Now it is possible to enable IME during Secure Desktop using a setting in Preferences or using /enableIME switch.
This helps solve issues with some IME that causes VeraCrypt to freeze when selecting keyfile while VeraCrypt secure desktop is active.
See: https://sourceforge.net/p/veracrypt/discussion/general/thread/1e8b9aeacd
Introduce MapIrpDataBuffer to handle Direct/Buffered/Neither I/O, probing & locking pages and allocating a temp MDL when needed.
Replace blind MmGetSystemAddressForMdlSafe usage. clean up TempUserMdl in OnItemCompleted to avoid crashes when MdlAddress is NULL.
Issue reported at https://sourceforge.net/p/veracrypt/discussion/technical/thread/e43bde8d86/
- Replace dynamic GetProcAddress usage with direct SetThreadGroupAffinity call since we run under Windows 10 minimum
- Compute affinity mask based on actual active processor count
- Fix off-by-one when assigning threads to processor groups (use > instead of >=), preventing premature group advance
- Improves correctness on multi-group (>=64 CPU) systems
Replace timer-based TCSleep (which allocated a KTIMER and waited on it) with an
implementation that calls KeDelayExecutionThread. This removes dynamic allocation
and kernel timer usage to simplify the code and reduce resource overhead.
Adds an IRQL <= APC_LEVEL assertion and documents the requirement.
This is safe because TCSleep is always called from code that runs at PASSIVE_LEVEL
Added InterlockedDecrement in the error path when GetPoolBuffer fails for EncryptedIoRequest to ensure accurate tracking of pending IO requests and prevent potential resource leaks.
Major changes:
- Added pooled + elastic work item model with retry/backoff (MAX_WI_RETRIES). removed semaphore usage.
- Introduced two completion threads to reduce contention and latency under heavy IO.
- Added BytesCompleted (per IRP) and ActualBytes (per fragment) for correct short read/write accounting. total read/write stats now reflect real transferred bytes instead of requested length.
- Moved decryption of read fragments into IO thread. completion threads now only finalize IRPs (reduces race window and simplifies flow).
- Deferred final IRP completion via FinalizeOriginalIrp to avoid inline IoCompleteRequest re-entrancy. added safe OOM inline fallback.
- Implemented work item pool drain & orderly shutdown (ActiveWorkItems + NoActiveWorkItemsEvent) with robust stop protocol.
- Replaced semaphore-based work item acquisition with spin lock + free list + event (WorkItemAvailableEvent). added exponential backoff for transient exhaustion.
- Added elastic (on-demand) work item allocation with pool vs dynamic origin tracking (FromPool).
- Added FreeCompletionWorkItemPool() for symmetric cleanup; ensured all threads are explicitly awakened during stop.
- Added second completion thread replacing single CompletionThread.
- Hardened UpdateBuffer: fixed parameter name typo, added bounds/overflow checks using IntSafe (ULongLongAdd), validated Count, guarded sector end computation.
- Fixed GPT/system region write protection logic to pass correct length instead of end offset.
- Ensured ASSERTs use fragment‑relative bounds (cast + length) and avoided mixed 64/32 comparisons.
- Added MAX_WI_RETRIES constant. added WiRetryCount field in EncryptedIoRequest.
- Ensured RemoveLock is released only after all queue/accounting updates (OnItemCompleted).
- Reset/read-ahead logic preserved. read-ahead trigger now based on actual completion & zero pending fragment count.
- General refactoring, clearer separation of concerns (TryAcquireCompletionWorkItem / FinalizeOriginalIrp / HandleCompleteOriginalIrp).
Safety / correctness improvements:
- Accurate short read handling (STATUS_END_OF_FILE with true byte count).
- Eliminated risk of double free or premature RemoveLock release on completion paths.
- Prevented potential overflow in sector end arithmetic.
- Reduced contention and potential deadlock scenarios present with previous semaphore wait path.
- Document HIGH_LEVEL constraints and rationale for pre-building a nonpaged scratch MDL.
- Allocate contiguous scratch buffer with conservative PFN cap (0x7FFFFFFFFFF) and fall back to unlimited cap if needed.
- Replace ASSERT with TC_BUG_CHECK for validation of write MDL mapping at HIGH_LEVEL.
- Safely copy PFNs from prebuilt MDL into caller MDL: compute dst/src page counts, check capacity, copy exact PFNs and retarget MDL header fields (preserve MdlFlags).
- Make DumpData cleanup defensive in unload path.
- comments improvements for clarity and maintainability.
* Prefer allocations to be non-executable
* Remove and reimplement DDIs inappropriately called inside HIGH_LEVEL IRQL routines
* Refactor hibernate context to be passed around in the passed FILTER_EXTENSION pointer rather than global
