# Writer process ended unexpectedly

**URL:** <https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286>\
**Category:** balenaEtcher\
**Created:** [November 24, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286 "2019-11-24T14:33:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 17\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/1 "2019-11-24T14:33:17Z")

</div>

Hi,

I an trying to use Etcher version 1.5.63 under Windows 8.1 (64-bit) to write the image D:\XPS\_8700 Extended Files\Users\RowanB\Downloads\2019-09-26-raspbian-buster.img to an unbranded 64GB Micro SD card in drive G: (a card reader slot in my desktop PC). When I do so I get [this](http://sylvesterbradley.org/images/etcherproblem191124.png).

What am I doing wrong? How do I get this image written to the card?

Is there a log somewhere that tells me what is going wrong? If so, where?

Thanks - Rowan

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![afitzek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/afitzek/32/359_2.png) [@afitzek](https://forums.balena.io/u/afitzek)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 9:22am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/2 "2019-11-25T09:22:38Z")

</div>

Hi,  
It seems like you hit this issue ([https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/issues/2950](https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/issues/2950)). Could you open the DevTools Console (ctrl + shift + i) and provide us with the logs so that we can investigate this in more detail?  
Thank you.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/4 "2019-11-25T12:33:30Z")

</div>

Thank you for you r reply. Here is the log:

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mbalamat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/mbalamat/32/1245_2.png) [@mbalamat](https://forums.balena.io/u/mbalamat)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/5 "2019-11-25T12:50:10Z")

</div>

@rowan.bradley no logs where attached do you mind re sending them? Paste them here maybe?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/7 "2019-11-25T13:04:27Z")

</div>

========================Are these the logs you need? These were  
included in my last message. ================================== If I  
need to send something else, please explain how I find it.  
C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
Download the React DevTools for a better development experience: You might need to use a local HTTP server (instead of ): C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58

