Datto Windows Agent (DWA) Version 2.1 to 2.8: Release notes (2019 - 2021)

Release October 11, 2021

Agent version 2.8.0.0

The BCDR Windows Agent, DWA 2.8.0.0, is a maintenance and security release. This release includes a new driver, bug fixes and improvements. This is a push upgrade and will commence on October 11, 2021.

Highlights and major changes

• DWA 2.8.0.0 is primarily an auto-upgrade only release, DWA 3 will remain the latest DWA hosted at download.datto.com.
• If you have upgraded to DWA 3 you will not be impacted since DWA 3 incorporates applicable bug fixes and enhancements in 2.8.
• Legacy DWA 2 installer will be updated to 2.8.0.
• This is the last release with support for Vista/Server 2008.
• Agent versions < 2.8.0.0 will not be eligible to auto-upgrade to any future DWA 3.X versions.

Release December 4, 2020

Agent version 2.7.1.2

Hot Fix

• Resolved an issue that could cause the protected system to boot to a 7B BSOD if an uninstall or upgrade of DWA did not complete properly.

Release October 19, 2020

Agent version 2.7.1.0 / Driver version 1.12.12.10

This release includes a driver update. Because a driver update requires an update and reboot of the host system, you will need to download and install this version manually.

Improvements

• DWA installer now warns the user when the installer detects insufficient recommended system requirements.
• Replaces DattoFltr with DattoFltrV2. Note: This replacement is handled by the installer therefore the only recommended way to install 1.12.12.10 drivers is via the DWA installer.
• Various backend performance improvements and bug fixes have been implemented.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue where Datto Volume Filter Driver could be inadvertently removed by the Windows Driver Disk Cleanup handler.
• Fixed a problem that could cause backups to fail with "Error 19".
• Resolved an issue that could cause Windows to hang due to overly fragmented CoW files.

Release April 24, 2020

Agent version 2.6.3.0

Improvements

• Improved backup error reporting. "Backup error occurred during backup run: Error occurred during reading of the protected volume" will now display for additional conditions.

Bug Fixes

• Various backend performance improvements and bug fixes.

Release June 29, 2020

Agent version 2.6.0.0 / Driver version 1.12.12.9 - 2020-06-29

Improvements

• Auto-updates may now include a driver for download. Soon, you will no longer need to manually install updates that include new drivers. Automated driver updates will let MSPs and their organizations remain in operation using the last installed driver, updating the user space only, and waiting for next reboot to complete the driver upgrade. You'll always be able to have the newest Agent software and driver without having to interrupt your workflow to install updates manually.
• DWA now checks to ensure the Datto Provider service is running and can automatically restart it if an issue is detected. This enhancement improves backup reliability and allows DWA to "self-correct" Datto Provider-related backups issues without partner intervention.
• DWA will now automatically remove and re-create the datto.ctl file when it is determined to be the cause of a backup error. This enhancement will improve the reliability of backups and allow the Datto device to "self-correct" when it detects COW (copy on write) file related errors.
• Various backend performance improvements and bug fixes have been implemented.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue that could cause backups to fail with error: "The data area passed to a system call is too small".
• Fixed a problem that caused auto-upgrades to fail when other processes denied file access.
• Resolved an issue that could cause full backups to fail on Windows 2019 devices.

Release May 18, 2020

Agent version 2.5.1.0

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused the DattoProvider service to be unregistered upon initial upgrade from DWA 2.0.X to 2.4.X/2.5X.
• Various backend performance improvements and bug fixes.

Release April 21, 2020

Agent version 2.5.0.0 / Driver version 1.12.12.8

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause some protected machines to experience “soft-locks” (CPU usage spikes, unresponsive GUI, file explorer hanging, black screens).

Release March 18, 2020

Agent version 2.4.3.0

Improvements

• The Datto Windows Agent now supports new tools that can be used by Datto Technical Support to manually update root certificates in the event that the Datto device is unable to do so automatically.
• The Datto Windows Agent now supports new tools that can be used by Datto Technical Support to collect diagnostic logs without the partner having to manually run commands. This new capability will save partners time and frustration when troubleshooting issues.
• Various backend performance improvements and bug fixes have been made.

