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

2010-08-26T02:19:58+00:00

Hi Emkay1001,

I had also trouble with version 6.2.1.2600. I found that this version is outdated. So I loaded down version 6.3.0.4010. It can be found on a Russian Server here:

http://www.x-drivers.com/catalog/drivers/bluetooth_adapters/companies/broadcom/models/widcomm_btw/17228.html

The server is very slow, it took me about 1h to download 51 Mbytes.

During installation I think I found the issue of 6.2.1.2600: It does not stop the Bluetooth COM server correctly and therefore the installation is messed up.

Version 6.3.0.4010 worked much better, cleaned all older versions properly and- believe it or not- after a restart of my computer everthing´s fine now.

Cheers,

Andy
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Anonymous

2010-08-22T19:44:33+00:00

Hi PeteHelgren,

Keep in mind I am not a Microsoft employee or even an authorized spokesman, though my thinking

is my own - it can certainly be incorrect.

Certainly I would be very upset if this had happened to be, no doubt about it. However Microsoft

probably never ran the uninstall routine as they probably change to a clean test platform between

changing the devices rather than uninstalling. Maybe the signed driver should also certify that it

can be uninstalled properly as well though that is not part of the present system.

"What is a signed driver?

A signed driver is a device driver that includes a digital signature. A digital signature is an electronic

security mark that can indicate the publisher of the software, as well as whether someone has changed

the original contents of the driver package. If a driver has been signed by a publisher that has verified

its identity with a certification authority, you can be confident that the driver actually comes from that

publisher and hasn't been altered."

What is a signed driver?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/What-is-a-signed-driver

Driver Signing Requirements for Windows

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/install/drvsign/default.mspx

Has there been any response from Widcomm?

Rob Brown - MS MVP - Windows Desktop Experience : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.
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Anonymous

2010-08-22T19:11:10+00:00

I *just* experienced this as well on my Windows 7 Ultimate laptop. I blogged about ithere . Does Microsoft not care about this? This is a Microsoft signed driver and it totally destroys a Windows 7 installation. I see no notifications,no updates, nothing!

This is a terrible reflection on Microsoft quality (if there is any left).
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Anonymous

2010-08-10T16:04:05+00:00

Yep, I too experienced the "delete everything on the hard drive" problem with trying to uninstall the Widcomm bluetooth drivers so I could update them. All of my personal files from my user profile where wiped out. All programs where wiped out, everything. It seems like the only things that weren't deleted were running or protected system files. The worst part about it was that I never backed anything up, and I was actually planning on doing one after fixing the bluetooth drivers.

Luckily, Windows 7 came to the rescue with Shadow Copies that it had of the entire drive from the day before (located under "Previous Versions" in the drive's properties dialog) and I was able to recover everything. However, the damage was so severe that I didn't even bother to recover the entire drive except for my personal files. I ended up reinstalling Windows 7, and have since got my computer back up and running again.

I have vowed to NEVER install the Widcomm bluetooth drivers until this issue gets fixed. I now use Microsoft's generic bluetooth drivers which is actually sufficient enough for me since I used bluetooth for my keyboard and mouse, although I'm not quite sure on how I'll be able to get my bluetooth headset working without the drivers.

Let this serve as a warning for anyone that has the Widcomm drivers. DO NOT attempt to uninstall them. It will wipe your computer clean! Microsoft and Broadcam really need to get their act together and fix this very serious issue. I can smell the stench of lawsuits in the air...

Proud owner of a 60GB PS3!
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