* * *

> \_\_\_| | | |
> 
> > \_\_ | |\_ _ **| |** \_\_\_ \_ \_\_  
> > \_\_|| \_/ | ’ \ / \_ \ '|  
> > **| || (**| | | | **/ |  
> > \_ **/ \__\_** |_| |_|\_**|\_|  
> > Interested in joining the Etcher team?  
> > Drop us a line at Version = 1.5.63, Type = nsis  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:06 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Application  
> > start  
> > ({“packageType”:“nsis”,“version”:“1.5.63”,“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:18 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Open image  
> > selector  
> > ({“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:19 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) SafeWebview  
> > loaded  
> > ({“event”:{“fromCache”:false,“headers”:{“Accept”:“text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,image/apng,_/_;q=0.8”,“Upgrade-Insecure-Requests”:“1”,“User-Agent”:“Mozilla/5.0  
> > (Windows NT 6.3; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko)  
> > balena-etcher/1.5.63 Chrome/66.0.3359.181 Electron/3.1.9  
> > Safari/537.36”},“id”:14,“method”:“GET”,“referrer”:“”,“resourceType”:“mainFrame”,“responseHeaders”:{“Accept-Ranges”:[“bytes”],“Cache-Control”:[“public,  
> > max-age=0”],“Connection”:[“keep-alive”],“Content-Encoding”:[“gzip”],“Content-Type”:[“text/html;  
> > charset=UTF-8”],“Date”:[“Mon, 25 Nov 2019 12:29:25  
> > GMT”],“Etag”:[“W/"3c810-16e8d73c970"”],“Last-Modified”:[“Thu, 21  
> > Nov 2019 10:13:26  
> > GMT”],“Server”:[“Cowboy”],“Transfer-Encoding”:[“chunked”],“Vary”:[“Accept-Encoding”],“Via”:[“1.1  
> > vegur, 1.1 vegur”]},“statusCode”:200,“statusLine”:“HTTP/1.1 200  
> > OK”,“timestamp”:1574684959386.904,“url”:},“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:33 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Select image  
> > ({“image”:{“size”:3829399552,“name”:“2019-09-26-raspbian-buster.img”,“hasMBR”:true,“partitions”:[{“offset”:4194304,“size”:268435456,“type”:12,“index”:1},{“offset”:272629760,“size”:3556769792,“type”:131,“index”:2}],“path”:“D:\XPS\_8700  
> > Extended  
> > Files\Users\RowanB\Downloads\2019-09-26-raspbian-buster.img”,“extension”:“img”,“logo”:false,“blockMap”:false},“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:36 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Open modal  
> > ({“name”:“drive-selector”,“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:39 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Toggle drive  
> > ({“drive”:{“size”:67109912576,“isVirtual”:false,“enumerator”:“USBSTOR”,“logicalBlockSize”:512,“raw”:“\\.\PhysicalDrive4”,“error”:null,“isReadOnly”:false,“displayName”:“G:\”,“blockSize”:512,“isSCSI”:false,“isRemovable”:true,“device”:“\\.\PhysicalDrive4”,“busVersion”:“2.0”,“isSystem”:false,“busType”:“USB”,“isCard”:false,“isUSB”:true,“devicePath”:null,“mountpoints”:[{“path”:“G:\”}],“description”:“Generic-  
> > SD/MMC USB  
> > Device”,“isUAS”:false},“previouslySelected”:false,“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:41 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Modal accepted  
> > ({“name”:“drive-selector”,“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:43 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Open modal  
> > ({“name”:“warning”,“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:47 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Modal accepted  
> > ({“name”:“warning”,“value”:true,“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:47 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Flashing 0  
> > devices, 0% at null MB/s (total null MB/s) eta in undefineds with 0  
> > failed devices  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:47 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Flash  
> > ({“image”:“D:\XPS\_8700 Extended  
> > Files\Users\RowanB\Downloads\2019-09-26-raspbian-buster.img”,“drives”:[{“size”:67109912576,“isVirtual”:false,“enumerator”:“USBSTOR”,“logicalBlockSize”:512,“raw”:“\\.\PhysicalDrive4”,“error”:null,“isReadOnly”:false,“displayName”:“G:\”,“blockSize”:512,“isSCSI”:false,“isRemovable”:true,“device”:“\\.\PhysicalDrive4”,“busVersion”:“2.0”,“isSystem”:false,“busType”:“USB”,“isCard”:false,“isUSB”:true,“devicePath”:null,“mountpoints”:[{“path”:“G:\”}],“description”:“Generic-  
> > SD/MMC USB  
> > Device”,“isUAS”:false}],“driveCount”:1,“uuid”:“0b971da0-5a21-4f9e-b136-b0dd099acb13”,“status”:“started”,“flashInstanceUuid”:“0b971da0-5a21-4f9e-b136-b0dd099acb13”,“unmountOnSuccess”:true,“validateWriteOnSuccess”:true,“trim”:false,“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Elevating command:  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\balenaEtcher.exe  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:50 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) SafeWebview  
> > loaded  
> > ({“event”:{“fromCache”:false,“headers”:{“Accept”:“text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,image/apng,_/_;q=0.8”,“Upgrade-Insecure-Requests”:“1”,“User-Agent”:“Mozilla/5.0  
> > (Windows NT 6.3; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko)  
> > balena-etcher/1.5.63 Chrome/66.0.3359.181 Electron/3.1.9  
> > Safari/537.36”},“id”:29,“method”:“GET”,“referrer”:“”,“resourceType”:“mainFrame”,“responseHeaders”:{“access-control-allow-origin”:[“\*”],“age”:[“237”],“cache-control”:[“max-age=600”],“cf-cache-status”:[“DYNAMIC”],“cf-ray”:[“53b3a186ed1dbbf4-LHR”],“content-encoding”:[“br”],“content-type”:[“text/html;  
> > charset=utf-8”],“date”:[“Mon, 25 Nov 2019 12:29:55  
> > GMT”],“expect-ct”:[“max-age=604800, report-uri="],“expires”:[“Fri,  
> > 22 Nov 2019 08:19:40 GMT”],“last-modified”:[“Wed, 06 Nov 2019  
> > 11:17:56  
> > GMT”],“server”:[“cloudflare”],“status”:[“200”],“vary”:[“Accept-Encoding”],“via”:[“1.1  
> > varnish”],“x-cache”:[“HIT”],“x-cache-hits”:[“1”],“x-fastly-request-id”:[“496d876417011e01d7a712c5a0aab20616d791cb”],“x-github-request-id”:[“F366:363B:57057:7A7E7:5DD797C3”],“x-proxy-cache”:[“MISS”],“x-served-by”:[“cache-lcy19262-LCY”],“x-timer”:[“S1574684996.677472,VS0,VE0”]},“statusCode”:200,“statusLine”:“HTTP/1.1  
> > 200”,“timestamp”:1574684989478.502,“url”:},“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:29:50 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Flashing 0  
> > devices, 0% at null MB/s (total null MB/s) eta in undefineds with 0  
> > failed devices  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Successfully connected to IPC server: etcher-server-31912, socket  
> > root C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Temp  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Image: D:\XPS\_8700 Extended  
> > Files\Users\RowanB\Downloads\2019-09-26-raspbian-buster.img  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Devices: \.\PhysicalDrive4  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Umount on success: true  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Validate on success: true  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Trim: false  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:30:32 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Flash error  
> > ({“error”:{“name”:“Error”,“message”:“EPERM: operation not permitted,  
> > write”,“stack”:“Error: EPERM: operation not permitted,  
> > write”,“code”:“EPERM”,“syscall”:“write”,“errno”:-4048},“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“flashInstanceUuid”:“0b971da0-5a21-4f9e-b136-b0dd099acb13”,“image”:“D:\XPS\_8700  
> > Extended  
> > Files\Users\RowanB\Downloads\2019-09-26-raspbian-buster.img”,“drives”:[{“size”:67109912576,“isVirtual”:false,“enumerator”:“USBSTOR”,“logicalBlockSize”:512,“raw”:”\\.\PhysicalDrive4",“error”:null,“isReadOnly”:false,“displayName”:“G:\”,“blockSize”:512,“isSCSI”:false,“isRemovable”:true,“device”:“\\.\PhysicalDrive4”,“busVersion”:“2.0”,“isSystem”:false,“busType”:“USB”,“isCard”:false,“isUSB”:true,“devicePath”:null,“mountpoints”:[{“path”:“G:\”}],“description”:“Generic-  
> > SD/MMC USB  
> > Device”,“isUAS”:false}],“driveCount”:1,“uuid”:“0b971da0-5a21-4f9e-b136-b0dd099acb13”,“unmountOnSuccess”:true,“validateWriteOnSuccess”:true,“trim”:false,“sample”:0.1})  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Finish: 0  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Flash results Object  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Terminating IPC server  
> > C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Local\Programs\balena-etcher\resources\app.asar\node\_modules\raven-js\dist\raven.js:58  
> > Mon Nov 25 2019 12:30:35 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) Open modal  
> > ({“name”:“warning”,“applicationSessionUuid”:“b711deb2-04cb-41b0-8cc6-7cfb1d6133ec”,“flashingWorkflowUuid”:“2c5dba75-68d3-491a-a982-3821ef89efc0”,“sample”:0.1})

