet tests is over a hundred lines or so. 

Let me explain my situation perhaps that will help.
You want help I need details - If you cant even bother to post what version of DriverPacks BASE then I don't have time for you. I do this for FREE - donations (if there ever were any) do not come to me. I am not in this for the money. I have my own company and my own clients to deal with that pay me. I am a very hard working volunteer. Not as hard working as Mr_Smartepants but... Sorry RL comes first. Show respect for my time either in words or actions (like taking the time to provide details) or get lost.

I have worked for a huge company and was responsible for manageing over 5000 desktops and had several dozen people working for me. Please stop trying to explain things to me ..  Other than specific details that will allow me to reproduce your issue.


Jeff

@Erik Yeah he is just like me Ain't he  - too funny!

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

My only query is due to the fact that in THIS configuration on THIS network, the app worked fine in December and doesn't work in January, despite NOTHING changing - no new software installs, no software updates, no relevant changes to the firewall policy, no change to the proxy server...

You ask me not to explain the bleeding obvious, then you ask REPEATEDLY for information that I've already given you. OK....

"what version of DriverPacks BASE"

Pasted verbatim from the "download latest" page as it currently reads:

Release date    Application    Version   
Jun 15, 2010    DriverPacks BASE    10.06    download

I've already stated that on this thread it several times over, I am using 10.06, downloaded from this link. I even gave you the exact date I downloaded it from that link.
The software here does indeed tell me it is 10.06 so presumably the information on the download page is correct.

If I am not using the latest version then it's hardly my fault; the "latest" link would have to be out of date for me to be using an old release.

"(I have to Guess that this particular machine will resolve DriverPacks.net - that info was ALSO not provided)"

DNS resolves fine to the sites even if I don't auth to the proxy server or firewall. To actually browse the sites I need to client auth to the firewall or go through the proxy server. When I get the chance, I'll look into that further but based on your comment that might be a good place for me to start.

Bit more information:

The network in question has ~20 PCs connected to an AD network on a gigabit backbone, with two DNS servers. GPO settings for the proxy server (ISA) and with the firewall configured to block BitTorrent but allow other web traffic. Traffic through the proxy servers is heavily filtered on the basis that this is a security cleared organization and beholden to meet strict content and change restrictions due to the nature of the client base.

This is how I can be pretty sure, if we're obliged by our customers to adopt that policy, they are following similar policies internally so my issues would be their issues.

The machine in question is off the domain (I don't want the GPOs to lock it down) so I browse the internet via basic authentication in Internet Explorer; if I have to use PROXYCFG or client auth to the firewall I can (in theory) but in practice I am not supposed to do it by virtue of the fact this machine is off the domain and not AV-protected. Hence, I download the updates from elsewhere, and then copy them over to the PC in question.

That policy might sound odd to you, but it is almost STANDARD in the industries I work with the most. Some of those clients have Change Control that's so intensive that they will be using XP for at least five more years and still have Windows NT4 kicking about.

And they have to maintain STRICT build standards. Since the apps are all QA'd to the Nth degree the main headache for them moving forward, is going to be the ever-changing availability of the exact same hardware to go with their standard build. Because every time they have to load a new set of drivers, THAT is a month of change control. What they really want is a universal install image, with a preset bundle of drivers that will DEFINITELY work, regardless of the hardware, that has a specfic set of Windows Updates, doesn't update automatically, has specific applications, and is then locked down so it cannot be modified except by explicit, authorized means.

That is the opportunity I'm talking about. If Driver packs can be validated ONCE then these industries and clients will save themselves THOUSANDS of hours of expensive change control. They would probably be willing to pay for it.

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

tstaddon wrote:

DNS resolves fine to the sites even if I don't auth to the proxy server or firewall. To actually browse the sites I need to client auth to the firewall or go through the proxy server. When I get the chance, I'll look into that further but based on your comment that might be a good place for me to start.

