Locked KillDisk 10.1.1 deletes my Windows install

[Bluejoker]

Once I install Windows 10 from USB. I get my first reboot.. Then Active@ Killdisk v 10.1.1 comes up and does a pass and seems to erase my install?
I have done many of installs and never seen this happen before.. Is Killdisk built into the Bios ? Can I disable/Delete it somehow
Its a older Dell 9020 computer

 

[Charles]

Active Kill Disk does a full disk wipe on your machine, and then you wonder where windows went?
Try removing the Active Kill Disk, and not wiping the drive. It usually has prompts, such as "Type Kill-Active-disk" to continue, so, try NOT doing that next time.
Kill disk is a powerful, data destruction program, but it shouldn't be ran fully automated. This gives you a chance to stop, back out, and remove the USB drive you installed AKD on.
It sounds like it's a good time to do a full reinstall of Windows, and put your AKD usb somewhere where you WON'T use it, until it is needed.

 

[Bluejoker]

Active Kill Disk does a full disk wipe on your machine, and then you wonder where windows went?
Try removing the Active Kill Disk, and not wiping the drive. It usually has prompts, such as "Type Kill-Active-disk" to continue, so, try NOT doing that next time.
Kill disk is a powerful, data destruction program, but it shouldn't be ran fully automated. This gives you a chance to stop, back out, and remove the USB drive you installed AKD on.
It sounds like it's a good time to do a full reinstall of Windows, and put your AKD usb somewhere where you WON'T use it, until it is needed.

I dont think I have killdisk installed, its wiping the drive from the bios

Heres what I did, I installed a fresh copy of windows via USB. Soon as the Windows finishes and reboots, immediately Kill disk comes up in green and deletes my install

 

[Elzer]

its possible that your OS has Ransomware KillDisk

 

[Bluejoker]

its possible that your OS has Ransomware KillDisk

well its Black Star Pro from here.. and I got it running on my other machine working fine... Is there a way to disable that Kill disk in bios?

 

[Elzer]

Active@ Boot Disk uses a WinPE environment to boot from and use as an operating system...not built into your Bios...try another USB

 

[Cyler]

To my knowledge, the Dark Star build doesn't even have The KillDisk app (@FBConan correct me if I'm wrong), to begin with, so I'm pretty sure it's not from there. You must have a second bootable device with Killdisk on it and it boots at 2nd boot somehow. Furthermore, for KillDisk not to warn you and/or ask for user confirmation, it probably means it runs with a custom .ini file or from the command line with the switch -noconfirmation and/or -wipehdd or -wipeallhdd, something that points out to windows PE boot and not a windows installer, as it would be stupid to wipe its own install.

For sure it's not your bios as those utilities can not run from bios and access NTFS disks without Windows PE support. Try again but please take a screenshot with your phone just to see cause its very strange. Check if other bootable devices are connected (from bios maybe) and block them from booting.

 

[Charles]

well its Black Star Pro from here.. and I got it running on my other machine working fine... Is there a way to disable that Kill disk in bios?

Just because something was downloaded from here, doesn't mean that there weren't malicious actors that uploaded it to start with.
Rule 1, everyone is out to get you.
Rule 2, trust no one.
Rule 3, when in doubt, wipe it / throw it out, and start fresh.

Just to rule out something nasty in your bios you can GO TO ANOTHER MACHINE, and download the latest bios from the manufacture's website, like say Dell, and choose the bootable / standalone installer. Then, burn it to a CD, and run it from there. CD's are read only, for the most part...not CDRW, but CDs, so you don't have to worry about a low level bug infecting the CD media, and the bios should load fine. Follow any instructions on the website so you don't end up with an expensive brick.

 

[loader72]

Wondering if the gentleman would have the same experience loading a linux distro?

 

[Uncle Mac]

The killdisk writes a signiture to the first block of the master boot record if you check it, You can run:

fdisk /mbr

To erase it.

