Software Update - WD SmartWare Version 1.6.4 for Windows (10/10/12)

geotsot · November 1, 2012, 6:01am

Hello,

I just upgraded WD Smartware v1.6.2 to 1.6.4 and the firmware of My Book LIve to 02.32.05-046. Since this upgrade and after restarting both the laptop and the network drive the backup utility doesn’t backup my files with error “Attempted to access a missing method”.

Any clues why is this happening?

prenderle · November 2, 2012, 11:52pm

I just updated the Smartware to 1.6.4 on one of my computers after updating the firmware. Noticed the same problem as Lubomyr posted 3 weeks ago:

"I just updated my WD SmartWare to version 1.6.4 and now when I launch SmartWare, on the Home page, My Book Live is locked and when I click on the image to unlock the drive, I receive a message stating: Authentication Failed - Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0X80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)). The issue is on my laptop, running Windows Vista. I have no issues on my 2 desktops, one running Windows 7 and the other one running Windows XP.

I also have the latest firmware installed for MyBookLive - version 02.32.05-046. Everything worked fine before I updated the WD SmartWare software. Help!"

I need help too. Version 1.4.2.5 works on my other computers with the same drive. Can I go back to the previuos version?

waz7man · November 3, 2012, 6:31pm

WDC should withdraw the 1.6.4 upgrade immediately … I am shocked/horrified to see the number of users adversely effected by 1.6.4, my self included.

Kohler · November 3, 2012, 8:18pm

I can confirm that version 1.6.4 simply doesn’t work in my environment. I had to roll back to version 1.6.2.

I’m running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit with MyBookLive Duo.

geotsot · November 3, 2012, 10:41pm

Problem seems to be solved. After trying numerous restarts of my laptop and reinstalling of WD Smartware I checked the version of WD Smartware and realized that it wasn’t updated. Though the updater was successful the version remained 1.6.2…

So I uninstalled the 1.6.2 version and run the updater again. After restarting the laptop the version of WD Smartware was 1.6.4 and the backup started running and verifying the files normally.

cmy77 · November 4, 2012, 7:16am

i bought my passport 1tb. installed the software, then upgraded to 1.6.4. No way i could run the smartware software anymore. saw the ugly comments on the forum and returned the product. 2 months later, i saw 50% discount on 500gb my passport. couldn’t resist and had to buy. the update problem of smartware still continues. this time i stick to the original software version. SUMMARY: NEVER UPDATE TO 1.6.4

downsides for me: lost almost a working day (8 hours) in total!! (including the second purchase)+lots of fight to return the first purchased product+2 months lost

upsides for me: saved 2 hundred bucks.

upsides-downsides<-thousand dollars worth for me! HATE YOU GUYS!

Kohler · November 5, 2012, 2:35pm

After the message from geotsot I went to my other notebook that is running Windows Home Premium 64 bit. I then upgraded from 1.6.2 to 1.6.4 by removing 1.6.2 first, rebooting, then installing 1.6.4. The version 1.6.4 is now working and the backup is being performed.

However, I did the same thing in my Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit notebook and it is not working. No file is being backed up and SmartWare shows the message “the network path was not found” for every file.

Could it be a problem of my network configuration?

cheytac01 · November 5, 2012, 11:16pm

When accessing the My Book Live through WD Smartware, the drive is not capable of being locked. Only certain My Book and Passport USB drives support drive locking feature.

Was the backup to the MBLive from Vista to a public share or private share?
Do you have the name of the share you are backing up to as shown in WD Smartware screen?
Have you tried completely uninstalling and re-installing WD Smartware 1.6.4.7?

cheytac01 · November 5, 2012, 11:40pm

Do you recall what version of WD Smartware you were on before updating to version 1.6.4.7?

If you tried to uninstall and then re-install WD Smartware 1.6.4.7 did it resolve the issue?

JohnnyCheung · November 11, 2012, 2:37am

Hi,

I tried to upgrade my Smartware from version 1.6.2 to 1.6.4. It was successful on my Windows Vista PC. But it was not successful on my Windows 7 32-bit PC and Windows 7 64-bit PC. Both Windows 7 PCs showed the same following error message: WD Smartware cannot be installed. Installtion unsuccessful (Error Code: 1603). Please try again or contact WD Support for assistance.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Johnny

NonTechie · November 13, 2012, 3:24pm

I just upgraded last night and then shut it down and when I turned it on this morning it wouldn’t go past a ms dos screen that was empty. I did this twice before starting in safe mode and doing two system restores two levels back to get rid of the problems. But I everytime I try to open a program (any program – Word, Excel, etc) I get an error message from the WDContext Menu Handler saying it “Failed to load locale file - C:\Program Files\Western Digital\WD Smartware\Locale\WE Smartware.tmx.” This error message completely locks up my system until I get it to go away and it won’t go away until I click on the “x” or OK about 5-6 times. It . When I connected the WD Passport Drive the screen came up with the word “generic” in every tab and in every section of the screen image. It was totally unable to function. I tried calling tech support and the guy in the Dominican Republic told me to call back in an hour when level 2 techs come in. This is taking hours to deal with this problem. I wish I had never done the “upgrade.” I have Windows Vista, with all the updates in place and plenty of power and memory. I have had so many technical issues with the software sucking up my CPU power that I rarely even want to try using the Passport anymore because I am always afraid of another software issue.