That's actually a valid point.  And something that I can test as well.
My site has nearly a 1000 users.  We also use an AD network (biometric Common Access Card-CAC logins) with GPO using Security Groups.  Anyone logging in with any elevated privileges other than "user" gets denied access to the proxy server.  So admins can have access to the shared network drives, but denied access to the outside world.  Pings and Traceroutes to common sites DO work (sometimes), but no traffic is allowed. 

I'll smuggle in a copy of DriverPacks BASE and test in both user and admin access on our network tomorrow and report back.
We're in the middle of upgrading all our Vista workstations to Win7 (finally!) so even if I blow it up, I'll just wipe it and install Win7 fresh. wink

tstaddon wrote:

And they have to maintain STRICT build standards. Since the apps are all QA'd to the Nth degree the main headache for them moving forward, is going to be the ever-changing availability of the exact same hardware to go with their standard build. Because every time they have to load a new set of drivers, THAT is a month of change control. What they really want is a universal install image, with a preset bundle of drivers that will DEFINITELY work, regardless of the hardware, that has a specfic set of Windows Updates, doesn't update automatically, has specific applications, and is then locked down so it cannot be modified except by explicit, authorized means.

That is the opportunity I'm talking about. If Driver packs can be validated ONCE then these industries and clients will save themselves THOUSANDS of hours of expensive change control. They would probably be willing to pay for it.

Ah, there's the problem.  I've had this argument with our administrators the the nth degree.  With DriverPacks, there are no absolutes.
It's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness.
DriverPacks is a community project.  Yes, we have a small number of core developers and a larger group of testers BUT (and here's the kicker) we cannot guarantee 100% "chain of custody" of the drivers.
I can personally vouch for about 90% of the drivers that are directly sourced from the OEM vendors themselves, but lots of hands have been in these cookie jars.  It's these unknowns that scare away the organizations that require the utmost security.  That saddens me.

I built the LAN-RIS Third Party DriverPack myself and I can guarantee that ALL the drivers were directly sourced from the vendors BUT only roughly half of them are digitally signed.

I wrote:

System admins should always strive to use digitally signed drivers as a matter of course, but these are not always available.  You must utilize whatever information risk management processes your organization encourages.

And this is the main reason that my organization refuses to use DriverPacks.  They insist on gathering the drivers themselves.  Ah well.

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

I did not ask you to reprovide the same info... just to fill in the gaps. My dismay was cause by the fact that i had to wait till your third post and the fifth post of the thread (four days later) for the info we request in your first post. That ship sailed.

Now five days later i have sufficient info to help you.

DriverPacks BASE copies proxy info from IE... If IE can get to the net then so should DriverPacks BASE. It will use the proxy data copied from IE.
Per your policy this would not be allowed but Should work... Please test to make sure IE can get to DriverPacks.net if so then BASE should ge able to get its list of updates (and presumably not hang).

I have clients with proxy, and my personal setup uses ISA server, this is a known working configuration.

Let me know if you can get to DriverPacks.net from IE on the machine in question. This will identify the specific issue with the machine and / or the BASE issue with your proxy. A better statement is, help me to know more precisely how i go about duplicating the issue.

more info:
On proxy support topics.
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic. … 225#p17225
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic. … 224#p17224
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=2585

On syntax for manualy adding proxy values
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=2332
----snip
>>new command line switch by request  /proxy

>>Usage /proxy:"LocalProxy:Port"[,"Username","Password"]
>>examples
>>DPs_BASE.exe /proxy:"192.168.1.1:8080"
>>DPs_BASE.exe /proxy:"LocalProxy:8080","administrator","password"
----snip

So it is possable to let BASE access through a proxy even if IE (and other net apps) is disallowed.
Again your situation is not new or unique and has been integrated from the begining (2003), Bug reported, addressed, tested, debugged and retested by many people for many years. Our main user base is the IT professional. You are not the only one of our hundreds of millions of users who secures a network.

That is why details are important... I must ask myself "what is unique to your setup that thousands of other users in your same situation are not affected by?"