 

[juanamm]

@Bluejoker, 99.9% sure that KillDisk is on your USB, or is somehow called when you install Windows.
Format that USB (or use another one), download ANOTHER iso, avoid using the same one even if you manage to identify the "infection".
Preemptively format all SSDs or HDDs installed on your computer (although the Windows installation does this for you).
I also don't think that tool is located in your BIOS.
After that you will see that everything will be solved.
I don't think there is much more to add here.
We will wait a few days for you to tell us if it worked for you and then proceed to close this thread.

 

[Bluejoker]

To my knowledge, the Dark Star build doesn't even have The KillDisk app (@FBConan correct me if I'm wrong), to begin with, so I'm pretty sure it's not from there. You must have a second bootable device with Killdisk on it and it boots at 2nd boot somehow. Furthermore, for KillDisk not to warn you and/or ask for user confirmation, it probably means it runs with a custom .ini file or from the command line with the switch -noconfirmation and/or -wipehdd or -wipeallhdd, something that points out to windows PE boot and not a windows installer, as it would be stupid to wipe its own install.

For sure it's not your bios as those utilities can not run from bios and access NTFS disks without Windows PE support. Try again but please take a screenshot with your phone just to see cause its very strange. Check if other bootable devices are connected (from bios maybe) and block them from booting.

To my knowledge, the Dark Star build doesn't even have The KillDisk app (@FBConan correct me if I'm wrong), to begin with, so I'm pretty sure it's not from there. You must have a second bootable device with Killdisk on it and it boots at 2nd boot somehow. Furthermore, for KillDisk not to warn you and/or ask for user confirmation, it probably means it runs with a custom .ini file or from the command line with the switch -noconfirmation and/or -wipehdd or -wipeallhdd, something that points out to windows PE boot and not a windows installer, as it would be stupid to wipe its own install.

For sure it's not your bios as those utilities can not run from bios and access NTFS disks without Windows PE support. Try again but please take a screenshot with your phone just to see cause its very strange. Check if other bootable devices are connected (from bios maybe) and block them from booting.

You must be registered for see links

After the first reboot this pops up

 

[loader72]

Years ago I had a virus that failed every install. I fixed it by a low level format...glad it was only a 250 mb drive. peace.

 

[Elzer]

You must be registered for see links

After the first reboot this pops up

Definitely looks like malware. You could try booting into safe mode to remove it. My guess is it skips over the windows boot up screen and goes directly to this....the displayed date also confuses me a little

 

[Bluejoker]

Definitely looks like malware. You could try booting into safe mode to remove it. My guess is it skips over the windows boot up screen and goes directly to this....the displayed date also confuses me a little

yep that date confused me too. well I do the install. that goes good, then first reboot you know the one that says we are finishing up blah blah.. never gets to windows after reboot

 

[Bluejoker]

yep that date confused me too. well I do the install. that goes good, then first reboot you know the one that says we are finishing up blah blah.. never gets to windows after reboot

I wonder if it could be something on my other 2 drives? thinking about disconnecting them completly and trying it

 

[Elzer]

try https://www.teamos.xyz/threads/windows-10-pro-x64-1909-pe-7-in-1.118546/ 1 5 4 7

 

[Bluejoker]

try https://www.teamos.xyz/threads/windows-10-pro-x64-1909-pe-7-in-1.118546/ 1 5 4 7

I ended up sticking that drive in my other computer, gonna format the ** out of it. looking for a low level format tool , any suggestions

 

[Elzer]

H D D Low Level Format
or
https://www.teamos.xyz/threads/niubi-partition-editor-8-0-2-winpe-teamos.187067/

 

[Bluejoker]

Ok heres what I did, I switched that drive to my other computer, did a low level format. Switched it back and installed.. Also something I did notice is my bios was set to RAID.. switched to to ATA. Windows now loaded up fine. Looks like I am going to be OK, still dont know where the KILL Disk came from.