#59 Implement retrieval of SMART data for Windows - Privilege escalation version by IanReyes44 · Pull Request #194 · JDiskMark/jdm-java

IanReyes44 · 2026-07-26T07:40:54Z

Windows packaging for smartctl with privilege escalation (no more running as admin on Windows)

Implemented Windows-specific SMART data retrieval using smartctl.exe and PowerShell partition mapping.

- Merge origin/dev into smart-win (resolve conflicts in BenchmarkRunner, MainFrame, Smart, Gui) - Bundle smartctl 7.5 (Windows x86_64) from jdm-deps into MSI via jdm-core/target/smartctl/ - Fix resolveSmartctlPath() on Windows: use jar code-source URL and java.home (jpackage does not set APPDIR on Windows) - getSmart() Windows: merge stderr into stdout, try /dev/pdN then bare pdN, log non-JSON responses - Gui.runSmart(): admin check guard on Windows with actionable error messages in SmartPanel status bar - SmartPanel: add setStatus(String) for external status updates - windows-msi.yml: add Fetch bundled smartctl step (mirrors linux-deb.yml) - jdm-msi/pom.xml: stage-smartctl-windows antrun step auto-downloads smartctl.exe from jdm-deps

- MainFrame: add macOS to SMART tab condition (was Linux+Windows only, but macOS SMART is fully implemented in Gui.runSmart() and Smart.java) - Smart.getSmart() Windows: replace unbounded p.waitFor() with 15-second timeout; forcibly destroy hung smartctl process and continue to next device arg - Smart.getSmart() Windows: split IOException|InterruptedException multi-catch; restore thread interrupt flag on InterruptedException - BenchmarkRunner: guard Windows SMART fetch with App.isAdmin check, consistent with Gui.runSmart() — avoids noisy log failures when not elevated - windows-msi.yml: correct Fetch bundled smartctl comment and $dest path from old app-content location to jdm-core/target/smartctl/ (actual --input path) - jdm-msi/pom.xml: add Ant fail task after smartctl staging check so MSI build fails fast instead of silently producing a bundle without the expected binary

…s admin) Previously, SMART data on Windows required launching the entire application as Administrator. This commit introduces on-demand UAC escalation so the app can run as a normal user and still read SMART data. How it works: - When the user clicks Run SMART (and is not already admin), SmartEscalation writes a PowerShell helper script to %LOCALAPPDATA%\JDiskMark\smart-helper.ps1 - The script is launched elevated via Start-Process -Verb RunAs -Wait, which triggers a standard Windows UAC prompt (shows "Windows PowerShell") - The elevated helper runs smartctl and writes the JSON result to %LOCALAPPDATA%\JDiskMark\smart-ipc-<device>.json - Both processes share %LOCALAPPDATA% because they run as the same Windows user (just different privilege tokens), so the file is readable by the non-elevated app - The main process reads, parses and displays the result; UAC cancellation is handled gracefully with a clear status message New file: SmartEscalation.java: IPC helper (write script, launch elevated, read result) Modified files: Smart.java: getSmart() splits into fast path (already admin -> getSmartDirect) and escalation path (not admin -> SmartEscalation.runElevated) Gui.java: remove early-return admin guard; show UAC hint in status bar; update failure message to mention UAC cancellation BenchmarkRunner.java: remove App.isAdmin guard (escalation is now transparent) Future improvement: a native jdm-smart-helper.exe with requireAdministrator manifest would show "JDiskMark" in the UAC dialog instead of "Windows PowerShell"

Two bugs fixed: 1. Script file path with spaces (e.g. 'Ian Reyes' in %LOCALAPPDATA%) broke the -File argument when passed through Start-Process -ArgumentList, causing the elevated PowerShell to silently not run the script. Fixed by switching to -EncodedCommand (UTF-16LE base64) — no script file path needed at all. 2. .NET's [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8 writes a UTF-8 BOM (EF BB BF) by default, causing the JSON check startsWith('{') to fail (the string actually started with U+FEFF). Fixed by using New-Object System.Text.UTF8Encoding(\False) in the PowerShell script, and adding a defensive BOM-strip in Java before parsing.

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Pull request overview

Adds Windows SMART data collection support by bundling smartctl.exe into the Windows MSI and introducing a Windows-specific elevation flow (UAC) so SMART can be queried without requiring the whole app to run as Administrator.