NonTechie · November 13, 2012, 5:41pm

After my last reply a couple hours ago I just spent the last 3 hours dealing with WD level 2 service having them repair the corrupted software caused by a system restore, I found out that what I thought was my original system crash was actually a normal process for WD. I had turned off my system after an upgrade, and when I turned it on again I got a black screen with a blank MS DOS window that just sat there. I couldn’t get rid of it and couldn’t do anything else so I thought the computer was locked up. IT TURNS OUT THAT IS THE NORMAL SCREEN DISPLAY WHEN THE SYSTEM IS REINITIALIZING AFTER AN UPGRADE. IF I HAD KNOWN THAT I COULD HAVE WAITED LONGER AND THE UPGRADE WOULD HAVE WORKED. WD NEEDS TO PUT A NOTICE ON THAT SCREEN SAYING " SYSTEM INITIALIZING, PLEASE WAIT" OR SOMETHING, SO I WOULD KNOW TO WAIT. Instead I rebooted the system twice before finally deciding my system had crashed and doing a system restore that ended up corrupting the WD software. I wasted 5 hours on this problem, when it could have been solved by a simple notice on the screen telling me to wait while the system boots. WD needs to fix this for future updates. This is very confusing! What a waste of time. Thankfully the tech knew what he was doing and got everything fixed again.

headscratcher · November 14, 2012, 2:06am

To NonTechie,

Sounds like quite a harrowing experience!

How exactly did the Level 2 Tech get your system back working?

From what you said, it sounds like the update goes deep into the OS, and may modify the Master Boot Record. But I’m only guessing. I tried everything I knew to recover my hard drive , but was unsuccessful.

PAR_BR · November 14, 2012, 2:20am

I’m trying to update from v1.5.1.6 to v1.6.4.

When I run the WD SmartWare Upgrader.msi file the only 2 prompts I receive are “preparing to install” and then “wait untill we collect the necessary information”. Then nothing else happens even if I wait for a while and then run the upgrader again. After restarting my Win7 laptop the Smartware version remains 1.5.1.6.

In Control Panel/Programs and Features I find a WD Software Upgrader entry but there is no such program at Start/All programs.

Need help

Watchful · November 19, 2012, 2:39pm

Hello PAR-BR,

I’m running Windows XP and a WD Passport Essential 1TB.

Although the program is described as an Update it is really an Updated Program.

My experience is that it is best to completely remove the previous version of software using Add/Remove Programs and run a registry cleaner (either an MS Tool or CCleaner) before updating, as others have mentioned. You also need to have all the latest versions of other software installed as described by WD (ie .NET Framework etc).

Simply updating may carry forward any registry problems and I have also found it takes much longer than removing and replacing.

I have also experienced the Command Prompt window issue when I restarted at the end of the update, as Non-Techie mentioned. The window does close of its own accord but it can take 5 or 10 minutes – maybe more. If you close the window by clicking the x in the top right corner, the update can fail. It is very disconcerting the first time you see it.

As a general comment I found that 1.6.4 is not entirely stable. WDDMStatus.exe and other parts of the program fail to open or close without reason. I don’t need this version for my drive and have reverted to 1.6.2 which works although it seems for me to have no benefits over 1.6.0.

1.6.0 and 1.6.2 appear to do what they should without being intrusive (although I’ve not had to restore files), unlike the previous versions. The WDFME and hidden etilqs files issues have been resolved.

But there are still issues which could be reduced by providing a clear set of instructions:

Installation is not intuitive (see above).

The Command Prompt window issue should be mentioned in the installation instructions even if it doesn’t affect everybody.

The greyed out Backup and Retrieve tabs cause confusion.

The PST files are normally only backed up once a day and less frequently if you ‘Turn Off’ your PC as soon as you close Outlook. I suspect this is a size issue (and other posts report this issue with other types of large files). I can see the reason (perhaps the penalty for curing WDFME and etilqs issues?) and I can live with it but it would be nice to be able to force a backup of these files. The associated message “File Pending Backup” can be confusing.

Hope this helps

PAR_BR · November 21, 2012, 12:00am

Thanks for sharing your experience. I’ll probably wait for the next release. Although v1.5.1.6 works it is CPU consuming.

Difficult to understand way WD can’t provide customers with a stable and straightforward software.

Watchful wrote: