I have recently installed Bitdefender 2008 collection.
My problem is that when I try to mount a drive letter in Acronis True Image nothing happens.
I have to uninstall Bitdefender in order to let it work.
It is not enough to disable Bitdefender at startup.
Does anyone know about a similar problem?
Thanks.

No problem here with Windows XP SP2, Acronis True Image Home v. 10 and BitDefender Internet Security 2008.

What are your versions of Windows and the other products?

Hello Thopaga

I've moved this topic because it isn't malware related. Try to perform a windows update and download and install the latest acronis version.

Best regards
Niels

Hi Bluesprite.
That was nice to hear, since I have the same as you.
I will try Bitdefender Internet Security 2008 instead of Bitdefender Total Security 2008.
Thanks.

Sorry same problem.
After Acronis True Image mounts a new drive letter and then it starts to hang.
It is supposed to run AUTORUN to mount files and folders on the virtual disk.

So in some way BitDefender seems to have done something with the registry under installation.
If I uninstall BitDefender everything is back to normal.

Windows XP SP2.
Acronis True Image Home v. 10
BitDefender Internet Security 2008.
Motherboard MSI P4M900M2 with integrated graphic and sound.

Any suggestions?
BitDefender is first on toptenreviews, but maybe I should try another product.
Thanks.

I have to say that I didn't have any problems with Acronis during the beta phase of BitDefender 2008, when I had the Total Security suite. Did you contact the Live Support on that issue? In general the new versions exhibit certain issues, they're still being polished, so to say. Please check this post and then contact Live Support, they may be able to help you:http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=2072&view=findpost&p=10953

Have you tried to disable the antivirus protection and see if it affects the issue? Do you mount the archive in read-only or read-write mode?

I just did a little additional testing and I can confirm that the attempt to mount an Acronis image to a drive letter results in complete system hang after which I have to reset the computer. However, that only occurs if the image is mounted in read-only mode. Mounting in read/write mode doesn't cause the problem.

Disabling the antivirus protection doesn't affect the issue.

Hi Bluesprite.
Thanks for kind help.
Same with me, read/write works.
Do you have good experience with BitDefender or do you think there are many bugs?
I like the interface and need to decide soon.
Before I was using Norton, but I am a little tired of that product.
Thanks.

I have a very good experience with BitDefender. I haven't experienced any serious bugs which compromise security. Sure, there are a few minor glitches but the 2008 version is quite new and I'd expect them to be fixed within a few weeks. My experience with Norton is far from good, and although I've never been infected while I had it a few years ago, it also slowed down my system too much and used a lot of memory. In the end, it is you who can decide which is best for you. Use the BitDefender trial until you're certain that it does the job for you, before you purchase it.

I'm running XP Pro SP2. , with Acronis® True Image Home® version 10.0 (build 4,942) with BitDefender Antivirus 2008 . And after reading this thread , I attempted to mount my latest Acronis drive image back up in read mode and the operation failed and froze up my computer. I had to power off to reset .
But when I tried to mount the same drive image , in read/write mode the mount drive image operation was successful .
There is some issue here . I wonder if disabling the BitDefender registry checker , while mounting a image in read mode would help ?

It's more likely that BitDefender tries to take write control over the mounted Acronis image and when it can't, it locks up. That's not related to the registry.

Acronis recently released version 11 of True Image Home product. I tried mounting a backup archive in read only mode and my system didn't lock up. May be worth investigating and hopefully you can get the upgrade for free.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll look into it.

I have Bitdefender 2008 with Acronis True Image Workstation 9.1 and cannot mount my archive files as virtual drives without experiencing a system hang.

When I uninstall Bitdefender, I am able to mount an archive as a virtual disk successfully.

I did not have problems with Bitdefender Version 10.

This problem needs to be fixed.

I have BitDefender 2008 & True Image 11 (both latest version). And they still froze on mounting an image (read-only). I also used True Image 10 & BitDefender 10 together too, they froze when I tried to mount an image as well, in both read/write and read-only. So I am thinking this is a persistent problem throughout the releases.