Changes:

Bundle smartctl.exe into the Windows MSI build inputs (Maven + CI workflow staging).
Add Windows device resolution (drive letter → physical disk number) and Windows SMART retrieval paths (direct when elevated, otherwise UAC-elevated helper).
Expose SMART UI/benchmark integration on Windows and store SMART data on the Benchmark object (non-persisted).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`jdm-dist/jdm-msi/pom.xml`	Stages a bundled `smartctl.exe` into `jdm-core/target` so `jpackage --input` includes it in the MSI image.
`jdm-core/src/main/java/jdiskmark/UtilOs.java`	Adds Windows drive-letter → physical disk number resolution via PowerShell.
`jdm-core/src/main/java/jdiskmark/SmartPanel.java`	Adds a thread-safe status setter for SMART UI messaging.
`jdm-core/src/main/java/jdiskmark/SmartEscalation.java`	New Windows UAC escalation helper that runs `smartctl --json` elevated and returns JSON via an IPC file.
`jdm-core/src/main/java/jdiskmark/Smart.java`	Adds Windows `smartctl` path resolution and Windows SMART execution (direct/elevated). Disables privileged shell/heartbeat on Windows.
`jdm-core/src/main/java/jdiskmark/MainFrame.java`	Enables the SMART tab on Windows.
`jdm-core/src/main/java/jdiskmark/Gui.java`	Allows SMART to run on Windows; resolves Windows device name as `pdN`; adds UAC prompt status messaging and failure hints.
`jdm-core/src/main/java/jdiskmark/BenchmarkRunner.java`	Fetches SMART for benchmarks on Windows as well, and triggers SMART UI updates in GUI mode.
`jdm-core/src/main/java/jdiskmark/Benchmark.java`	Adds a non-persisted (`@Transient`) `Smart` field to attach SMART data to a benchmark run.
`.github/workflows/windows-msi.yml`	CI step to download/unzip `smartctl` into `jdm-core/target/smartctl` prior to MSI build.

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- SmartEscalation: drain process input stream asynchronously to prevent deadlock during timeouts - SmartEscalation: validate device name format to prevent injection/path traversal - SmartEscalation: generalize BOM stripping rationale comment - BenchmarkRunner: populate SMART UI using already-fetched data instead of triggering duplicate SMART query/UAC prompt - jdm-msi/pom.xml: verify SHA-256 checksum of downloaded smartctl.zip in AntRun step - windows-msi.yml: verify SHA-256 checksum of downloaded smartctl.zip in CI workflow

IanReyes44 · 2026-07-26T08:07:30Z

How to Test Windows UAC Privilege Escalation for SMART Data

This branch eliminates the requirement to launch the entire JDiskMark application as Administrator. Instead, the application runs with standard user privileges, and only triggers a scoped UAC prompt when SMART data is requested.

Prerequisites

Windows 10 / 11
Build or install the application using the MSI (jdiskmark-0.8.0-SNAPSHOT.msi) or run jdm-core from your IDE/Maven as a standard non-elevated user (do NOT right-click and "Run as Administrator").

Test Flow 1: Manual SMART Retrieval ("Run SMART" Button)

Launch JDiskMark normally (non-elevated).
Select a target drive from the drive dropdown.
Click the Run SMART button (or access it from the SMART tab).
Observe Status Bar: A status message appears informing you that a Windows Security (UAC) prompt will appear:

"A Windows security (UAC) prompt will appear to authorise SMART access..."
Accept UAC Prompt: When the UAC dialog pops up (requesting to run Windows PowerShell), click Yes.
Verification:
- The SMART tab populates with raw disk attributes, drive health status, and device info.
- The main JDiskMark process remains running in standard non-admin mode.

Test Flow 2: Benchmark Execution SMART Integration

Launch JDiskMark normally (non-elevated).
Click Start to run a benchmark.
Before the test begins, the app triggers a single UAC prompt to capture initial SMART metrics.
Accept the prompt.
Verification:
- Benchmark completes as expected.
- The SMART tab updates automatically using the pre-fetched SMART data without triggering a redundant second UAC prompt.

