Building FreeOTFE

FreeOTFE comes in three parts:

A frontend GUI, written in Delphi
A number of kernel drivers, written in C
A number of command line decryption utilities, also written in C

Building the GUI

This is a description for Delphi newbies of the basic steps involved in compiling the FreeOTFE GUI.

To build the GUI, the following software is required:

Delphi (v7 or later, though v5 may well be used with minimal changes)
The SDeanComponents package (v2.00.00 or later)

The binary release of this software was built with Delphi v7, but you should well be able to use any version later than this.

With each of the packages in the SDeanComponents archive,

Build each package
Install each package
Ensure that the correct path to each package is added to your Delphi environment ("Tools | Environment Options...", "Library" tab)

Open the FreeOTFE project ("FreeOTFE.dpr")
Build the application.
You should now find a file called "FreeOTFE.exe" in the directory above the "src" directory

You have now successfully built the GUI frontend!

If required, the compiler definition "FREEOTFE_TIME_CDB_DUMP" may be set, in which case the time take to dump a CDB ("Tools | Critical data block | Dump to human readable file...") will be shown after the dump completes.

Building the Kernel Drivers

The kernel mode drivers implement the actual hash, encryption/decryption and main FreeOTFE drivers.

To build these drivers, the following software is required:

Visual C++ .NET
The MS Windows SDK (February 2003 version)
The MS Windows DDK (Windows Server 2003 version)

At time of writing, the MS Windows SDK can be downloaded from the Microsoft WWW site. The MS Windows DDK is not available as a download, but can be ordered from the Microsoft WWW site as a free CD, for the cost of delivery.

It should be noted that if you are unable to source the exact versions listed above, earlier versions may well be substituted, although I cannot guarantee success. Later versions should operate correctly. The above list describes the development environment as used to build the binary release of FreeOTFE.

Setting up the Build Environment

Installation and Configuration of MS Build Environment

The following list comprehensively describes the configuration used to build the binary release of FreeOTFE. Feel free to adjust according to taste - a number of the options listed are not necessary, and are only included for completeness...

Install VC++ .NET
Put a copy of "vcvars32.bat" into one of the directories in your path
Configure the VC++ editor:

To use spaces, not tabs
To indent braces

Install the MS Windows SDK with the following options:

Install in C:\MSSDK
Install the "Core SDK"
Then install the debugging tools for windows
Do not register environment variables (we'll use "Setenv.bat" from the command line)

Install the MS Windows DDK with the following options:

Install in C:\WINDDK\3790
Include the "Illustrative Driver Samples"
Include the "Input Samples"
Include the "Storage Samples"
Include the "Virtual Device Driver Samples"
Include the "WDM Samples"
Build Environment\Windows Driver Development Kit AMD64 Additional Build Tools
Build Environment\Windows Server 2003 AMD64 Libraries
Build Environment\Windows XP Headers
Build Environment\Windows XP x86 Libraries
Build Environment\Windows XP IA86 Libraries

needed if the build .BAT files (see later) use "chk WXP" - if that's skipped it'll default to WNET (windows .NET)

Build Environment\Windows 2000 Headers
Build Environment\Windows 2000 Build Environment

needed if the build .BAT files (see later) use "chk <something>" - if that's skipped it'll default to WNET (windows .net)

FreeOTFE Build Configuration

Edit "setup_env_common.bat" (located under src\drivers\Common\bin), and ensure that the following variables are set appropriately:

Variable	Description	Default value
FREEOTFE_DEBUG	Build type flag; set to 1 for debug build, or 0 for release	0
FREEOTFE_TARGET	Target OS to build for; e.g. WXP/W2K/WNET; note that W2K builds will not operate correctly under Windows XP (e.g. when formatting a volume)	WXP
PROJECT_DRIVE	The drive on which you have stored the FreeOTFE source	E:
PROJECT_DIR	The full drive and path where the "drivers" directory is located	<see file>
MSSDK_DIR	The directory in which you installed the MS SDK	C:\MSSDK
MSDDK_DIR	The directory in which you installed the MS DDK	C:\WINDDK\3790

Edit "setup_env_driver.bat" (in the same directory), and ensure that "SETENV.BAT" is called with the parameters appropriate to the type of build you wish to create, and that "FREEOTFE_OUTPUT_DIR" is set to the appropriate directory under the src dirs where the build executable places the files it creates (this shouldn't be needed as it will happen automatically if the above are configured correctly)

3rd Party Source Code

Some of the FreeOTFE drivers (the hash/encryptions drivers in particular) are dependant on certain 3rd party software being installed. FreeOTFE's source code comes complete with 3rd party included in the"src\3rd_party" directory and should be preconfigured, ready for use.

Alternatively, you may wish to download this 3rd party source from the original authors in order to verify the integrity of this software. For this reason, details of where this software was obtained from are included in the above directory.

Please note that should choose the latter option, it is important that you review the individual driver notes (see separate driver directories; "_notes.txt" files) to ensure that this software is configured correctly. Additionally, you may well have to modify the "my_build_sys.bat" files, directing them to the location where you installed said 3rd party source code, as the build process requires that certain files are copied over into the FreeOTFE src directories. (Annoying, but this is a requirement of the MS "build.exe" command)

Building the FreeOTFE Drivers

Either:

Open "FreeOTFE.sln" using Visual C++
Rightclick on each project in turn, and select "Build"

or:

Enter each of the separate driver directories in turn and launch each project's "my_build_sys.bat"

In either case, a copy of the binary which is built will be copied into the directory above your "src" directory.

After reaching this stage, you should have successfully built your own version of the FreeOTFE drivers!

Notes:

If FREEOTFE_TARGET is set to W2K, the resulting binary may not operate correctly under MS Windows XP as a number of functions what are only needed under Windows XP and later are #ifdef'd out. As a result, a "W2K" binary may not operate correctly under Windows XP (e.g. Trying to format a volume may result in... Nothing happening). If you want a binary which will operate under both Windows 2000 and Windows XP, set this to WXP.
Windows XP migrated a couple of the previous Windows 2000 macros to be functions. In order to allow the above "WXP" builds to work under Windows 2000, "IFSRelated.h" includes a copy of these macros, and uses them regardless - see comments in code for an explanation.

Building the Command Line Decryption Utilities

To build the command line decryption utilities, the following software is required:

A C compiler (Visual C++ .NET was used to write and test this software)

Please follow the following steps:

Install and configure up the build environment, as described as per building the backend drivers, you may omit the SDK and DDK.
Modify the software as appropriate for your test

Please see the command line decryption utility documentation

Launch the relevant "my_build_exe.bat" file

The executable should be built in the same directory.