SCSafe - SC/SCIII Safe Mode

Tc · Post by Tc » 2005-12-20 03:18

Sorry, I have been away. I put SCSafe back up for download. Let me know if there is still a need for SCSafe. THANX -Tc

SCSafe - SC/SCIII Safe Mode v.0.9.0.x

SCSafe is a SC/SCIII Safe Mode Helper that allows a 2000/XP/2003 Computer to restart in safe mode with networking and initiate a SC connection. Upon SC disconnect the system is returned to normal, rebooted, and SCSafe uninstalls automatically. SCSafe allows SC/SCIII safe mode sessions to be carried out with consistency, dependability, and a level fault recovery that is critical to remote support.

Features:
Backs up boot.ini regardless of drive
Will work with Multi boot systems -only the default system will Safe Mode
Modifies boot.ini for safe mode reboot
Creates SCSafe account or allows configuration of an existing admin account
Makes SCSafe account a member of the local administrative group if needed
Configures and Enables Automatic logon
Disables Windows Firewall
All SC/SCIII features allowed
Returns computer configuration to normal and reboots
Disables and Removes SCSafe account
Uninstalls and cleans up
Simple and easy deployment

Limitations:
Non Standard Boot Loaders not supported
SC/SCIII is not ran as a service, CAD is not supported
Single session design, session ends PC is forced to reboot to normal.

Use:
Get a copy of SCSafe.7z from https://sites.google.com/site/twconnor/ ... edirects=0 .
Create and test a SC/SCIII that will automatically connect. Name it SCSafe.exe
Make a connection to the system you want to SC in Safe Mode (SCSafe)
You must have administrative rights
Copy your SC/SCIII to the root of the system drive (Normally C:\) Your SC/SCIII must be named SCSafe.exe
Execute SCSafeSetUp.exe on your clients computer. You will be prompted to continue and a GUI will guide you through the configuration. Optionally, you can execute SCSafeSetUp with a -silent command line parameter and SCSafeSetUp will run with defaults without prompting.
Your clients computer will reboot into safe mode and run your SC.
You will normally be confronted with a Yes/No screen for safe mode upon reconnect.
Upon disconnect computer is reset and rebooted.

In the works:
Logging.
History to be moved to separate file
Include a SC executable of any name in SCSafeSetUp.exe
I have started working on a user configurable version to allow more customization without recompiling.

License:
Free for Responsible Use License

Legal:
NO WARRANTIES.
NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Credits:
TWConnor
Created with AutoIt v3.1.0
Designed for use with UltraVNC ï¿½ Single Click add on

History:
02/22/09 Updated link, sorry I have been away for a while.
06/16/06 Updated link
01/18/06 SCSafeReset.exe removed
01/18/06 Itanium-based computer support added
01/18/06 Removed %systemdrive% dependency
01/18/06 Boot.ini back up and restore improved; osoptions now retained in safe mode
12/31/05 Added command line switch for on/off of GUI
12/31/05 Added error handling with message box reporting of errors
12/29/05 Added History.txt only recent history included in ReadMe.txt
12/29/05 Added GUI interface
12/29/05 Added AutoLogin configuration
12/27/05 Updated License
12/24/05 Updated this readme
12/23/05 Fixed DEL error in uninstall
12/22/05 Added SCSafe.exe to uninstall
12/22/05 Added single instance check
12/22/05 Added a continue prompt upon execution of SCSafeSetUp.exe
12/22/05 Fixed Multi boot systems limitation
12/22/05 Fixed C drive limitation

Notes:
Feature requests and feedback welcomed.
I will include source code with a future update.

Enjoy!!!
Tc

touchabove · Post by **touchabove** » 2005-12-20 05:20

Let me be the first to say... YOU ARE THE MAN

Haven't tested it yet, but I will do so very soon.

Thanks!

Tc · Post by Tc » 2005-12-20 19:33

Thank you,

Please post your results, problems, suggestions, etc…

Tc · Post by Tc » 2005-12-22 20:56

Update Posted

Added SCSafe.exe to uninstall
Added single instance check
Added a continue prompt upon execution of SCSafeSetUp.exe
Fixed Multi boot systems limitation
Fixed C drive limitation

I Appreciate the feedback.

bk · Post by bk » 2005-12-22 23:17

I'm trying to get this to work, but so far, I haven't had any luck.

I have created the scsafe.exe file which I save to c. I have tested it and that file works fine when ran by itself. I can connect to the computer with no problems. The problem comes when I try running scsafesetup.exe. It runs fine (at least appears to). The computer reboots, I get the menu and then it boots into safe mode. The window vnc single click window comes up but I don't get prompted on my vnc viewer workstation about a incoming session like I do when only executing the scsafe.exe file. That vnc singleclick window goes away and after a while, it appears that the session times out as it automatically reboots.

Any ideas on what you want me to check?

Thanks for all your work thus far.

One idea I had on improving the program would be that after the end user double clicks on scsafesetup.exe it might be nice to show some kind of progress or warning etc just so the user knows something is happening. That's all I've come up with so far and it's minor.

Tc · Post by Tc » 2005-12-23 02:11

Very interesting.

SCSafe.exe works on its own and appears to get executed in safe mode but then fails to connect.

I like your suggestion about progress status display. I did an update earlier please make sure that you have downloaded the latest version.

Please confirm that your SC is configured to connect automatically:

HelpDesk.txt is something like…
[HOST]
Internet support
-connect 192.168.1.102:5500 -noregistry
[DIRECT]

Your settings may be different but the big things are only one [HOST] entry and a [DIRECT] section. You should not be prompted for a selection or id entry with this configuration. You will see the helpdesk screen flash briefly but the program will continue. Please confirm and test again.

If this fails please let me know what type of system you are using, OS, any antivirus software, and a description of your network.

The only issues that I know of that would allow SC in normal mode and cause it to fail in safe mode are:

A laptop with a wireless setup. The issue turned out to be a third party program that managed the wifi. In safe mode the needed application would not run. I reconfigured to allow windows to manage the connection and all worked as planned. If this is the case let me know and I will update the ReadMe.txt to address this and see if I can come up with a solution.

The second was with a very restrictive corporate firewall that managed traffic by userid. If this is the case let me know and I will send you the work around.

If none of these apply, I would like to see your HelpDesk.txt and possibly get some more information about your system. Let me know by PM or my email is posted.

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-01-01 20:19

Major update.

12/31/05 Added command line switch for on/off of GUI
12/31/05 Added error handling with message box reporting of errors
12/29/05 Added History.txt only recent history included in ReadMe.txt
12/29/05 Added GUI interface
12/29/05 Added AutoLogin configuration
12/27/05 Updated License
12/24/05 Updated readme
12/23/05 Fixed DEL error in uninstall

Thank you for all the help in improving SCSafe.

Let me know if you encounter any problems.

Enjoy

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-04 04:43

I tried this and it didn't work:

I logged in to a remote computer. I added a new user test as an admin. I set the pc to auto connect to test on boot. I set the pc to start in safe mode with netoworking. I put a shortcut to my sc in the startup folder. I put my sc.exe in the c:\ dir. Upon reboot, no connection. However, if I do the same thing, but don't restart it in safe mode, it works. What am I doing wrong? Does your program automatically do what I did manually?

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-01-04 13:26

Sorry, I am a little confused by your post. Did you try to use SCSafe or did you try to configure manually? I would be happy to help you either way but if you could clarify it would speed things along.

THANX

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-04 19:32

I was very tired I'm sorry. I tried to configure it manually, so I could understand it first. I did not use your program. What are the steps to accomplish what your program does manually? Maybe I can retrace my steps and figure out what I did wrong? When I configured safemode, I checked safeboot with networking. Do I need to select other options so my sc will work? Does the sc have to somehow be started as a service, or is placing it in the startup folder good enough? Thanks for all your help.

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-01-04 20:39

The starting of a program in safe mode is the most difficult part. The very concept of safe mode prevents a program from starting automatically in safe mode. The short answer is that you need to configure a startup process that is allowed in safe mode.

MS only allows startup programs defined in the registry as run once to start in safe mode:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

The key must include the path and be preceded by an asterisk to designate it to run in safe mode.

“*C:\SCSafeProcess.exe”

Additionally, safe mode executions of programs are forced to run consecutively. The programs defined in the RunOnce key must end appropriately (terminate) before the boot process will continue. If you run your SC directly as a run once entry then the boot process will halt and no other boot processes will be executed, until SC ends. The end result is that you will not see the desktop or be able to run any other programs until you close your SC session. You have to run an application to start SC that will then close itself. This will allow SC to run and Windows to continue to boot.

This is what SCSafeProcess.exe does for SCSafe. There are several programs and policies that prevent startup entries from being saved or undoes them prior to reboot. I would recommend an exe as I have had some failures with scripts and bat files. Also, prior to reboot confirm the run once entry has not been deleted by a protective program.

SCSafe does this and more.

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-04 21:48

Thanks, Tc. I had a feeling it was something like that. I am going to try your cssafe tonight. How many times can I restart in safe mode? Sometimes while doing things you need to restart several times. Will I be able to autoreconnect as many times as I want? Then, when I am finally done, what do I do? Or, can I only restart in safe mode once, and then the program erases itself and goes back to normal?

Thanks.

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-01-05 03:32

Currently SCSafe is a single session only.

We are working on a multi session feature but still have a few issues to resolve.

We also have a persistent connection feature that will attempt to reconnect a lost connection for ten minutes. This feature is much farther along and will probably be included with the next update.

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-07 15:46

Hello. I tried scsafe, and it did not work for me. I am getting the error that scsafe cannot backup my boot.ini, and the program is terminating. Is there a way around this? Thanks.

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-01-07 19:55

If the boot.ini cannot be backed up and read after backup then SCSafe will restore any changes and terminate.

Make certain that you have administrative rights on the PC.

Is there a boot.ini file in the root?

Is there a SCSafeBootini.BAK file in the root?

Let me know what type of system and OS you are using.

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-07 22:19

I have win xp home edition. My root drive is my d drive. How can i tell this for sure? I use the c drive as image backup only.

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-07 22:55

tc,

There was no boot.ini file in the root directory. I am assuming my root directory is the d drive. That is where windows is. I cut and pasted my boot.ini in my d drive, and it worked, but then it got messed up, and I had to manually install the backup back to the c drive. Why is my boot.ini in my c drive? Is it always there by default?

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-01-08 03:23

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.

Very interesting. You might have found a bug or somehow %systemdrive% is not returning the correct drive on your system. I don’t have an answer for you yet. But, I am researching this and need some more information.

First, don’t copy your boot.ini to a different drive.

How are you mirroring your drive?
Was this system initially set up to boot from c:?
Would you consider running a couple of diagnostics (harmless programs that I will provide that create logs that you would need to zip and send back to me) on your system?

If you would like to you can PM or email me and we can post our findings back to the forum.

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-08 03:54

I will do what it takes to get this working. Send me what I need to do and I will do it. the machine originally only had a C:\ partition, but I reformatted it to have a c:\, d:\ and e:\ partition, all on one hard drive. c is the backup image, d is windows and programs, and e is data. I started from scratch, so I don't think it was programmed to start in c:/, but who knows. Maybe we'll find out.

[mod=494,1136748159]disabled smilies in this post[/mod]

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-01-10 00:24

Beach,

This should resolve your problem. Please test and let me know.

Edit: Link removed; incorporated in current release.

This BETA should also support Itanium-based computers ***UNTESTED***

If anybody is able to test on an Itanium-based system I would appreciate knowing your findings.

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-10 12:37

Thanks tc. It will have to wait until friday, as I am away. I will give it a shot.

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-01-19 05:20

SCSafe updated. Several fixes in this release, recommended upgrade for all users.

I want to thank everyone for their support and assistance. The progress made would not have been possible without your feedback and support. As you will notice the size of this version has dropped considerably, this is a result of cleaning up and removing several customizations.

I have decided to keep the role of SCSafe focused as a SC safe mode tool. I do believe that several of the features requested have merit and will continue to develop them. However, I think that it is best to provide most of them as standalone scripts and allow SCSafe to be a chore specific tool.

In the near future I will release the persistent connection feature as a separate program. This will allow it to be used with SCSafe or with any SC session. Maybe this could be the beginning of a SCToolKit?

Enjoy

beach · Post by **beach** » 2006-01-22 01:40

Thanks, tc. I have not had a chance to test your new program yet. I have been so busy with other things, but hopefully some time this week I will give it a shot.

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-02-07 19:47

I am changing providers and my server will be down until Friday Feb 10, 2006.

Sorry for an inconvenience.

OfficialGuest · Post by **OfficialGuest** » 2006-06-15 23:50

I'd like to give SCSafe a try, but the download link is broken

Any mirrors available?

Tc · Post by Tc » 2006-06-16 23:58

http://twconnor.com/SCSafe/SCSafe.7z

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Tc

fredfred · Post by **fredfred** » 2007-02-03 06:22

is SCsafe still available to download ?

Thanks
________
Vapir oxygen

Tc · Post by Tc » 2007-02-05 04:55

I put it back up.

https://sites.google.com/site/twconnor/ ... edirects=0

Enjoy
Tc

superwopguy · Post by **superwopguy** » 2007-02-26 13:23

I would love to download SCSafe but it is not available. Can you please make it available?

JDaus · Post by **JDaus** » 2008-03-07 10:32

Does anyone have a copy of this program ???

the domain is no longer online

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SCSafe - SC/SCIII Safe Mode

SCSafe - SC/SCIII Safe Mode

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