Several issues in AxCrypt 2

[Harry]

After installing AxCrypt 2 I encountered several issues, in my opinion this version is not production ready.
I am working on Windows 10, maybe it works better on other plattforms?
Examples:

• Dialog to set a password: The password seems to need min. 10 chars now, but this was not obvious in the dialog. After several attempts I saw a warning icon. One of my colleagues never saw that icon, and gave up.
• There is no process bar (or it doesn’t work), so I was never sure if the the process is still running or not
• The process just crashes/stopps without warnings in some cases: If system files can not be accessed, If (not encrypted) files with the same name exist, … – this is very frustrating

All in all I almost needed 1 day! (yesterday) to decrypt all files in one folder with multiple subfolders.
The user experience was really disappointing.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Harry!

Thanks for the feedback, although of course I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad first meeting with of AxCrypt 2.

We are entirely dependent on feedback like yours to improve the product, and which we did for a Beta period of almost 6 months with thousands of users. Nevertheless, new things pop up even now! For example, I do agree the ‘set password dialog’ should be more clear in stating the requirements. However, this is the first time I’ve heard of anyone not seeing the standard Windows error indicator icon! We’ll try address that as well.

Let me comment on your issues one by one.

1. Dialog to set a password. Thank you we’ll improve that. You can follow progress in our issue tracker.
2. No progress bar. There is, but I think I know what has happened. It’s a recently noted problem when encrypting/decrypting many files from Windows Explorer is very slow. The progress bar works – but this is before it even starts to work. We have a priority ticket on that too, but it’s in a private repository so I can’t post the link. Sorry. For now, I think drag and drop or using the toolbar buttons or menu selection will be faster and more reliable.
3. The problems with crashes here worry me the most. We’ve not received *any* similar reports. I’m also concerned when you say ‘system files’ – are you attempting to encrypt such?

Especially with #3 above in mind, I’d like to know what version you’re using. And, if I could bother you with a snapshot report after such a crash I’d appreciate it. Enable Debug mode under File | Options | Debug. Then in the Debug menu choose the Snapshot Report and follow the instructions.

Svante

[Harry]

 

 

Thanks for your fast feedback.

Regarding dialog and progress bar:

• The dialog issue has imo a low priority, but please check if the warning icon has issues (because it was not visible on my colleagues pc)
• Progress bar – I guess you are right, encrypting from Windows Explorer is really very slow. This could be one of the problems. I will try to use the toolbar buttons instead.
• System files – I guess some files (with ~ as prefix) where encrypted by accident. If they are in the decrypt queue it seems like they are stopping/crashing the complete process
• Same problem for files like a-jpg.axx, where a.jpg already exists – decrypting seems to stop the complete process

Today I noticed some more and even graver issues:

• Files which were encrypted yesterday can not be decrypted – Error Message = ” is not an AxCrypt file !
• MOV files which were encrypted yesterday can not be decrypted – Error Message = “Exception during processing of ”. [inflating: invalid block type]

So now I have 35 files which can not be decrypred anymore.

I am using the latest version 2.1.1396.0

 

 

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello,

First of all – actually 2.1.1398 is the most recent version. It addresses an issue with how files are handled, but typically you’d see an error message if you had that problem, and it’s been very uncommon.

I’m a bit surprised about your descriptions – we’ve really not had any reports like yours. There has of course been issues, but typically they will result in an error message. I would really appreciate an snapshot report as I described above. It helps understanding what has happened.

I’ve not seen or heard of any problems with file-name collisions or special names. Collisions are supposed to be handled gracefully, either by renaming automatically, or by asking the user depending on the situation. I just tried the scenario with an existing clear text – a dialog is shown asking you to ‘save as’. Perhaps you did not notice this dialog?

The two error messages at the end are not good though. They indicate file corruption. This is typically irreversible. The first one is hard to say, it may also be that you have renamed a file that is not an AxCrypt-file. It should display the name of the file of course, that is a bug. Did you restart the computer or something while the encryption was running? The second message seems indeed like a file that was only partially encrypted and then the computer or AxCrypt crashed. In either case, there should be backup-copies available in the folder (named .bak). Otherwise, I sincerely hope you have backups, although I have the uncomfortable feeling the answer is no.