Personally, since I am restoring my files, I have just uninstalled BitDefender at the moment. I don't constantly mount backup images, so its not a huge problem for me, but it is a minor annoyance. Hopefully this will be fixed.

Let's hope so !

Well, at the moment, I decided to switch to NOD32. Definitely, not experiencing any of the problems I was having while on BD2008. And quite a bit of performance boost too.

BD anti virus 2008 is not 100% compatible with Acronis 9.0 Build3854 as it will not allow me to mount any Acronis Drives for individual file recovery in either the Read-only or Read-Write mode. I was able to do a full and an incremental Acronis backup with no problems. At least that was better than Norton Anti-Virus & Personal Firewall that prevented me from running Acronis by giving me an Acronis error E000101F4 "Can't find any hard disks" also Norton prevented me from installing Acronis 11.0. I'm going to trial Trend Micro and Computer Associates programs next.

I guess I got in too big a hurry, as it appears that BD anti virus 2008 did not prevent Acronis from mounting my Acronis Drives. Acronis still had the problem after I uninstalled BD 2008. I'm going to re-install DB 2008 and continue the Trial.

This issue is still present with BitDefender Total Security 2008 (trial version) and Acronis TrueImage Home 11. Trying to mount a backup image in either mode (read-only or read/write) causes TrueImage to hang (though it does not consume CPU cycles). After a minute, Windows hangs completely and the computer needs to be rebooted.

Dear Ken,

I could mount and unmount an image without any problems I also use Acronis True Image 11 Home. I also have BitDefender Total Security 2008 installed. It takes some times before the image is mounted. Windows doesn't hang on my computer. How big is the image that you wanted to mount? It could be that Acronis have problems with mounting large images. Alternatively you can just explore your storage device of your image.

But : When I tried to mount a larger image than 3,47 GB my computer freezes. I am more thinking about Acronis not able to mount image that are larger than a few GB's.

Best regards
Niels

Hi, Niels, I have Acronis True Image 11 Home too. At the moment I don't have BitDefender installed and I am able to mount a 7 GB Acronis image in read/write mode with no problem. Also, when I tested the freezing issue for the first time a couple of months ago, I uninstalled BitDefender to see it computer would freeze, and then it didn't. With the same image mounted and BitDefender installed, it froze each time.

Dear bluesprite,

I found a work-around that worked for me. Right click on the BitDefender icon near the system clock click on open advanced settings,go to the antivirus section,click on the exceptions tab To do that press on the add button,follow the steps,press on browse select the drive letter of your external drive where your image is stored. To finish press on apply. Let the exception screen open now use the mount option in Acronis or by right clicking on the image. Wait till the drive letter of your virtual drive is highlighted now exclude it also in BitDefender. Now your pc will not freeze anymore. This was the case for me.

Best regards
Niels

I conducted some further tests. On an identical laptop with Kaspersky Internet Security 6, TrueImage Home 11 mounts images in 3-7 seconds (tested with 7GB and 22GB images).

Unfortunately, Niels' workaround is impossible to perform. The reason is that you can't add a non-existing path to the Antivirus exception list in BitDefender, and as soon as TrueImage has assigned the drive letter, the computer becomes unresponsive. I tested that it did not return to operational condition in 30 minutes, upon which I rebooted.

For example, let's say I have drives C:, D: and E: in my computer. E: is the external backup drive where I store my TrueImage images. When I want to mount an image, I can tell TrueImage to use any drive letter, let's say K:. Then, I go to BitDefender's antivirus exception list and type "E:\" (the external drive) in the path field, click "Add". Everything works fine. But when I type "K:\" in the path field, the "Add" button does nothing. I can't add the path because it's not present in Windows yet.

Now, I click on the button in TrueImage to mount the image. After a few seconds, TrueImage pops up a dialog saying that the drive letter was assigned successfully. Upon clicking OK in this dialog, TrueImage proceeds to mount the image to the drive letter. However, typing "K:\" into the BitDefender exception field and clicking "Add" at any point in the above process, including before the dialog first comes up, causes both BitDefender and TrueImage to become unresponsive.

