Running Windows File Explorer As Administrator

Fabler2 · Aug 20, 2022

HDL said:
Thank you.
Not sure why I hadn't thought of this before but it worked and I didn't need to run anything with Admin privileges. I used a program I already had installed called iObit Unlocker and deleted those 2 files.

Glad you sorted it.

Bree · Aug 20, 2022

HDL said:
Not sure why I hadn't thought of this before but it worked and I didn't need to run anything with Admin privileges....

Glad to hear that

As an aside, I don't think running Explorer as an administrator actually makes any difference to its behaviour. If I run it from Task Manager with administrative privileges I still get all the same challenges when doing anything that requires 'admin' rights....

HDL · Aug 20, 2022

Bree said:
Glad to hear that
As an aside, I don't think running Explorer as an administrator actually makes any difference to its behaviour. If I run it from Task Manager with administrative privileges I still get all the same challenges when doing anything that requires 'admin' rights....

View attachment 36900 View attachment 36901

I was wondering about that but never experimented to find out.

Try3 · Aug 20, 2022

HDL said:
do I need to change any setting in the UEFI or BIOS to make the computer boot to the USB drive

See Boot from a USB Drive - TenForumsTutorials Option 2 requires that you find out the appropriate key to press during booting. You should be able to find this out in your computer/motherboard manual, support site or user forum.

You might or might not have to mess about with Secure boot settings as well.
Check if Secure Boot is Enabled or Disabled - TenForumsTutorials
Some USBs will boot with Secure Boot on [Bree #10] - TenForums
Enable or Disable Secure Boot - TenForumsTutorials

Secure the Windows 10 boot process - MSDocs
Secure boot - MSDocs
Disabling Secure Boot - MSDocs

Denis

Try3 · Aug 20, 2022

Bree said:
I don't think running Explorer as an administrator actually makes any difference to its behaviour

Is it possible to check that it is actually running as Admin when you think you've told it to?

Denis

Winuser · Aug 20, 2022

HDL said:
Thank you.
Not sure why I hadn't thought of this before but it worked and I didn't need to run anything with Admin privileges. I used a program I already had installed called iObit Unlocker and deleted those 2 files.

Have you check to see if Windows update reinstalls the files? I don't remember if I had trouble with the rbclan.sys. I do remember that wdcsam64_prewin8.sys kept getting reinstalled. It's a file that the WD USB drives use. I had to use Windows Update Minitool to hide it.

Bree · Aug 20, 2022

Winuser said:
I do remember that wdcsam64_prewin8.sys kept getting reinstalled. It's a file that the WD USB drives use. I had to use Windows Update Minitool to hide it.

Yes, it's usually offered as an optional driver update on any system that has ever seen a WD external usb HDD.

Wushowhide.diagcab can also be used to hide it.

Winuser · Aug 20, 2022

This is the WD driver that causes the problem. Windows update kept installing it until I used WUMT to hide it. I almost forgot,you have to have a WD drive plugged into a USB port for it to show.

Bree · Aug 20, 2022

Winuser said:
...I almost forgot,you have to have a WD drive plugged into a USB port for it to show.

...or just turn on 'Show hidden devices' in Device Manager.

Winuser · Aug 20, 2022

Bree said:
...or just turn on 'Show hidden devices' in Device Manager.

Either way works.

From what I found through searching is that it is a WD driver for encrypting the drive.

Bree · Aug 20, 2022

Winuser said:
From what I found through searching is that it is a WD driver for encrypting the drive.

Yes, me too. Apparently it's only ever needed if you want to use the WD software that comes with their drives.

HDL · Aug 20, 2022

I don't know if it will reinstall if I ever have to reinstall Windows 11 but possibly since Memory Integrity is now enabled it won't be installed.

Bree, I did, as you may recall, turn on 'Show hidden devices' in Device Manager' and it did not show up for me. There was no WD device connected to that computer for as long as it was a Win 11 machine. Possibly had I reconnected that WD device it would have been there again in the Device manager.

Bree · Aug 20, 2022

HDL said:
Possibly had I reconnected that WD device it would have been there again in the Device manager.

No, if it was fully installed it should have shown up as a hidden device. Plugging in a WD drive may have triggered it to install properly though.

It was probably just that the file existed in the driver store that was enough to disable Memory Integrity from turning on.

HDL · Aug 20, 2022

Bree said:
No, if it was fully installed it should have shown up as a hidden device. Plugging in a WD drive may have triggered it to install properly though.

It was probably just that the file existed in the driver store that was enough to disable Memory Integrity from turning on.

That must have been it because since I deleted it and the rcblan.sys I have been able to enable Memory Integrity.

Winuser · Aug 20, 2022

Bree said:
No, if it was fully installed it should have shown up as a hidden device. Plugging in a WD drive may have triggered it to install properly though.

It was probably just that the file existed in the driver store that was enough to disable Memory Integrity from turning on.

It's in the firmware on the USB drive. The best one can do is remove the driver then block it from being reinstalled. Once a WD USB drive is attached it will reappear in device manager. It just won't run. It's totally useless for most users and WD needs to give us a way to uninstall or block it from loading.

Bree · Aug 21, 2022

Winuser said:
It's in the firmware on the USB drive.....

That may well be true for some models of WD usb drives, but does not seem to be the case for all of them. Not for my particular model, anyway.

In my case after plugging the WD drive into to any of my PCs it will then be offered as an optional driver update through Windows Update when next it checks. That makes it easy to hide it, in my case using wdshowhide.diagcab.

HDL · Aug 21, 2022

Bree, I have never seen anything like you have shown above when using those drives. Just to let you understand what I had, that I could not find in the Device Manager on the computer where I struggled to delete those files, please see the screen shot. These are the same devices I used on that computer but now use on my newest computer. There are no plans to ever use them on the other computer again. Even though I had no clue about Memory Integrity at the time I had this computer built, it was and still is enabled. Maybe because those drives were not attached at the time of the build but they are now and Memory Integrity is still enabled. I'm confused about all this but am still using those same external drives as can be seen in the attachment, only on a different computer.

Bree · Aug 21, 2022

HDL said:
Bree, I have never seen anything like you have shown above .... I'm confused about all this but am still using those same external drives as can be seen in the attachment, only on a different computer.

I'm not surprised you're confused, it has had me confused too. How you get the WDC_SAM driver seems to depend on exactly which WD drive you have. My only example is a 1TB WD My Passport. That one triggers Windows Update to offer wdcsam64_prewin8.sys as an optional driver update for every PC I have ever plugged it into.

The main thing is that now you have removed it you can enable Memory Integrity, and if nothing else Memory Integrity itself should block any further attempts to reinstall it.

HDL · Aug 21, 2022

Bree said:
The main thing is that now you have removed it you can enable Memory Integrity, and if nothing else Memory Integrity itself should block any further attempts to reinstall it.

I hope so. Thanks for the information,

Winuser · Aug 21, 2022

HDL said:
I hope so. Thanks for the information,

It's a problem that WD needs to work with MS to solve. As long as you keep the driver blocked from being installed you shouldn't run into any problems using the Memory Integrity setting.