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![thundron](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/thundron/32/1379_2.png) [@thundron](https://forums.balena.io/u/thundron)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/12 "2019-11-25T19:27:26Z")

</div>

Hi, thank you for the logs.  
Could you check that you haven’t got the `Controlled folder access` Windows setting enabled?  
You can do so by pressing the Win key, searching for `Controlled folder access` then either allow Etcher in it or disable the setting completely.  
If that still doesn’t work/the setting is already disabled (or Etcher already has an exception in it), you can also try running as administrator, but I’d advise to do so only afterwards.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/14 "2019-11-26T11:29:30Z")

</div>

Thanks for your reply.

I’m sorry, I don’t know how to do this.

```
  If I press the Win key, I see the Start menu. If I enter

```

“Controlled folder access” in the Search box, and press Return, it  
eventually finds lots of things, but none of them look relevant.

```
  If I search the internet for Controlled Folder Access, I find the

```

following instructions:

> ## Use controlled folder access
> 
> ```
> Controlled folder access in
> 
> ```
> 
> Windows Security reviews the apps that can make changes  
> to files in protected folders. Occasionally, an app that  
> is safe to use will be identified as harmful. This  
> happens because Microsoft wants to keep you safe and  
> will sometimes err on the side of caution; however, this  
> might interfere with how you normally use your PC. You  
> can add an app to the list of safe or allowed apps to  
> prevent them from being blocked.

> - Select **Start** \> **Settings** \> **Update & Security** \> **Windows Security** \> **Virus & threat protection**.
> - Under \*\* Virus & threat protection  
> settings\*\* ,  
> select \*\* Manage  
> settings\*\*.
> - Under **Controlled folder access** , select **Manage Controlled folder access**.
> - 
> 
> ```
> Switch
> 
> ```
> 
> the \*\* Controlled  
> folder access\*\* setting  
> to **On** or **Off**.

> 

```
  If I select the Start menu, there is no item Settings. There is

```

PC Settings, but this does not contain any item Update and  
Security.

How do I get to Controlled Folder Access?

Thanks - Rowan

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![srlowe](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/srlowe/32/2638_2.png) [@srlowe](https://forums.balena.io/u/srlowe)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 11:46am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/18 "2019-11-26T11:46:38Z")

</div>

Hello,

There’s an alternative explanation of how to do this here: [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4046851/windows-10-allow-blocked-app-windows-security](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4046851/windows-10-allow-blocked-app-windows-security)

Please let us know if that works for you!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/21 "2019-11-26T13:59:22Z")

</div>

Sorry, no, it doesn’t. The problem is that in the Start menu,  
there is no item Settings. I am using Windows 8.1. Maybe the  
problem is that I’m using the Traditional Start Menu add-in. I’m  
not sure how to disable this.

Any other suggestions?

Thank you - Rowan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![srlowe](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/srlowe/32/2638_2.png) [@srlowe](https://forums.balena.io/u/srlowe)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/22 "2019-11-26T14:14:43Z")

</div>

Ah, I believe that `Controlled Folder Access` feature is not present in Windows 8.1, so we can ignore that. Could you try logging in / running etcher as administrator, if you have not already?