Additionally, even if this workaround did work, it would not be ideal because then I would always have to mount the image to the same drive letter, which may not be possible due to additional USB hard disks, or perhaps wanting to mount more than one image at the same time.

One final addition. I created a temporary drive "K:" by mapping a network share to it, then added the path "K:\" to BitDefender's antivirus exclusion list (in addition to the "E:\" external drive). Then I disconnected the network share and checked that BitDefender still had both "E:\" and "K:\" in its exclusion list. But when I went to mount the image in TrueImage to the drive letter K:, the computer became unresponsive anyway. So, the workaround failed.

Dear Kern,

First attach your external hard disc wait till it's being detected by windows now you can exclude it in BitDefender exceptions. You have to use the mount option once you open Acronis True Image.
If you see the the icon that Acronis is creating a virtual station at that moment you can select your external drive from the exception tab. I retried it many times and my computer didn't freeze. You have to let the exception screen open. The mount process succeed after some time you can see the new created drive letter that you also can exclude. Now you can explore your mounted image.

Best regards
Niels

Niels,

As I already said in my previous post, even if I do exclude the drive letter where the Acronis virtual drive will be eventually mounted, both BitDefender and Acronis still become unresponsive. It should not matter what hard drive is present at the time of exclusion - as long as the correct drive letter is present in the BitDefender exclusion list, right?

Anyway, even if this was not the case, I also already said that both BitDefender and Acronis become unresponsive before the drive letter for the Acronis virtual drive becomes visible anywhere in Windows.

I do not know why your workaround does not work for me. Perhaps it's because mounting an image takes so little time on my computer.

What I would like to know, however, if the BitDefender development team is aware of this issue and if any compatibility fixes are going to be released at some point.

Dear Kern,

If I understand what you have written is that you first have excluded your external hard disc before starting the mounting process. Drive letters can change in windows so that could be also the issue this happens if you attach more usb devices. Give your external hard disc a name so you are sure that it's the correct drive letter that you excluded.

I didn't changed the drive letter of the new virtual station that Acronis created. Because if you always change the new letter of the virtual station letter than the incorrect drive letter is being set in the exceptions tab in BitDefender.

Did you already tried a repair installation of Acronis True Image and BitDefender?

This is only a user forum. I already contacted support and they agree that my work-around is the right solution.

Best regards
Niels

Niels,

You're right in that I did exclude my external hard drive before mounting the image in Acronis, but only 30 seconds before it. I did not insert any extra USB drives in the meantime. As you say, I cannot make sure that the external hard drive always has the same drive letter. This is in fact why I said that the workaround is not optimal.

However, like I also said before, the virtual drive always has the same letter, because I manually set it in Acronis as "K:". If I did not set it manually, then it could indeed change as other drives were inserted, and I would have to add it to the exclusion list every time I wanted to mount an image.

Let me see if I understood you correctly. It's not enough to have the drive letter of the external hard drive (that I know to be the correct one and that will not change during my testing) in the BitDefender exclusion list, but instead I must remove it and re-add the exclusion every time I mount an image in Acronis? And the same also applies to the Acronis virtual drive?

This behaviour has been confirmed on two different computers (one laptop, one desktop), both using Windows XP Pro. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling both BitDefender and Acronis on the desktop, but the results are still the same. I have not customized any of BitDefender's settings.

Thanks for contacting tech support for me. It's good to be able to communicate in English.

Finally, is there a reason why non-existing paths cannot be added to the BitDefender exclusion list?

Dear Kern,

If you always keep the drive letter that Acronis suggested it should work. I can't find any explanation why it doesn't work on your computer. I only have excluded the default letter of the virtual station and the drive letter of my external hard disc. I don't need to add it again to the exceptions section of the antivirus section. If you don't let other usb devices attached and attach your external hard disc afterwards than your drive letter will not change. I don't think that your operating system version could be the problem. I have Windows XP Home edition with SP2 installed. Do you have other security programs installed beside BitDefender?

