[BUG]: "Error writing to storage device" failures starting with 2.0.2 when trying to write a custom img or img.xz file.

[INeedCaffeine]

What happened?

After upgrading from 1.9.4 to 2.0.6 I was unable to write a custom image (PhotonVision for Orange Pi 5) to a microSD card. After confirming the write operation I get this error dialog as soon as the operation begins:

Since this used to work I tested every version from 1.9.4 to 2.0.6 and found that the problem first appeared in 2.0.2.

I tested the imager on both a brand new Thinkpad T14 running Windows 11 with an external card reader and an older HP Omen running Windows 10 with an integrated card reader. The error occurs on both systems.

I also tried imaging the uncompressed img files in all versions in case it was an issue with the .xz compression. That made no difference with any version.

The logs below are from the HP Omen with integrated card reader.

Version

2.0.6 (Default)

What host operating system were you using?

Windows

Host OS Version

11 25H2 & 10

Selected OS

Custom

Which Raspberry Pi Device are you using?

Raspberry Pi 5, 500, and Compute Modules 5

What kind of storage device are you using?

microSD Card in an internal reader

OS Customisation

• Yes, I was using OS Customisation when the bug occurred.

Relevant log output

D:\Apps\Raspberry Pi Imager>Windows UI language: "en_US"
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
Drive added: "\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive1"
Drive added: "\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive3"
Drive added: "\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive0"
Drive added: "\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive2"
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
OS list refresh disabled (no interval provided)
Hardware device changed from "" to "Raspberry Pi 5" - clearing image selection
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
OSSelectionListView: index: 11 currentIndex: -1 isReselection: false shouldPreserveScroll: true fromMouse: true fromDoubleClick: false
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
OSSelectionListView: Restoring scroll - contentY: 0 savedContentY: 746 contentHeight: 1034
OSSelectionListView: Restored to 746
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
Device selection changed to: "\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive2"
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
Pausing drive scanning during write operation
Drive scan mode changed to: Paused
Parsed .xz file. Uncompressed size: 2998972928
PerformanceStats: Started cycle for "photonvision-v2026.1.1-linuxarm64_orangepi5.img.xz" size: 2998972928 device: "\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive2" total events: 3
Detected total system memory: 32657 MB on "Windows"
Adaptive sync configuration: "High memory (32657MB)" - Sync interval: 256 MB - Time interval: 7000 ms - Platform: "Windows"
Optimal write buffer size: 8192 KB for 32657 MB system
Ring buffer: 1703 slots x 4096 KB = 6812 MB (available: 22707 MB, total: 32657 MB)
RingBuffer: Allocated 1703 slots of 4096 KB each ( 6812 MB total)
RingBuffer: Allocated 4 slots of 8192 KB each ( 32 MB total)
Using buffer size: 8388608 bytes with page size: 4096 bytes
Ring buffer: 0 slots of 4194304 bytes
Write ring buffer: 4 slots of 8388608 bytes
Optimal write buffer size: 8192 KB for 32657 MB system
device "\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive2"
Removing partition table from Windows drive # "2" ( "\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive2" )
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
Unmounted 0 volumes in 25 ms
cleanDiskFast: Cleaning disk 2 using direct IOCTLs
Successfully deleted drive layout
Updated disk properties
cleanDiskFast completed: success clean= 31 ms, rescan= 202 ms
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR
Device no longer has any volumes. Nothing to lock.
[FileOps] Opening Windows device: \\.\PhysicalDrive2
[FileOps] Path '\\.\PhysicalDrive2' isPhysicalDrive=YES
[FileOps] Detected physical drive, will attempt direct I/O
[FileOps] Using direct I/O (FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING | FILE_FLAG_WRITE_THROUGH) for physical drive
[FileOps] Warning: FSCTL_ALLOW_EXTENDED_DASD_IO failed, continuing anyway
[FileOps] Skipping volume lock for physical drive
[FileOps] Successfully opened device: \\.\PhysicalDrive2 (direct I/O enabled)
File can be handled by libarchive as archive format
Started progress updates after successful drive opening
Decompression pipeline: "xz"
XZ/LZMA: Multi-threaded decode enabled if file has multiple blocks
_writeFile: captured first block ( 8388608 ) and advanced file offset via seek
Write error: FileOperations write failed with error code 2 while writing len: 8388608
Write complete, switching to slow drive scanning
Drive scan mode changed to: Slow
PerformanceStats: Cycle ended, success: false events: 11 samples: dl= 1 dec= 0 wr= 0 vfy= 0
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating USBSTOR
[INFO] Enumerating SCSI
[INFO] Enumerating PCISTOR

[INeedCaffeine]

The image I tried to burn was the PhotonVision 2026.1.1 for the Orange Pi 5 that can be found at https://github.com/PhotonVision/photonvision/releases/download/v2026.1.1/photonvision-v2026.1.1-linuxarm64_orangepi5.img.xz

[DansDesigns]

Same issue trying to write:
Raspberry Pi OS (other) > Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit)

System:
Win 11 23H2
Kioxia 32Gb microSD in a USB3 adaptor

EDIT: downgraded to 1.9.6 and it writes to the same mSD card in the same adaptor & in the same port with no errors

[tdewey-rpi]

Imager 2.0 uses a different Windows API to write files, and I have seen other reports from users that the issue is in the 25H2 Windows 11 update - that rolling back Windows restored their function.

In practice, my Windows development environment doesn't see this issue despite being on 25H2 - so it's not clear what exactly is broken.

That's not to say I won't be taking another look, of course. Merely that there's no smoking gun behind public reports of rolling back 25H2.

[jakerella]

Just confirming that I experienced this issue with 2 different microSD cards and 2 different readers using v2.0.6. When I reverted to 2.0.0 things worked as expected. I'm on Windows 11 build 26200.7623.

Interestingly, when the imager failed (same message as in the original post), Windows would no longer recognize the microSD reader I was using. That is, the drive no longer showed up in Windows Explorer or in PowerShell, even after a reboot. If I switched to a different reader the drive would show up again (same microSD card). Of course, using the imager on it resulted in the same error and resulting in Windows not recognizing the new reader either. I was able to open the Windows Disk Management tool and see the disk, it just didn't have a drive letter assigned to it. Manually assigning a drive letter corrected the previous issues.

[INeedCaffeine]

Imager 2.0 uses a different Windows API to write files, and I have seen other reports from users that the issue is in the 25H2 Windows 11 update - that rolling back Windows restored their function.

Just to be clear: the problem does not appear in 2.0.0. It first appeared with 2.0.2. So some change between 2.0.0 and 2.0.2 is the likely root cause for the failure.