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**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 11:30pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/24 "2019-11-26T23:30:17Z")

</div>

Sorry, I don’t know how to do that either. Currently there is only one user registered on my PC, RowanB, who is a “local systems administrator”. Do I just need to run the Etcher as this user? If so, then that is what I have already done (which causes the error). Or do I have to be a higher level administrator than “local systems administrator”? If so, how do I create such an account? Or do I have to run it as the username “administrator”? If so, how do I create this account?

Sorry to be so dumb…

Thank you - Rowan

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**Author:** ![chrisys](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/chrisys/32/1731_2.png) [@chrisys](https://forums.balena.io/u/chrisys)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/25 "2019-11-26T23:44:03Z")

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@rowan.bradley here’s some information on running programs as administrator on Windows 8.1: [https://ccm.net/faq/35280-windows-8-1-how-to-run-a-program-as-administrator](https://ccm.net/faq/35280-windows-8-1-how-to-run-a-program-as-administrator)

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**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 12:25pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/27 "2019-11-28T12:25:34Z")

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Chris,

```
  Thanks for your further help. If I run Etcher using the method

```

described in this link, then it seems to run better. But at the  
end of the process, it says that there is a checksum error:

 ![bkinlblhmogcofmd.png](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/balena/original/2X/3/35af100bb1eb833ab223d4c44c83cd9cc184aa56.png)

```
  If I try to open the memory card slot containing the supposedly

```

flashed card, it says “Please insert a disk into the Removable  
Disk (G:)”, just like it does for an empty slot. I don’t know  
whereto Windows should be able to read the flashed card,  
or not.

```
  I have attached the log (zipped, since your email system rejected

```

it as too big without zipping).

```
  Please can you suggest what may be wrong, or how I can

```

investigate this further?

Thank you - Rowan

(Attachment EtcherLog191127.zip is missing)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/28 "2019-11-28T12:29:50Z")

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Chris,

```
  Thanks for your further help. If I run Etcher using the method

```

described in this link, then it seems to run better. But at the  
end of the process, it says that there is a checksum error:

 ![bkinlblhmogcofmd.png](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/balena/original/2X/3/35af100bb1eb833ab223d4c44c83cd9cc184aa56.png)

```
  If I try to open the memory card slot containing the supposedly

```

flashed card, it says “Please insert a disk into the Removable  
Disk (G:)”, just like it does for an empty slot. I don’t know  
whereto Windows should be able to read the flashed card,  
or not.

```
  I have attached the log (zipped, since your email system rejected

```

it as too big without zipping). You will need to rename it back to  
.zip (I had to change it because your e-mail system will not  
accept ZIP files).

```
  Please can you suggest what may be wrong, or how I can

```

investigate this further?

Thank you - Rowan

[EtcherLog191127.log](https://forums.balena.io/uploads/short-url/rytMbsMG68mAWhqI7iih0ae4Xwh.log) (10.7 KB)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jviotti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/jviotti/32/220_2.png) [@jviotti](https://forums.balena.io/u/jviotti)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/29 "2019-11-28T12:50:04Z")

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Hey Rowan,

We’re glad the method described above made thing better.

What you see is a legit warning, and its Etcher telling you that what was written to the drive doesn’t exactly match the image you were flashing, as a protection mechanism. This is usually the case with faulty SD Cards, SD Card readers, electromagnetism, etc. Can you try again, and potentially with a different i.e. adapter and see if that makes a difference?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowan.bradley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@rowan.bradley](https://forums.balena.io/u/rowan.bradley)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/31 "2019-11-29T16:41:02Z")

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Thanks for your reply.

I have tried using a different adapter. It gave the same error:

 ![mniogmnjihhmldgf.png](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/balena/original/2X/c/c1fdae8ace6969bb580735d310c239a41365e0ba.png)

```
  I have ordered some more micro SD cards and will try with one of

```

those when they arrive.

```
  Should I be able to read the files written to the card with my

```

Windows PC? I can’t. Does this suggest something more dramatic is  
wrong with the process, e.g. the card is formatted in the wrong  
way? Does the card need to be formatted before being flashed, or  
does the flashing process effectively format it? The first time I  
tried flashing it, I formatted it first, and disabled the “fast  
format” feature, which meant that it took nearly 24 hours to  
format the card.

Thanks for your help - Rowan

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![xginn8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/8baadc/32.png) [@xginn8](https://forums.balena.io/u/xginn8)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2019, 4:44pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/writer-process-ended-unexpectedly/46286/32 "2019-11-29T16:44:38Z")

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Hi there,

If you have a spare SD card available, I would recommend testing that as well since we often see corruption of the physical media.

Please let us know how that test goes for you when you are able to complete it!