Test Flow 3: Cancelling UAC Prompt (Negative Test)

Click Run SMART.
When the UAC prompt appears, click No (Cancel).
Verification:
- The app does not crash or freeze.
- Status bar gracefully reports:
  
  "SMART access was cancelled or failed — accept the UAC prompt to read SMART data."

Under the Hood / Troubleshooting Verification

If you'd like to inspect the inter-process communication (IPC) artifacts:

Open %LOCALAPPDATA%\JDiskMark\ (C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\JDiskMark\).
When elevated SMART retrieval runs, an elevated helper process executes smartctl and writes the JSON output to smart-ipc-<device>.json.
The main app reads this file, parses the SMART payload, and immediately cleans up the IPC file.
Detailed execution steps can be reviewed in the log files located at %LOCALAPPDATA%\JDiskMark\logs\.

jamesmarkchan · 2026-07-26T08:19:50Z

@IanReyes44 when i do a sequential test it will do two prompts but the purpose of the heartbeat is to keep the original process active, alive and not timed out so we don't have to prompt the user unnecessarily. Can we see if it's possible to reuse the last admin process if it is still available? If not and we have to prompt the user every time perhaps for now we don't need the heartbeat as it's not keeping an admin session alive as we would like.

jamesmarkchan · 2026-07-26T08:43:01Z

regardless it's looking really good, let me try to get jasmine's branch merged into dev as i think it fixes the extra space at the end of the smart panel.

jamesmarkchan

hi @IanReyes44 , can you pull updates from dev? there are a bunch of items that came from the smart branch and generally it looks safe to take the version on dev. this is from sonnet:

After that let's add a TODO here:

public static void startHeartbeat() {
    if (App.isWindows()) {
        // TODO: implement persistent process to avoid repeated UAC auth prompt
        return;  // ← exits immediately
    }

and then merge we can re-branch for the single UAC auth prompt later but a merge sounds good to lock in what you have.

IanReyes44 · 2026-07-26T20:30:41Z

Hi @jamesmarkchan,

All the suggestions have been addressed and merged:

Merged dev branch: smart-win-escalation is now fully up to date with dev. All conflict resolution items (removal of mainFrame.setLocation, removal of the location panel in MainFrame, comment formatting in Smart.java, and SmartPanel layout fixes for blank space) were resolved cleanly using dev's implementation.
Added TODO comment: Added // TODO: implement persistent process to avoid repeated UAC auth prompt inside startHeartbeat() in Smart.java.
Build & Test Verification: Built with -Pwindows-msi (including SHA-256 asset verification) and verified all 15/15 unit tests pass cleanly.

Ready for review / merge!

jamesmarkchan · 2026-07-26T21:22:43Z

good to merge! :)

IanReyes44 added 5 commits July 21, 2026 19:09

#59 Windows SMART retrieval implementation

38d29ed

Implemented Windows-specific SMART data retrieval using smartctl.exe and PowerShell partition mapping.

IanReyes44 requested review from Copilot and jamesmarkchan July 26, 2026 07:40

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of IanReyes44 July 26, 2026 07:41 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 26, 2026

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IanReyes44 added 2 commits July 26, 2026 00:54

Fix lambda effectively final compilation error in BenchmarkRunner

03078e9

jamesmarkchan requested changes Jul 26, 2026

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IanReyes44 added 2 commits July 26, 2026 11:21

Add TODO in startHeartbeat for persistent Windows elevated process

030b447

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/dev' into smart-win-escalation

c1eddd6

jamesmarkchan assigned IanReyes44 Jul 26, 2026

IanReyes44 merged commit 8d7168d into dev Jul 26, 2026
8 checks passed

IanReyes44 deleted the smart-win-escalation branch July 26, 2026 21:46

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#59 Implement retrieval of SMART data for Windows - Privilege escalation version - #194

#59 Implement retrieval of SMART data for Windows - Privilege escalation version#194
IanReyes44 merged 9 commits into
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IanReyes44 commented Jul 26, 2026

How to Test Windows UAC Privilege Escalation for SMART Data

Prerequisites

Test Flow 1: Manual SMART Retrieval ("Run SMART" Button)

Test Flow 2: Benchmark Execution SMART Integration

Test Flow 3: Cancelling UAC Prompt (Negative Test)

Under the Hood / Troubleshooting Verification

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