[PassingBy]

Hmmm .....

I have been working (on-and-off) on usb storage driver pack for windows 95B/C ... It is currently only half complete and has quite a bit more work to get it completed. Nevertheless, it is a working pack.

I am requesting windows 95 testers who wishes to try out this pack to provide feedback and help me improve it. The drivers itself was collected from the web and tested for suitability & compatibility. The current driver files has been modified to point to USBSTOR in registry.

Current status of the driver pack: said:

1. Driver support for any bulk only devices including pendrives and most usb hdds.
2. Driver support for usb fdd. Driver configuration adjusted for stable operation (avoid BSODs).
3. Systray device removal utility (finally completed and working as intended).

Current work in progress: said:

1. Driver collection/testing for specific CB/CBI devices, such as cd/r/rw.
2. Driver compatible/vid/pid inclusion once confirmed working.

What is working ... said:

1. Tested with a bunch of pendrives of all sizes. I believe 99% of all pendrives will work here.
2. Tested with external usb hdd based by myson CS8818 chipset. YMMV here.
3. Tested with a bunch of generic flash card readers. Some card readers that uses CB/CBI is still not working.
4. Special usb fdd config support. Took quite some time to figure out how to stabilize usb fdd driver.
. Only one instance of usb fdd device can work at any one time. Multiple instance was not tested.

What is NOT working ... said:

1. USB 2.0 - unless there's a working driver this looks very dim ...
2. Usb device authentication - Haven't figured that one out yet ...
3. Usb device with specific CB/CBI support - in progress but no time frame set ...

I am attaching the systray usb removal utility on the next thread for testing on win9x platform. It is intended for windows 95 but has been tested to work on all win9x system. On windows 95, specific device class ID (usb,diskdrive,cdrom) needs to be added to the registry for it to work (included with the utility). Please report any issues with it.

Rgds


USBSTR95.EXE : Usb storage driver pack for windows 95 (Beta 1)
 USBSTR95.exe (195.88K)
Number of downloads: 349

[PassingBy]

Here's the systray usb storage removal utility works on all Windows 9X... Please make some test runs and report any issues ...

*Note: For windows 95, double-click on the .reg file to add Device Class GUID

Rgds

* Updates 26-DEC-2007 *
- Major changes to source code to primarily use cfgmgr32 routines.
- Workaround an issue of intermittent setupapi failure on win95. It does not occur on win98 and above.
- Workaround an issue with excessive memory usage. Only occurs on win95 due to how setupapi is managed by windows.

* Updates 5-JAN-2008 *
- Bugfix: library unload sequence corrected.
- Excessive memory usage solved.

EJECTUSB.RAR (0103-for historical record - DO NOT USE)
 EJECTUSB.rar (24.72K)
Number of downloads: 38

EJECTUSB.RAR (0108-for historical record - stable with dll unload bug)
 EjectUSB_0108.rar (18.11K)
Number of downloads: 37

EJECTUSB.RAR (0108b - latest stable with bugfix)
 EjectUSB_0108b.rar (18.52K)
Number of downloads: 184

This post has been edited by PassingBy: 05 January 2008 - 03:54 PM

[BenoitRen]

Nice! I need to know, though: what do I do if this doesn't go well? What files/reg keys to delete/modify?

[MDGx]

Uploaded here:
http://www.mdgx.com/web.htm#USD

* Unofficial Windows 95B/95C OSR 2.x USB Storage Driver Pack (USBSTR95) Beta 1:
http://www.msfn.org/...howtopic=109521
USBSTR95 [196 KB, free, English]:
http://www.mdgx.com/spx/USBSTR95.EXE

Keep up the good work.

[PassingBy]

Hmmm .....

BenoitRen, on Dec 20 2007, 10:34 PM, said:

Nice! I need to know, though: what do I do if this doesn't go well? What files/reg keys to delete/modify?

Where it is placed & how to remove:
1. The driver pack will add usbstor.inf and patched nodriver.inf to the INF directory.
2. Storage drivers will be copied to OPTIONS\CABS directory.
3. The device removal utility will be placed into SYSTEM directory and a startup ejectusb link will be placed into HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
4. Device class ID will be added to the registry.

5. To remove from using the drivers again, delete usbstor.inf from the INF directory.
6. Remove ejectusb startup link as in #3.
7. To remove usbstor driver usage comletely, remove all references to the required VID/PID under USB and all in USBSTOR in the HKLM\ENUM\USB registry section. Do not remove ROOT_HUB entries. Those are for usb root hubs.
8. Remove all driver files as listed in the _usbtor.inf

The eject/removal utility does not write anything to the registry. It is a beta version systray utility with a close/exit option. It will only show usb devices if it is active, else the list is empty.