Release February 26, 2020

Agent version 2.4.0.0 / Driver version 1.12.12.7

Improvements

• Datto Windows Agent now has improved driver-specific error reporting for more precise problem diagnosis.
• To improve troubleshooting capabilities, this release enables agent installations to log significant backup events to the Windows Application Event log.
• To diagnose and resolve backup problems faster, Datto Support technicians can now obtain agent logs, driver versions, and agent snapshot status remotely. They can also remotely reset a Datto Windows Agent installation to a freshly-installed state to reduce the dependency on agent reinstallation as a troubleshooting step.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause Windows Server 2019, 2016 Active Directory Servers or servers with DFS (Microsoft Distributed File System), to fail backups and lock up when using Datto Windows Agent 2.1.23 or 2.2
• Resolved an issue that could cause a Windows Security dialog box to appear when repairing an agent
• Fixed an issue that caused the backup status bytes transferred field to remain at zero throughout a backup
• Resolved a problem where auto upgrades from 2.2.5 to 2.3.X would break the Datto Windows Agent on some platforms

Release December 4, 2019

Agent Version 2.2.5.0

Improvements

• Enhanced the resilience of VSS backups to long-running VSS operations to improve the success rate of application-consistent backups.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue which could cause the Datto Windows Agent installer to fail to detect a Datto Endpoint Backup installation and cause a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) on the production machine at reboot.

Release August 19, 2019

Agent Version 2.2.0.0 / Driver Version 1.12.12.3

Improvements

• Improved the agent installers for DWA 2.1 and above to deliver compatibility with the oldest supported versions of Datto's drivers.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue which could cause DattoFltr.sys to trigger a "BAD_POOL_HEADER" blue screen crash on protected systems.
• Resolved a driver incompatibility which impacted a small percentage of protected systems.

Release August 1, 2019

Agent Version 2.1.32.0

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue which could cause the agent installation to fail if the Windows Firewall service is not running.

Release July 17, 2019

Agent Version 2.1.28.0

Improvements

• Separated the installers for Datto Windows Agent 2.1 and Datto Windows Agent 2.0 into individual redistributables; see Getting Started With the Datto Windows Agent for more information.
• Improved the error messaging surfaced to device operators when the Datto Windows Agent installation fails due to of lack of internet connectivity.
• Improved journaling behavior to prevent agent logs from filling with information about previously shut down Mercury targets.
• Improved backup handling to prevent threads from becoming hung on long-running VSS operations.
• Improved backup logic to prefer differential merges over full backups when the remote target contains a valid file system.

Vulnerability Fixes

• Removed outdated third-party libraries for libagent.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue in which dir:make() fails when recursively creating a directory.
• Resolved an issue that could cause /event calls with malformatted time values to crash the agent.
• Fixed an issue which caused the DWA 2.1.22.0 RC installer's restart button to not work for Windows Server 2019.
• Added support to clean $MFT cache to avoid missing attribute.
• Added support for non-resident $ATTRIBUTE_LIST processing in get_data_run_external().
• Resolved an issue in which the DWA 2.1.22.0 RC uninstall wouldn't remove everything on Windows 10+.
• Resolved an issue which caused retrieval of the services list to fail with JSON parsing errors, resulting in failed service verification.

Release April 8, 2019

Agent Version 2.1.23.0

Improvements

• Enhanced the functionality of the agent paging file to allow Technical Support to optimize its performance in cases of very high and very low disk I/O.
• Added logic to allow the Datto Windows Agent to read the BIOS UUID of protected virtual systems as a component of the VMX backup process.
• Before allowing an update of existing agent software from Version 2.0 to Version 2.1, the Datto Windows Agent installer will require a reboot of the protected system if the host has major Windows updates pending.

Vulnerability Fixes

• Enabled MercuryFTP target authentication.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue which could cause the agent service to crash on /host call under low memory conditions.
• Corrected an issue which could cause backups to fail with an "err: 33" exit code.
• Fixed the agent version updater and reset legacy driver version bounds in version.xml.
• Excluded ValidateLocalTargets failures caused by SQLlite errors from the criteria for backup failure.
• Corrected an issue which prevented the /event API endpoint used by the SIRIS from functioning as expected.
• Resolved an issue which could cause a reboot prompt to surface on the protected machine when installing DWA Version 2.1.22.0 over DWA Version 2.1.20.1.