[Harry]

Sorry, but I never noticed a “save as” dialog.
Maybe the files were corrupted because of a network issue today – I hope that we have some backups.
There are no .bak files in the folder

Exceptions:

———– Exception at 2016-06-02 13:57:52Z ———–
System.IO.IOException: inflating: invalid block type
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.Extensions.StreamExtensions.DecryptTo(Stream encryptedInputStream, Stream plaintextOutputStream, ICryptoTransform transform, Boolean isCompressed)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.V2AxCryptDocument.DecryptTo(Stream outputPlaintextStream)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.AxCryptFile.Decrypt(IAxCryptDocument document, IDataStore destinationStore, AxCryptOptions options, IProgressContext progress)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.AxCryptFile.DecryptFile(IAxCryptDocument document, String decryptedFileFullName, IProgressContext progress)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.FileOperationsController.DecryptFileOperation()
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.FileOperationsController.<DoFileAsync>d__52.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.ParallelFileOperation.<>c__DisplayClass1_1`1.<<DoFilesAsync>b__1>d.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Mono.ThreadWorker.<OnWorkAsync>d__22.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Mono.ThreadWorker.<DoWorkAsync>d__12.MoveNext()

AND

 

———– Exception at 2016-06-02 14:01:02Z ———–
Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.Runtime.FileFormatException: No magic Guid was found.
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.Header.Headers.LoadFromReader(AxCryptReaderBase vxReader)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.Header.Headers.CreateReader(LookAheadStream inputStream)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.AxCryptFactory.CreateDocument(IEnumerable`1 decryptionParameters, Stream inputStream)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.AxCryptFactory.FindDecryptionParameter(IEnumerable`1 decryptionParameters, IDataStore encryptedFileInfo)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.Extensions.DataStoreExtensions.TryFindPassphrase(IDataStore fileInfo, Guid& cryptoId)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.FileOperationsController.TryFindDecryptionKey(IDataStore fileInfo, FileOperationEventArgs e)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.FileOperationsController.<OpenAxCryptDocumentAsync>d__49.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.FileOperationsController.<DecryptAndLaunchPreparationAsync>d__44.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.FileOperationsController.<RunSequentiallyAsync>d__53.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.FileOperationsController.<DoFileAsync>d__52.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Core.UI.ParallelFileOperation.<>c__DisplayClass1_1`1.<<DoFilesAsync>b__1>d.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Mono.ThreadWorker.<OnWorkAsync>d__22.MoveNext()
— Ende der Stapelüberwachung vom vorhergehenden Ort, an dem die Ausnahme ausgelöst wurde —
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
bei System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
bei Axantum.AxCrypt.Mono.ThreadWorker.<DoWorkAsync>d__12.MoveNext()

 

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello,

The first exception indicates a broken or incomplete write of an encrypted file.

The second exception indicates an empty file or a file that is simply not an AxCrypt-file. Each AxCrypt-file starts with a fixed sequence of 16 bytes. This error indicates that the file in question does not. That’s unlikely to be due to corruption.

Do try the case with an existing file on a test file, I’m sure you’ll see the ‘save as’ dialog. Hope you have some backups!

Svante

[Horst]

One more issue with Windows 10.

It works but after installing it under Windows 10 x64 it constantly consumes about 15% CPU
without doing anything.
Version 1 had no such problem and so I’m going back to version 1.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Horst,

There’s absolutely no reason it should consume any CPU at all when not working. We’ve not seen that at all.

Can you please let us know more about when this happens? For example, if you exit it, restart and sign in – does it happen then?

How many (approximately) files do you have in the ‘recent files’ list?

This is by no means by design, and if we could learn more we’ll absolutely fix it as soon as possible.

[Horst]

I had about 10 files in the recent list.
The CPU consumation was there all the time.

I’ve now again updated to version 2.1.1403.0-x64
And currently I can’t reproduce the problem.
I’ll watch it the next few days and report if its coming back.
Thanks for your fast answer.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi! Ok, please let me know.

Also, is it a typo, or did you get hold of 2.1.1403 ? The current version is 2.1.1404 .

If so, where did you download 2.1.1403 from?

Our official, and the only official, downloads are from axcrypt.net, for example http://www.axcrypt.net/download/ .

[Horst]

I downloaded AxCrypt-2.1.1403.0-x64.msi from your Web site on 29.06.2016 13:43

Now I will download the new version of course.

[SvanteSpectator]

Great! I thought you had just downloaded the 2.1.1403, that’s why I was curious. On the 29th, that was the current version. 1404 was released yesterday.

Your little ‘lamp’ icon in the top right should have turned red though and informed you there was a new version available.

[Biondollilo]

Bonjour,

Je souhaite envoyer un ficher word crypté à des collègues. J’ai téléchargé la nouvelle version d’Axcrypt en 64 bit. Mais je ne peux pas mettre de mot de passe. J’ai regardé le tutoriel qui explique comment faire pour leur envoyer le fichier avec l’adresse mail. Mais ils me disent qu’ils n’ont rien reçu. J’ai beau essayer encore, ça ne fonctionne pas.

Ils possèdent l’ancienne version d’un y a un an. Le problème viendrait-il d’ici ?

Comment faire pour que moi je puisse leur envoyer les fichiers avec un code, donc enlever l’option premium ? (j’ai la version d’essai de 30 jours).

En vous remerciant par avance

Aurore Biondollilo

 

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Biondollilo,

When you use the “Key Sharing” feature, and enter the recipients e-mail the file is NOT sent to them. You still have to send the actual file. When they receive the file, they will need to use AxCrypt 2 to open the file.

Regards,

Svante

[Author]

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