Rgds

[BenoitRen]

I did some testing.

I installed with the batch file. When I plugged in the HDD, it still used the SanDisk drivers, so I thought it didn't help. But then, while uninstalling the drivers, I also deleted the key for "USB Mass Storage Port". So I tried again, and this time I could specifiy the driver path. I just pointed at the Program Files directory I had let the extractor put it at before.

Weirdly enough it asked me to reboot after identifying it as "USB Mass Storage Interface". After reboot there were two entries for it: the previous one and "USB Mass Storage Device". But it still didn't work. Unplugged, plugged it back in, now only "USB Mass Storage Device" appeared. I took a look at the HDD with my brother's laptop, and it's an NTFS drive. Ack.

I tried my USB stick, but it got identified as "USB Mass Storage Port", and no drive appeared in My Computer. Looking at Control Panel > System I saw it had a problem. I don't remember exactly what I did at this point. I think I deleted the entry in the register, and tried again, and asked me to reboot this time. I said No and saw that the device had a problem. I figured that it was because I hadn't rebooted yet. Rebooted, still no drive, still a problem.

At this point I uninstalled the whole package and pointed Windows again at the drivers I got from Nathan Lineback. My USB stick works fine again.

[PassingBy]

Hmmm .....

Thank you for your effort and feedback ... I have made a quick check and found that the "USB Mass Storage Port" is a reference to the Cruzer drivers from Nathan's pack. That would mean traces of the previous drivers are still being used by windows.

If you can/willing to give it another shot, here's what you can do. Remove all references to the cruzer drivers by deleting all refences to SND95*.inf in windows\inf\others. Search and remove all instances of USBIMW95.sys and USBSTW95.pdr. Remove instances of the usb sticks from the registry or hardware control panel. Reboot first to clear any loaded driver for the usb devices. Then try out the usb storage drivers.

If windows requires a reboot after detection then it can mean one of two below :

1. Driver conflict/mismatch.
2. Device using unsupported/specific protocol (CB/CBI/Authentication etc etc).
(* I'm still looking for suitable drivers for these protocols.)

I have also made changes to the ejectusb utility above. Please use the updated version instead.

Rgds

[erpdude8]

MDGx, on Dec 20 2007, 11:43 AM, said:

* Unofficial Windows 95B/95C OSR 2.x USB Storage Driver Pack (USBSTR95) Beta 1:
http://www.msfn.org/...howtopic=109521
USBSTR95 [196 KB, free, English]:
http://www.mdgx.com/spx/USBSTR95.EXE

Keep up the good work.

MSFN forum topic link outdated and no longer working. Use this for now:
http://www.msfn.org/board/Usb-Storage-Driv...95-t109521.html

I'll give the USB Storage driver pack for Win95 OSR2.x a test drive on my cousin's emachine computer this week since it has two usb ports.

[MDGx]

Corrected URL in all posts of this topic:

* Unofficial Windows 95B/95C OSR 2.x USB Storage Driver Pack (USBSTR95) Beta 1 adds native USB support for most internal + external USB devices:
http://www.msfn.org/...howtopic=109521
USBSTR95 [196 KB, free, English]:
http://www.mdgx.com/spx/USBSTR95.EXE

FYI:
All MSFN forum URLs must have index.php now, otherwise they don't work anymore.
Example:
- old, non-working URL:
www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=109521
- new, working URL:
www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=109521

HTH

[erpdude8]

BenoitRen, on Dec 22 2007, 04:01 PM, said:

I did some testing.

I installed with the batch file. When I plugged in the HDD, it still used the SanDisk drivers, so I thought it didn't help. But then, while uninstalling the drivers, I also deleted the key for "USB Mass Storage Port". So I tried again, and this time I could specifiy the driver path. I just pointed at the Program Files directory I had let the extractor put it at before.

Weirdly enough it asked me to reboot after identifying it as "USB Mass Storage Interface". After reboot there were two entries for it: the previous one and "USB Mass Storage Device". But it still didn't work. Unplugged, plugged it back in, now only "USB Mass Storage Device" appeared. I took a look at the HDD with my brother's laptop, and it's an NTFS drive. Ack.

I tried my USB stick, but it got identified as "USB Mass Storage Port", and no drive appeared in My Computer. Looking at Control Panel > System I saw it had a problem. I don't remember exactly what I did at this point. I think I deleted the entry in the register, and tried again, and asked me to reboot this time. I said No and saw that the device had a problem. I figured that it was because I hadn't rebooted yet. Rebooted, still no drive, still a problem.