Release March 18, 2019

Agent Version 2.1 / Driver Version 1.12.11

Improvements

• Introduced backup support for ReFS.
• Datto Windows Agent installer now uses MSI instead of NSIS.
• Enhanced the Datto Windows Agent's ability to report services running on the production machine as a component of Advanced Backup Verification: Service Verification.
• 4K drives now back up as efficiently as non-4K drives.
• Windows Update backup validation will now avoid unnecessary differential merges.
• Pending backup requests terminate if the Datto Windows Agent detects that status requests to the protected system from the Datto appliance have stopped.
• With the release of Datto Windows Agent 2.1, support for NT 5 is deprecated.
• Introduced the ability to back up mounted volumes not mounted on a drive letter.
• Binaries provided for the Datto Windows Agent include a Datto signature.
• Introduced functionality into the agent driver which, when in incremental tracking mode, records the amount of data that has change and exposes it to an API.
• Introduced functionality to allow the DattoBackupAgent service to start as a WiX component.
• Enhanced the performance and UX of the Datto Windows Agent installer.
• Added the ability for Datto Windows Agent installs to notify the Datto appliance of pending reboots before backups can run successfully.
• Added logic to the Datto Windows Agent that allows it to query a running driver and understand if it supports known features.

Vulnerability Fixes

• Resolved an issue which could allow a restricted user system-level access to a protected machine via command-path injection.
• The Datto Windows Agent will only accept device connections using TLS 1.1 or above.
• This improvement disallows connections to the Datto appliance from protected systems that use low or medium encryption cipher algorithms.
• Resolved an issue that caused the API key for CSR requests to display in plaintext.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue which could cause the iSCSI transport service to try to connect 25 times over 25 seconds for a connection failure on write.
• Fixed the file search mechanism in WiX script for all versions of Windows to check the availability of driver files and dependency files.
• Fixed an issue which could cause the estimated size for full/diff incorrect.
• Resolved an issue which caused agent update downloads to be susceptible to MITM attacks.
• Resolved an issue which could cause Datto Windows Agent with Win7/2008: CHKDSK (not read-only) to fail with "Cannot open volume for direct access".
• Resolved an issue which could cause Datto Windows Agent BSODs: DattoFltr.sys with STOP 0x00000019 Bad_Pool_Header.
• Resolve an issue which caused volume filter driver crashes with MAXIMUM_WAIT_OBJECTS_EXCEEDED when more than 64 volumes are mounted.
• Resolved an issue in which the uninstaller fails to remove DattoCtrl/DattoSnap files from volumes with no drive letter.
• Fixed an issue which could cause some mount points for volumes to not report.
• Resolved an issue which caused Datto Windows Agent on large volumes (>1TB) to have a cow file size larger than 10 GB.
• Resolved an issue that caused DattoFSF.sys driver info to report incorrectly.
• Updated copyrights.
• Fixed an issue in which the uninstaller left behind a "Datto" directory in app data.
• Resolved an issue which caused DattoSnapshot.exe to report drivers as not initialized.
• Increased the filter communications port MaxConnections in DattoFSF filter driver.
• Fixed an issue which could cause the Datto service to fail to start after the first install.
• Made Windows Firewall rules more specific.
• Fixed an issue which caused agent update retry after failure to occur too frequently.
• Fixed a scenario under which an agent installer with identical driver versions installed set the "reboot required" flag.
• Addressed an issue which caused Datto Windows Agent backups to request Windows to play the "New Hardware Detected," and Hardware Removed" sounds.
• Resolved an issue which could cause the removal of a Windows driver after major Windows upgrades.
• Fixed an issue which caused offlining a disk to crash the system.
• Updated the auto-update code to download and run new WiX installer properly.
• Resolved an issue which caused backup failure to report incorrectly.
• Resolved an issue in which the uninstaller would fail to remove the Windows bus driver file, and the driver package would remain after uninstall.
• Fixed an issue which caused the driver to not load after a Windows 10 major version upgrade.
• Resolved an issue in which full/diff backup types transfer size calculation was wrong if the file system was unsupported.
• Fixed an issue which caused the Datto Windows Agent driver to hang if the snapshot device uninstalled unexpectedly.
• Fixed an issue in which, after a Windows update, 'Local System' account's local app data for the agent is not migrated.
• Addressed an issue which caused a second instance of the installer/uninstaller to start on x86.
• Resolved an issue which triggered agent installation failure if MSI installer launched unelevated.
• Added logic to cause the installer to stop if DattoFltrDriver fails to install.
• Resolved an issue in which the uninstaller would not remove the Windows volume filter driver file, and the driver package would remain after uninstall.
