Method, system and device for validating repair files and repairing corrupt software

• US 9,158,605 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2010
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Mishra, Abhinav, Day, Michael, Keen, Charles, Fei, Mingbiao, Rivait, Derek, Back, Alan B., Sigwald, Rainer
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr., Lewis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): APONTE, FRANCISCO JAVIER
• Application Number:
  US12/958,267
• Publication Number:
  US 20120144383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,777 Days
• Field of Search: 717/127, 714/758, 714/774
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/00 Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/36 Preventing errors by testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions

Abstract

A system and method for repairing corrupt software components of a computer system. Corrupt software is detected and repaired utilizing an automated component repair service. Repair files are downloaded from an external storage location and used to repair the corruption. The downloaded files are preferably the smallest amount of data necessary to repair the identified corruption. The process of repairing corrupt files is used in conjunction with a software updating service to resolve problems that occur when corrupt software is updated by allowing a corrupt component to be repaired and then uninstalled such that an updated component can be properly installed.

Claims

1. A method performed on a computing device that includes a processor, memory, and a component repair service, the method comprising:

determining, by the component repair service operating on the computing device, a set of corrupt files;

obtaining, by the component repair service, a set of repair files that corresponds to the determined set of corrupt files, where the component repair service is further configured for validating the set of repair files in addition to determining the set of corrupt files, and where the determining and the validating each comprises;

generating, for each file that, for the determining, is in the set of corrupt files and, for the validating, is in the set of repair files, a hash of the each file, and

comparing each generated hash to a corresponding cryptographically secure hash key of an uncorrupted version of the each file; and

repairing, by the component repair service based on the obtained set of repair files, a corrupt software component that corresponds to the determined set of corrupt files.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating each repair file in the obtained set of repair files.

3. The method of claim 1, where the obtaining comprises obtaining the set of repair files from an external server.

4. The method of claim 1, where the repairing comprises replacing, at least in part, the determined set of corrupt files with at least a portion of the obtained set of repair files.

5. The method of claim 1, where the detecting is triggered by a notification received from a system health checker component.

6. The method of claim 1, where the obtaining comprises obtaining the set of repair files from a store local to the computing device or from a network source.

7. The method of claim 1, where the detecting is triggered by a user manually initiating a scan.

8. A system comprising a computing device and at least one program module that are together configured for performing actions, where the computing device includes a processor, memory, and a component repair service, the actions comprising:

determining, by the component repair service operating on the computing device, a set of corrupt files;

obtaining, by the component repair service, a set of repair files that corresponds to the determined set of corrupt files, where the component repair service is further configured for validating the set of repair files in addition to determining the set of corrupt files, and where the determining and the validating each comprises;

generating, for each file that, for the determining, is in the set of corrupt files and, for the validating, is in the set of repair files, a hash of the each file, and

comparing each generated hash to a corresponding cryptographically secure hash key of an uncorrupted version of the each file; and

repairing, by the component repair service based on the obtained set of repair files, a corrupt software component that corresponds to the determined set of corrupt files.

9. The system of claim 8, the actions further comprising validating each repair file in the obtained set of repair files.

10. The system of claim 8, where the obtaining comprises obtaining the set of repair files from an external server.

11. The system of claim 8, where the detecting is triggered by a notification received from a system health checker component.

12. The system of claim 8, where the detecting is triggered by a user manually initiating a scan.

13. The system of claim 8, where the repairing comprises replacing, at least in part, the determined set of corrupt files with at least a Portion of the obtained set of repair files.

14. The system of claim 8, where the obtaining comprises obtaining the set of repair files from a store local to the computing device or from a network source.

15. At least one memory device storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device that includes a processor, memory, and a component repair service, cause the computing device to perform actions comprising:

determining, by the component repair service operating on the computing device a set of corrupt files;

obtaining, by the component repair service computing device, a set of repair files that corresponds to the determined set of corrupt files, where the component repair service is further configured for validating the set of repair files in addition to determining the set of corrupt files, and where the determining and the validating each comprises;

generating, for each file that, for the determining, is in the set of corrupt files and, for the validating, is in the set of repair files, a hash of the each file, and

comparing each generated hash to a corresponding cryptographically secure hash key of an uncorrupted version of the each file; and

repairing, by the component repair service based on the obtained set of repair files, a corrupt software component that corresponds to the determined set of corrupt files.

16. The least one memory device of claim 15, where the repairing comprises replacing, at least in part, overwriting the determined set of corrupt files with at least a portion of the obtained set of repair files.

17. The least one memory device of claim 15, where the detecting is triggered by a notification received from a system health checker component.

18. The least one memory device of claim 15, where the detecting is triggered by a user manually initiating a scan.

19. The least one memory device of claim 15, the actions further comprising validating each repair file in the obtained set of repair files where the determining comprises:

performing a hash function on each of the payload files, the performing resulting in a hash result for each of the payload files.

20. The least one memory device of claim 15, where the obtaining comprises obtaining the set of repair files from a store local to the computing device, from a network source, or from a server.