The Dangers of DeepFreeze

DeepFreeze is an excellent program for protecting your computer against malicious damage and accidental damage. However when it goes wrong, it can go wrong quite spectacularly as I discovered today!

I was busy updating Flash and Java on several computers ready to be frozen so that the kids in school couldn't mess them up. All was going well until I started to install DeepFreeze. The first few went smoothly and everything was working well, too well. So Sod's Law decided to step in and mix things up a bit.

I started getting error messages when trying to install the software. Something about an error 2000000 and DeepFreeze can't install. So I attempted again to install it, but this time I was only given the option to uninstall. Figuring that the best thing to do would be to uninstall completely, reboot and then try to install again, I gave it a shot. The uninstall process seemed to work okay and the PC went for a restart. However it wouldn't restart. All I got was a black screen.

So first thing to try in the event of Windows not loading; F8 on boot and use the last settings that worked. Except they didn't. Okay, so trying safe mode. All looked good for a while and then everything froze again. Fearing the worst I found a Windows XP install disc and set the PC about a scndsk to check for any damaged files.

While that was happening I decided to chance it being a one off and try installing DeepFreeze on another machine. Three in a row presented me with the error message installing. I got a colleague to check the first. He tried running the installer again and this time it offered to install, and completed properly. Rebooted and all worked fine. So try the second PC; this time I've only got the option to uninstall. Remembering how the last uninstall ended I decided to cancel and reboot. No such luck, on rebooting I got another black screen.

If things weren't already confusing enough I then tried the same troubleshooting steps as the first time it happened. And this time using the last known working settings worked. Except every time I rebooted I got a black screen and had to use the last known working settings to load Windows. Frustrated I attempted to unfreeze the computer to remove DeepFreeze. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts I finally managed to unfreeze the computer and remove DeepFreeze.

On the next reboot the computer started first time without any problems. Was I then crazy to want to try and install DeepFreeze again? Probably, because when I did it errored again. This time however before clicking any other button I called upon the System Restore feature of Windows. Did a System Restore, rebooted and Windows worked fine once again. I must have been mad because for one more time I was determined to get DeepFreeze working. And someone must have liked me because it worked!

The third computer I tried DeepFreeze on gave the same error and this time I quickly hit System Restore straightaway. After Windows had restored all my settings I once again tried DeepFreeze and was successful.

Why would a program that is designed to help protect Windows cause so much devastation if it screwed up? And why did I have three different problems caused by the same error? Lessons I've learned from this experience:

1. If you're installing DeepFreeze from a network location, only do one PC at a time. For some strange reason this causes the error I have described.

2. Always, ALWAYS, do a System Restore before attempting to install DeepFreeze (or any similar software).

3. Don't go straight down the reformat/reinstall approach because there might just be a slim chance of recovering your system.

I hope my experience can help someone else out down the line!