• Updated compute32BitMaxBlockSize to find the correct size incremental file.
• Solved an issue in which incorrect parameters to POST /backup cause agent crash.
• Resolved an issue in which different version upgrades fail using just MSI.
• Fixed a formatting issue with Event Viewer entries.
• Resolved an issue in which WiX upgrades reboot unexpectedly.
• Resolved an issue in which a second instance of uninstaller starts on x86.
• Fixed a problem which caused migration of AppData after Windows Upgrade to result in the first agent startup to fail.
• Solved an issue that would cause %ProgramFiles%\Datto\Drivers folder not to be removed during uninstall after upgrade.
• Fixed a WiX repair fail issue.
• Solved an issue in which uninstall after upgrade would not remove files.
• Updated the MSI installer to implement rollback custom action(s).
• Resolved a Server 2008 installation failure which could happen as a result of installing a newer version of vcredist.
• Fixed an issue in which WiX upgrades with identical driver versions cause an unnecessary reboot.
• Addressed a possible small memory leak relating to curl and Certificate logic.
• Fixed BSOD on system restart after backup.
• Fixed a small memory leak for iSCSI backups after iSCSI target disconnect.
• Resolved an issue in which the DattoProvider did not purge on uninstall.
• Added logic to prevent the installation of the Datto Windows Agent over DTC agent.
• Resolved a scenario in which connection_error is never set.
• Fixed a situation in which DattoProvider registration is not working on Windows Legacy (XP/2003).
• Resolved an issue where agents can fail with cow file size exceeded, but do not indicate a failure to the device.
• Resolved an issue in which the agent does not close snapshot files after backup.
• Fixed an issue in which DattoSnap does not purge on uninstall.
• Addressed a DattoFSF driver memory leak.
• Fixed malformatted Event Viewer entries.
• Resolved an issue which could cause install failure if a newer version of vcredist is already present.
• Fixed an issue in which a failed install could cause constant differential merges.
• Resolved a scenario which could cause Event 55 NTFS errors.
• Improved snapshot devices to open with sharing mode and access rights as limited as possible.
• Improved agent stability when running with old drivers.
• Fixed an issue which could cause agent crashes if iSCSI is not available.
• Updated the agent version to have a patch/revision value.
• Fixed a situation which caused Windows Server 2019 to misreport as Windows Server 2016.
• Fixed an issue which caused differential merges on the latest Datto Windows Agent to instead be full backups when iSCSI transport is used.
• Fixed transport (iSCSI) class seek.
• Resolved an issue that prevented the Windows fs parser from working with ReFS.
• Fixed an issue in which the Windows driver roll-forward does not maintain the changeset (2.1.X).
• Added VC redist check/search and bypass mechanism to MSI.
• Resolved a problem which caused .datto.mif files to be left behind after uninstall.
• Fixed small memory leaks relating to curl and curl headers.
• Resolved unnecessary differential merges when a backup fails before snapshot mode.
• Fixed an issue in which VSS failure to prepare for backup causes unnecessary differential merge.
• Solved a potential BSOD while upgrading drivers to 1.12+ (SnapShim).
• Fixed a ReFS reporting issue which caused a significant difference in bytesTransferred and totalSize.
• Resolved an issue which could cause a 0-byte Dattoctl file to generate in situations of insufficient space.
• Solved a problem in which failure to delete old log would fail backups.
• Fixed an issue in which upgrade from legacy agent causes a full backup.
• Fixed an issue which caused the UI to cut off installMessage text on XP/2003.
• Added logic to ensure /v2/install API reports rebootRequired as true when upgrade or repair modifies drivers.
• Fixed an issue in which INF files were not valid for hardware signing.
• Fixed an issue which caused the DattoCtrl file to be10x larger than it should be for very large volumes.
• Resolved a problem which caused any exception throws within `compose*` to result in Datto Windows Agent crash.
• Fixed an issue in which the "confirm file replace" dialog would appear while repairing the Datto Windows Agent.
• Solved an issue in which backup was not possible after uninstalling agent and then installing again.
• Resolved an issue which caused the Win DriverInfoProvider does not query SnapShim driver.
• Fixed an issue which caused the bus driver to not install on a fresh install (after an agent uninstalls).
• Fixed an issue which caused some win32 API calls to fail on 4K driver on the snapshot volume.
• Resolved an issue which could cause upgrades from 2.0.X to 2.1.X to fail to install bus driver.
• Resolved an issue which could cause updates from 2.0.X to 2.1.X to always result in differential merges on Windows.
• Fixed an issue which resulted in the agent software causing MercuryFTP to not close file handle for backup LUN.
• Fixed an issue which caused backups to run differential merges on upgrade (2.0.7.2 -> 2.2.2.0).
• Resolved a problem which caused the backup agent to copy all blocks on huge 4K native drives.
• Fixed constant differential merges on French OS.
• Fixed BSOD scenario on Windows Server 2019.