That isn't a BitDefender problem you will see this behaviour in other programs also if you see in Acronis you also can't see the drive letter of your external hard disc when it isn't attached. That is because windows needs to first detect it and assign a letter to it.

Best regards
Niels

Niels,

I understand that drive letters are not visible in Windows when the drives are not available. This is exactly why it would be very useful for me to be able to add a non-existing path in BitDefender. This way, I could exclude the virtual drive before mounting it, instead of having to time my clicks according to how fast Acronis mounts the image, and none of this would be a problem.

Thanks for your help.

Dear Kern,

Good to hear that I you appreciated my help. I am not sure that it's possible to add such a feature. Because programs uses the windows device detect feature for showing drive letters in their program.I am not 100 % sure about it. You can always ask it at support if it's possible.

Best regards
Niels

Hi, I have tried the method of setting BitDefender to run the Z:\ as an exception, as well as my D:\Backup directory as an exception. The images are in the D: location, and that Z: is where I am using Acronis True Image 10 to mount (in read only mode) my image. It doesn't work, I still get the system hang and have to restart. Am I missing a step from the above descriptions? I'm using BitDefender as a trial, and was about to buy it, but am not so sure with this glaring problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks! Frozenbase

PS: To whoever noted you must uninstall BitDefender to run Acronis True Image mounting...not true. Even if this above description doesn't work, then you can run msconfig and turn off the VirusScan service, restart, then it will work fine. This service is the software that calls up vsserv.exe to run. Vsserv.exe is the actual culprit. Unfortunatly, it cannot be killed from task manager.

I'm using WinXP Pro SP2, BitDefender Internet Security 2008 Trial, and Acronis True Image 10 Build 4942.

Dear frozenbase,

I didn't have to uninstall BitDefender or disabling the virus shield service. I use Acronis True Image 11.

For the rest I also have Windows XP Home edition with SP 2 installed.
It worked on my computer. I also had the freeze problem.

Plug in your external hard disc wait till it's being detected by windows.
What you have to do first before starting Acronis: right click on the red BitDefender icon near the system clock press on open advanced settings. Click on the exceptions tab press on the add button browse and select the drive letter of your external hard disk press on add,finish. After that you have to press on apply once you are in the main screen of the exceptions. Now let the exception screen open at the step where you can browse to the letter you must see the drop down menu so you can exclude the drive letter that Acronis will to the virtual station. Start Acronis. Now start the mounting option check which letter Acronis is going to give to the station. Press next now wait till that drive letter is visible in the dropdown menu for excluding to be scanned by the BitDefender realtime protection press on add,finish and apply.

Best regards
Niels

Greetings All:

This is my first post here. I hope it works OK. I have had all the similar freezing given in the above posts when attempting a mount with Acronis TI 11 with BitDefender Internet Security 2008 and Windows XP Home, SP2 and Windows XP Pro X64. I found the following workaround in another forum: Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the Archive file you want to mount. Instead of mounting the archive, open it with Windows Explorer. You can the open any file or folder in the archive as you would the original files or folders. You can read, copy or whatever the folders or files without mounting the archive.

I don't like using Windows Explorer; instead I use My Computer to navigate to the drive, folder, and file directly by double clicking on them. If you only want to go to a particular file or folder, this procedure may be easier then opening TI and then attempting a mount.

Enjoyed reading everyone's comments and suggestions. Best wishes to all!

Peace,
GrayBird

Niels, your solution does not work on my machine. I even uninstalled my paid-for Acronis 10 to install the True Image 11 trial and it doesn't matter. Are you sure you are selecting "read only" mode? The read-write mode works w/o any exceptions in BitDefender. I've tried exceptions on the drive the image is on, the drive it is to be mounted on, the drive that I think it would default to if I didn't select a different drive letter, etc, etc. Crash every time. Anyone else having success with this approach?