At this point I uninstalled the whole package and pointed Windows again at the drivers I got from Nathan Lineback. My USB stick works fine again.

I think you are much better off using Nathan's USB Storage drivers for Win95 and ditching PassingBy's USB Storage driver pack, BenoitRen. I've tried using PassingBy's USBSTR95 pack with a Sony Microvault 4GB USB Flash drive I bought back in late July and the drivers won't recognize it. So I remove them and used Nathan's usb storage drivers and those drivers worked with the Sony Microvault 4Gb USB Flash stick. Still, the IOMagic datastation device [which is a multi-card reader usb device] doesn't work with either Nathan's USB Flash driver or PassingBy's USB Storage driver pack. no big loss though.

So I now give PassingBy's Win95 USB Storage Driver pack a grade of D+. NO uninstall option to remove those drivers is another reason why I gave it a low grade.

This post has been edited by erpdude8: 12 September 2008 - 12:53 PM

[Multibooter]

I have made some preliminary tests of the safely-remove-utility EjectUSB_0108b with SDHC card readers and have up to now a positive impression.

I have tested EjectUSB_0108b together with 4 manufacturer-provided Win98SE drivers for SDHC card readers (for Genesys, Myson Century, Alcor and US Best chips). 2 of these drivers (Genesys and Myson Century) come with their own safely-eject-utilities, and 2 don't (Alcor and US Best).

EjectUSB_0108b works fine (except for Bug 2, see below) under Win98SE as safely-remove-utility for SDHC card readers with US Best chips.

EjectUSB_0108b works fine together with other safely-remove-icons in the system tray (i.e. with safely-remove-utilities of drivers of USB mass storage devices which install their own safely-remove-utility): EjectUSB_0108b only added a USB mass storage device to its menu list if that device didn't have its own safely-remove-utility. I have tested this with altogether 4 safely-remove-icons in the system tray: the Genesys icon (USB card reader, USB HDD and USB CD/DVD drive), the Systray.exe icon (used by a Myson Century card reader), the JMicron icon (used by a switchable eSATA-USB enclosure for external 750GB HDD with 4 partitions) and the icon of EjectUSB_0108b (used by a US Best single-card reader and a US Best multi-card reader at the same time).

BUG 1: EjectUSB_0108b did not work for an SDHC card reader with an Alcor chip inside, EjectUSB_0108b just didn't add the Alcor card reader to its removal menu. Whether this is the fault of EjectUSB_0108b or of the Alcor driver, I don't know.

BUG 2: When a multi-card reader (4 slots) with a US Best chip inside is connected, the removal menu of the icon in the system tray displays 4 selectable entries:
Disconnect [i.e. without a drive letter]
Disconnect
Disconnect N: [=last slot/drive letter of multi-card reader]
Disconnect
while an SDHC card was inserted into L:, for example. No cards were inserted in the other slots K,M,N. Clicking on one of the 3 selections without a drive letter will produce the msg: "Usb storage device cannot be removed". Clicking on the selection "Disconnect N:" works ok, with the msg: "Usb storage device successfully removed".

For multi-card readers there should be only a single menu selection, like "Disconnect K,L,M,N", as the Genesys safely-remove-utility has (but Genesys has a problem of multiple-drive-letters with multi-card readers). nusb 3.3 has a very inconvenient menu for multi-card readers: there are 4 entries, one for each slot, and you have to go thru the remove cycle 4 times before you can safely remove a multi-card reader.

BUG 3: EjectUSB_0108b does not work properly when an SDHC card with multiple partitions is inserted in the card reader: The partitions of the SDHC appear, for example, as K: and L: in My Computer, but the removal menu of EjectUSB_0108b only displays one partition (Disconnect K:) [Disconnect K:,L: would have been correct]. Upon trying to safely-remove K: a msg appears: "Usb storage device cannot be removed"

I hope PassingBy will continue to develop this program ; this is the only detached safely-remove-utility for Win98 I know of, for WinXP there are lots.

This post has been edited by Multibooter: 23 November 2008 - 12:09 PM

[Drugwash]

I'm interested in a similar utility that can actually power off the USB port when the drive is disconnected. I'm not sure what effects could have the intermittent contacts when the device is physically pulled out while still powered on.

[hotwheels09]

thought i would pass on feedback.thank you for this ejectusb app passingby.
it works great as i'm using it on a 2gb sandisk titanium on win95.
i also added to the startup on windows so it's there all the time in the toolbar.

This post has been edited by hotwheels09: 12 June 2009 - 10:38 AM