I'll play with a scenario where DNS resolves but Proxy fails... and see where i land, with a little luck I can duplicate your 6 minute freeze. Once i can duplicate the problem then i can fix the problem... since i am 98% done with the next release I would like to included it, and credit you for reporting it. If i can duplicate /find it of course. [thinking out loud] What results on your network take BASE into a 6 minute routine to finnaly fail? Failure usually takes around ten seconds. For a while i had a Cancel / Abort button on that page... perhaps i should put it back for edge cases like this....

Thanks for your persistence in this matter.

PS No it doesn't sound odd... For corp. security it's quite common. Most of our team works in similar environments around the world. I am used to much higher security levels. Two of my previous employers were required to meet Fed Gov level security. I have seen setups that you would not even belive me if i described them to you... Even one setup that had the engineers from cisco call us in to show them how to access it... All of their back doors were failing and they were totally locked out... and they were local to the equiptment (in the room with it).

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Sounds familiar!

Sorry we got off on the wrong foot, guess I am a noob after all!

[EDIT] I remoted into the PC this morning and yes it can access the website over the internet, if I perform a basic authentication to the proxy server. I am away on business so it'll be difficult for me to do extensive testing and report back.

On the subject of vetted drivers, Mr_Smartepants:

If you export the entire driver set (or a subset) from a working PC, as a custom driver pack, then prove on a vanilla install that you're only restoring the same drivers that have already been approved, the end result is a machine that has ONLY the vetted drivers on it in addition to the stock drivers - but which are integrated into the XP setup.

Yesterday I proposed this to a customer, to resolve a biometrics driver issue.

XP itself doesn't support either device out of the box so the usual way to handle it is to put the manufacturer's own software on the machine however if a company wants enterprise-level fingerprint logon it's not a good idea to have a OEM vendor-specific Winlogon integrated solution out there on PCs. IBM ThinkVantage, for example, not only integrates with the Windows GINA but it also installs a nonstandard TPM AND it is extremely difficult to force a machine with TVT_GINA restoring itself after every reboot, to use a completely different software stack for biometric authentication. Not only that, it really messes with some full disk encryption solutions.

The exact logistics are yet to be worked out but I did some testing for them last night and it's pretty clear, that with a driver integrated approach they can install XP to IBM desktops and laptops without ThinkVantage fingerprint software and their new solution will use the optimal drivers.

I'm going to talk to the deployment team at this customer, today, to (a) prove that my method is better, (b) combined with WinSetupFromUSB it'll give them a single base install that'll work on any machine, and (c) allows their enterprise biometric solution option OR full disk encryption solution to be vendor-agnostic. One day's worth of effort WILL save them weeks if not months creating multiple GHOST images.

Last edited by tstaddon (2011-01-26 20:53:39)

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

No apologies neccessary! Mr_smartepants is correct you and I are cut from the same mold LOL. It's nice debating with myself ROFL.

Still fishing for a compliment or a Thank You for all our hard work though tongue wink.

Jeff

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Okay, I give in. Major props to EVERYONE who's contributed to this project, for making it such an excellent (if not indispensable) tool set for any administrator. Count yourself lucky; even my wife gets nowhere by fishing for compliments, so you're in a very select group.

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

This is kinda off topic but the tittle of the topic got me thinking...would it be cool if the base could look if the .torrent extension in the registry what program is associated and automatically launched the torrent client with the cmdline to add the .torrent file and begin dl?

Example it would see if .torrent extension is installed and what is used to open it here in the registry

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.torrent\OpenWithProgids]
"uTorrent"=""

It sees its installed and uTorrent is the program, so it looks in the registry for uTorrent key for the cmdline

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\uTorrent\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\uTorrent\\uTorrent.exe\" \"%1\""

Then the BASE downloads the <dp>.torrent and opens utorrent with a path to the .torrent file

"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe" "<path_to_file>\<dp_torrent>.torrent"

uTorrent launches and the dp.torrent is added (and wouldn't it be gr8 if there were switches to add a save path that would save it in the \DriverPacks folder tongue)

Edit: aparently there IS a way to specify a save path yikes http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=53988

"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe" /DIRECTORY "<path_to_folder>\DriverPacks" "<path_to_file>\<dp_torrent>.torrent"

But it may not be practical, may differ for every torrent client out there hmm

Last edited by ricktendo64 (2011-01-28 06:37:09)

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

That is a good idea Rick, but I still think that having the torrent client download to whatever default folder all the other torrents go to is beneficial because then the torrent could still be seeded to the rest of the world.  The user would only need to copy the completed packs to the DriverPacks BASE folders.

