Widcomm Uninstalltion wipes out the computer. New Virus or Windows Voulnerability.

Anonymous

VERY SERIOUS BUG/VULNERABILITY WIDCOMM BLUETOOTH SOFTWARE

Uninstalling Widcomm bluetooth software from control panel wipes out all data, programs and the boot sector on the computer.

I have tried to report this to microsoft but can't find out how. Please report this to the appropirate department.

I have windows 7 home premium. I tried to update my widcomm bluetooth software by downloading and installing the upgrade. The installation fails giving error 1935. After that the existing widcomm software becomes nonoperational. I tried to uninstall the widcomm bluetooth software from control panel the message "please wait while windows configures Bluetooth software". As it works all files from the hard drive are deleted, the desktop becomes empty, all open programs are deleted, all app data is deleted, the start menu becomes empty and finally it asks to reboot. After reboot the computer gives boot error message and does not boot up.

I had to install windows again to get the computer working. All data was lost. The anti virus was up to date and recent scans were all good. Windows was up to date. It appears that the error is from windows uninstaller some how going haywire when trying to remove widcomm bluetooth software. After restoring my computer I installed widcomm bluetooth software, copied the hard drive and tried to uninstall widcomm again. Results were exactly the same and I got screen shots from the beginning to the end. I have tried it on multiple computers with the same results (cloned the disk before)

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Anonymous

Hi widcommbug,

yes, things are getting wild here...I don´t know why.

Maybe I can help you, here is what I did- and it worked:

I´ve deinstalled all versions of widcomm bluetooth software with the windows program deinstallation in the system tools.
I´ve restarted the PC
I´ve cleaned up the registry with a tool (I do not rely on any, I´ve used registry mechanic, which is the same as Norton Utillities 14- but it works more or less)
I´ve downloaded the latest version of widcomm bluethooth software here:

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f237/widcomm-bluetooth-driver-6-4-0-670-a-1197332/

click on "deposit files", and you´ll get version 6.3.0.7000 of Lenovo widcomm bluetooth software which is the same

as original widcomm bluetooth.

Download it.
Extract it to a folder
Only use the file Broadcom_Bluetooth_6.4.0.670.exe out of the zip archive. Drop the rest.
If you´ll click on this .exe file you´ll only get some weird screen all filled up with ????, so you´ll have to use a different way:
Exctract Broadcom_Bluetooth_6.4.0.670.exe once again to a folder and then click on the file setup.exe

Then, the software will install correctly.

Well, this is weird, agreed. I found it out only a few trials. Remember, this software is leaked from Lenovo, but

it is the latest version I found, it is 100% Widcomm Bluetooth Software.

Here you have prove of what Widcomm is doing:

It does not provide the latest widcomm bluetooth software for free, but only for notebook manufacturers.

Widcomm doesn´t give a single hint on this policy on their homepage- private customers seem to be

unimportant for Widcomm- and still no amendment with the update bug in this software- really poor.

But no way to kid me.

Andy

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97 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-12-05T18:09:06+00:00

There is a solution to the "destroy all disk contents" issue when using updating the Bluetooth software but unfortunately, by the time someone runs into the problem their data is gone! It's hard to believe that this problem is still out there, destroying data and no one at Broadcom or Microsoft has bothered to pursue a fix. Unless you have a backup of your data, there isn't much hope. Once I was able to restore my data, the way to update the software is to go to the Add/Remove programs option in Control Panel and remove the package BEFORE running the installation of the update. Since the software is already uninstalled, the uninstaller that goes rogue and eats your data won't be invoked and you can just reinstall the latest version. That worked for me and I can tell you I was VERY nervous during the install. But it worked and that is the only way I know of to get the software updated: Uninstall from Control Panel and then re-install.

Bummer you had to go through this. All of us who posted here know your pain......
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Anonymous

2013-12-04T19:26:03+00:00

Has anyone found the solution yet?

Serious Issue and I lost my entire data.

I wanted to install Bluetooth software and went to Dell downloads section and used my service Tag number for recommended downloads.

Downloaded the software from dell website, although AVAST popped up saying that this is unusual file.

As the file was from Dell, I decided to ignore the AVAST message(which proved to be the blunder I made)

on trying to re-install, shows uninstallation wizard and it took atleast 25 minutes and then restarted on its own. On restart, all my desktop is wiped out.

I thought HDD might not have loaded properly and then tried to restart again.

WINDOWS CRASHED.

went to start up repair mode and could not repair and recover from there on.

Went to advance recovery options using command prompt and there I only see X drive listed and could not jump to other drives.

I'd like to Sue dell(for recommending the software) and also Broadcom for making one of the shitty software. if some one has already done it, I will join.

Please let me know if anyone was successful ever to recover old data . and give me your suggestions
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Anonymous

2013-06-27T14:43:51+00:00

Ditto all the above. I had decided it must've been a disk corruption until I stumbled upon this thread for the Bluetooth removal.

I took the disk offline when the recovery said it stated there was no OS Loader and it could not repair it. I mounted as a secondary disk and took ownership and overwrote all inheritance and started searching for files. Several folders were there but no files.

for posterity:

Installed WIDCOMM a few months back

on WIN7 Pro - no errors.

Decided I no longer needed it - uninstalled

Reboot came up with no OS

Repair says Can't fix - details said no OS Loader

Investigating the drive after overwriting ownership and permissions

Most personal files missing, only recent folders left but still with no files.

After 3 years I do not expect Microsoft or Broadcom to fix.
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Anonymous

2013-05-31T23:53:03+00:00

I know Microsoft is not to blame for the Broadcom bug, but they could at least put a soft block on the installer. That way, anyone trying to run their installer would be warned that they must uninstall first, or face a high chance of losing everything. (Just make sure that warning doesn't mince words!)

Hopefully, that would also motivate Broadcom to fix the thing!
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