Winmagic (AKA HP Encryption) software woes!

[pcimage]

Hi,

Anybody come across this horrible software?

It's been installed on a clients HP PC and now it won't boot, we have the hard drive which we've cloned virtually perfectly.

I've tried the drive here and it does accept the password (despite the client lying about it not having any encryption on it at first and then giving us several "possibilities" of the password!) but then just gives a black screen with flashing cursor.

No boot options (e.g. F8) available, so I expect we'll need some decryption or drive mounting utility which I can't find anywhere!

TIA

[jermy]

NOTE: Occasionally, SecureDoc will have trouble during this step. You will see a black screen with a white cursor in the upper right corner rather than Windows loading. If this happens, power down the machine, and watch for a white band of text which says "WinMagic SecureDoc BootLoader v1.1.7". Press the a key to have it switch to the alternate loader. If you miss it, simply restart the machine and try again.

[pcimage]

NOTE: Occasionally, SecureDoc will have trouble during this step. You will see a black screen with a white cursor in the upper right corner rather than Windows loading. If this happens, power down the machine, and watch for a white band of text which says "WinMagic SecureDoc BootLoader v1.1.7". Press the a key to have it switch to the alternate loader. If you miss it, simply restart the machine and try again.

Thanks for the reply, but none of that happens!

Dunno if it's because it's a cut-down version of Wimagic that's installed on HP machines?

I emailed Winmagic support but they weren't interested, just replied saying go to HP:-(

[hdd_sand]

I had a case couple years ago like that, I downloaded the recovery console off the HP site but that didn't work, I will get the blinking cursor, as a last resort, I asked the client to contact HP with his TAG number and HP send him the recovery CD with correct version of his winmagic packaged. You may want to try that.....

[fzabkar]

Is it possible that the clone HDD's model number, serial number or firmware version need to match the patient?

[hdd_sand]

Is it possible that the clone HDD's model number, serial number or firmware version need to match the patient?

No with the case I had, ones I got the correct version it decrypted the entire drive (My clone), it took about 14 hours

[pcimage]

I had a case couple years ago like that, I downloaded the recovery console off the HP site but that didn't work, I will get the blinking cursor, as a last resort, I asked the client to contact HP with his TAG number and HP send him the recovery CD with correct version of his winmagic packaged. You may want to try that.....

I'll get the relevant details off the client and see if I can get a CD/USB image off HP, from what I've been reading it's just about our only option

[pcimage]

Is it possible that the clone HDD's model number, serial number or firmware version need to match the patient?

Once I'd got two clones of the original, I tried the original too (it only had a few bad sectors) and it did exactly the same

[pcimage]

Cracked it!

Found a ISO of an internal HP tool called TB launcher

Made a USB boot drive using Rufus and used the included SDRecovery plugin to unlock the drive. Then it got a bit clumsy (included Q-Dir tool to locate the data and then command prompt "xcopy /s" to copy the files to another USB stick) but got there in the end!

[jermy]

Thanks for sharing

[MindMergepk]

thanks for sharing

[dick]

That horrible software is included on some HP pro laptops. Clients are usually unaware the drive is encrypted and what the consequences would be if the drive fails. I also had to use the TBlauncher utility. Thank god it even existed and worked! Like you it took a bit of serious googling to find it. Supposedly one is able to receive assistance with this from HP third level support. That's if you can get that far by phone or email!

[hdd_sand]

Cracked it!

Found a ISO of an internal HP tool called TB launcher

Made a USB boot drive using Rufus and used the included SDRecovery plugin to unlock the drive. Then it got a bit clumsy (included Q-Dir tool to locate the data and then command prompt "xcopy /s" to copy the files to another USB stick) but got there in the end!

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

Cracked it!

Found a ISO of an internal HP tool called TB launcher

Made a USB boot drive using Rufus and used the included SDRecovery plugin to unlock the drive. Then it got a bit clumsy (included Q-Dir tool to locate the data and then command prompt "xcopy /s" to copy the files to another USB stick) but got there in the end!

Hi,
Never Encountered It But Now We Know What To Do Thanks For Sharing

[cheadledatarecovery]

I've had a few WinMagic encrypted drives in before. Yes, it is a real pain to deal with, in particular getting hold of the software to allow decryption (SDWmgRecovery and SDRecovery Plugin). It is not readily available from HP, and as Sean mentioned, WinMagic are not interested.

To decrypt it is necessary to have access to the file "WinMagicSECURDOC.WMG" located on a FAT32 partition on the patient HDD. If it is not possible to get a fully working version of this file then, as far as I am aware, decryption is not possible. That is a forced decryption by password is not an option. Moreover, WinMagic does not save a copy of the WMG decryption key to an external location when encryption is enabled. And of course no user is likely to be knowledgeable or diligent enough find the WinMagicSECURDOC.WMG on the hidden FAT32 partition and take a copy of it when they get the computer new. So if you are imaging a failed HDD go for this file/partition first!

The last WinMagic job I had in (a week or two before this thread) the user of the computer had made various DIY data recovery attempt which had resulted in the WinMagicSECURDOC.WMG being lost (thread: https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php ... le=desktop). Although it was possible to get a decent disk image of the HDD it was not possible to decrypt in that case.

Today I am looking at another HP WinMagic Drive, fortunately in this case it is possible to locate the critical file for reference of its location see below.

J

Additional to the above - the instructions which HP provide for decryption process are not for the feint hearted! They include a process which deliberately corrupts the BCD which then has to be repaired amongst other things. Again, definitely a job that requires a reserve disk image to back to should it go wrong. Really crap software from HP/WinMagic

[OsvaldoM]

That horrible software is included on some HP pro laptops. Clients are usually unaware the drive is encrypted and what the consequences would be if the drive fails. I also had to use the TBlauncher utility. Thank god it even existed and worked! Like you it took a bit of serious googling to find it. Supposedly one is able to receive assistance with this from HP third level support. That's if you can get that far by phone or email!

I know, I just got one of these laptops recently and it was a nightmare dealing with HP support.

[jmc5]

Thanks for all the great info in this thread.

Could anyone advise what to try when an encrypted partition (C:) will not show as encrypted in the Winmagic SDRecovery program?
In SDRecovery the C: partition says "Status: Plaintext" and gives no option to enter password to unlock it.
Windows 10 PE says C: needs to be formatted and Diskpart shows C: as RAW.

I have relinked the SECURDOC.WMG file from the FAT32 partition (D:) using SDWmgRecovery.exe -w -f and it returns "contiguous and linked correctly".
This should now allow the partition to be unlocked with the password in SDRecovery according to the HP document: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/attachme ... tions.docx

Any ideas for what needs to be done here?

[cheadledatarecovery]

Hello JMC,

TBH I am quite glad to report that I have not seen any more HP WinMagic encrypted disks since 2017. Hopefully, this dreadful software has been abolished by HP. However, as a consequence of not having worked on one for four years it is but a distant memory as to what was required to get the encryption linked again.

It sounds like you are doing everything right. I remember a fair bit of 'trial and error' was required. Consequently, it was necessary to always have a saved, unaltered, disk image of the failed HDD to hand to re-extract for another recovery attempt.

I am sorry I cannot be any more help without looking at the volume itself. Good luck!

John