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Wow... Man i went fishing and pulled in a whale!

Thank you for thanking us! wink countless peeps have put in countless hours big_smile.


Wow that is a great idea Rick!  You know us, we are kinda lax on semi OT convo.

However one of the reasons we disabled direct downloads is to attract advertisers and sponsors - donation is not even keeping the servers up and is never going to be anywhere near the $800 a month we would have to pay for a CDN, if one was not donated to us. We have been lucky enough to find generous companies like MaxCDN to step up BUT in order to attract that kind of sponsorship in an ongoing basis our page hits need to go up... yah it's nice seeing a stat like 250k downloads a month for us... but sponsors want to see how many times their banner gets seen and just as importantly what the conversion rate is. So... At least for the short term we need users to visit the pages to get the files. As we always say "help us to help you". big_smile

We are considering a multi tier solution. direct downloads for donors and manual for free... but have not set anything in stone yet.  If we go this route, and we probably will, then your idea is the best one i have heard yet!

You da Man!

Thanks for all you do here for us and for the community at large!

@Pants  wouldn't the client still seed even if the folder were redirected???

You guys are my heros!

Jeff

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Or maybe how about accessing an RSS feed with the updated torrents?

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

OverFlow wrote:

@Pants  wouldn't the client still seed even if the folder were redirected???

AFAIK, yes.
When I manually DL the DP torrents, I usually directly let them be placed into the respective sub-dir of the DP folder - disregarding the default save path that I have set in µtorrent.
It still gets seeded until I manually delete it out of the program's list.

So I would say, even with a path given via command line that should work just fine (at least for µtorrent, but that's probably the most common client around from what I've gathered. Not as blown-up as Azureus have become and it's even available portable - for instance as part of LiberKey).

Anyway, I like the idea, too, Rick! smile

Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Helmi wrote:
OverFlow wrote:

wouldn't the client still seed even if the folder were redirected???

AFAIK, yes.
When I manually DL the DP torrents, I usually directly let them be placed into the respective sub-dir of the DP folder - disregarding the default save path that I have set in µtorrent.
It still gets seeded until I manually delete it out of the program's list.

Wow really?  So I've been doing it wrong this whole time? big_smile
I guess I'll have to change how I seed these things.  I don't mess with the default utorrent settings (other than port forwarding on the router)

Still an excellent idea!

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

mr_smartepants wrote:
Helmi wrote:
OverFlow wrote:

wouldn't the client still seed even if the folder were redirected???

AFAIK, yes.
When I manually DL the DP torrents, I usually directly let them be placed into the respective sub-dir of the DP folder - disregarding the default save path that I have set in µtorrent.
It still gets seeded until I manually delete it out of the program's list.

Wow really?  So I've been doing it wrong this whole time? big_smile
I guess I'll have to change how I seed these things.  I don't mess with the default utorrent settings (other than port forwarding on the router)

Still an excellent idea!

ooooh pretty quote pyramids!

@TSaddon YES RSS feed is also an excellent idea.

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Re: Since moving to BitTorrent and new DL site, DP_BASE crashes

Those torrent feeds are a good idea (FWIW, "torrent feeds" are being standardized *right now*), and I've considered them myself, too.

But then we face the problem of insufficient page views and therefore ad views once again. We *need* those ad views (and clicks of course) to be able to sustain the costs. So while I'd *love* to offer torrent feeds, I can't, because we really need that ad revenue.

Unless we only provide personalized torrent feeds for paying/donating users. I can't think of another way to provide that service level that also generates *some* income.

Founder of DriverPacks.net — wimleers.com