I'm quite annoyed that BitDefender support has been useless on this issue. Are they trying to figure out how to fix it? Or do they not care that their software deters other software on our machines?

The approach to exploring is nice though. You don't have to actually explore. You can just double-click it. This mode is read-only it turns out. Simple and effective.

Dear frozenbase,

I must agree with you I also have now the freeze problem. The problem could be caused by one of the BitDefender updates and upgrades.
The strange thing in the past I was able to mount an image in the read-only mode without adding execptions. For me in the past the read/write mode froze my computer which isn't the case now.

Some time ago when I mentioned my work-around they said that that was the only thing to try.
In the meantime the only thing what you can do is what GrayBird suggested.

Best regards
Niels

As a "BitDefender Evangelist", do you have any pull w/ the support team? Do they know about this issue, or care? Do they plan to fix it? It really is bad code to cause other problems in other software. Thanks for all of your replies!

Dear frozenbase,

No I don't have any direct contact with support people. But I can contact someone who works also for BitDefender (Softwin) so that person might report it. I can't guarantee anything.The best way is keep asking it via live chat.

You can try this is also exclude the installation directory of Acronis: C:\Program Files\Acronis. Navigate to start,my computer go to the tools menu,select folder options,view/display,check the option show hidden files and folders press on apply and ok. Now go back to the exceptions section BitDefender expand the drive letter of your current hard disk or drive where windows is installed on go to the documents and settings,open your user account folder,navigate further to application data,Acronis and exclude that folder also.

Best regards
Niels

Niels,

Did giving exception to the Acronis folder work for you? That is, are you now able to run the mounted image in readonly mode?

Thanks!

Dear frozenbase,

Unfortunately that also didn't work for me. But Acronis stores also drivers and parts in the windows more specific into the drivers and system 32 subfolder that at the moment I didn't exclude yet. At the moment I am in contact with BitDefender support as with Acronis support. I will post any updates in this topic. I don't know if I will receive a reply still before the week-end.

Best regards
Niels

Update 1:

I just received a reply of Acronis. They are currently investigating the issue. More information I don't have received yet.

that's interesting if they help. They've not been helpful to me when I emailed their support.

Greetings all:

I have found that Acronis has been quite responsive to my inquiries and usually with 24 hours. So far they have on four occasions asked me to try various things including downloading some patches and re-installing TI 11. Each time my reply was it didn't fix it -- the computer freezes after closing the window stating that the drive letter assignment was successful. This time I got the following reply: "we will need to escalate this case to our Expert Team so that they could provide a possible solution. To do it, please provide us with the following information:"

The info requested was detailed system info file; a log file and one other. If anyone wants the specifics, I will be glad to provide it. Lets see what Acronis's "Expert Team" can do. Even if the problem is BitDefender, they may have a fix on their part to make the two compatible. Anybody holding their breath?

Peace, Graybird

I'm holding my breath. Did you note that the readonly feature is the only problem, but when writable, it works fine?

Update 2

I just received a reply of BitDefender support they were able to reproduce it in their labs. At the moment they are working for a fix which will be delivered trough the update process.

Greetings frozenbase;

No I did not specify read-only problem and that it works in read-write mode. However, I just added that info to my previous reply and sent it to Acronis. They now should know if there was a doubt. I'm glad to hear that BitDefender reproduced it and is working on a fix. Between the two companies, maybe we will get a good fix.

Peace, Graybird

Well you 2 must be liked better than I I tried emailing both companies to no avail. But hopefully your efforts with them will lead somewhere.

Update 3:

I just received an email from Acronis support where they told me that the fix will be implemented in a next build. That was the only information they gave me.

Hi Niels, nice "seeing" you again!

I just wanted to join the queue waiting for the update of Bitdefender 2008. I do have exactly the same problem and urgently need the fix, because I mount images quite frequently (in read-only mode, of course). Since the problem never occurred in Version 10 I am wondering what change was implemented in Antivirus 2008 which causes this behavior.

Anything I can do to speed up the solution finding at Bitdefender, please, let me know.

Best regards,

LittleAlf