Windows Update “Areca Technology Corporation – System – 6.20.0.41”

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Windows Update is offering an update available for download titled “Areca Technology Corporation – System – 6.20.0.41”.

What is this for?

Areca’s products seem to be related to RAID products, but there is no RAID product on my system.  Nor have I been able to find any evidence of some other Areca product on my system.

Is this something that really needs to be installed, or should it be avoided?

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Bruce,

Dell for one sets NVMe drives as Raid vs ACHI. So you may have raid running even though you are not using it. You can check in Your BIOS/UEFI to see how the drive controller is configured. If it’s raid IMHO change it to ACHI. Of course this is a multi step process that needs to be done carefully and as always you need to take an IMAGE BACKUP first!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I don’t recommend changing the BIOS from RAID to AHCI. This will change your disk in a way that will probably require you perform a complete restore and I’d rather not bother with that much effort for no advantage.

To see if your PC has an Areca controller:
Press the Win key
Type: msinfo
Press Enter

This will run the System Information app.
Expand Components > Storage > SCSI
You will see the controller details in the right pane. Let us know what you have – if you highlight a line in the right pane and press Ctrl C, it will copy the line so you can paste it into your answer.

cheers, Paul

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Paul,

Not that hard. See this post.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Repeating last reply as text to make it more readable…

Not sure how to proceed.  Don’t think I have RAID.  If I do, it sounds like changing to AHCI would not be easy.

Should I accept the offered update, or should I ignore and block it?

Here’s the contents of Components > Storage > SCSI:

Name Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller
Manufacturer Microsoft
Status OK
PNP Device ID ROOT\SPACEPORT\0000
Driver C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\SPACEPORT.SYS (10.0.22621.4391, 909.47 KB (931,296 bytes), 3/24/2025 12:45 PM)

Name USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device
Manufacturer USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Compatible Device
Status OK
PNP Device ID USB\VID_0781&PID_55AE\MSFT30323434323548343033353932
Driver C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\UASPSTOR.SYS (10.0.22621.4391, 117.51 KB (120,328 bytes), 3/24/2025 12:45 PM)

Name Intel RST VMD Managed Controller 09AB
Manufacturer Intel Corporation
Status Unknown
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_09AB&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\3&11583659&1&B8

Name Intel RST VMD Managed Controller 09AB
Manufacturer Intel Corporation
Status Unknown
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_09AB&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\3&11583659&1&D0

Name USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device
Manufacturer USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Compatible Device
Status OK
PNP Device ID USB\VID_0BC2&PID_AB38\MSFT30NA8T06YJ
Driver C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\UASPSTOR.SYS (10.0.22621.4391, 117.51 KB (120,328 bytes), 3/24/2025 12:45 PM)

Name Intel RST VMD Controller A77F
Manufacturer Intel Corporation
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A77F&SUBSYS_00008086&REV_00\3&11583659&1&70
Memory Address 0x2000000-0x3FFFFFF
Memory Address 0x82000000-0x83FFFFFF
Memory Address 0x5100000-0x51FFFFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967291
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967290
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967289
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967288
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967287
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967286
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967285
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967284
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967283
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967282
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967281
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967280
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967279
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967278
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967277
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967276
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967275
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967274
IRQ Channel IRQ 4294967273
Driver C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\IASTORVD.SYS (19.5.7.1058, 1.53 MB (1,606,816 bytes), 7/26/2024 12:32 AM)

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Your disk controller is an Intel, not Areca.

What is the motherboard? This should be on the first page of System Information.

cheers, Paul

p.s. please don’t post the formatting. Try right click and “paste text” or similar.

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RE: What is your motherboard?

Motherboard = Baseboard???

If so, then
Baseboard manufacturer = Dell
Baseboard product = 09M47G
Baseboard version = A00

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@Bruce I haven’t got any idea why Windows Update is offering the Areca driver to you but apparently it installs support for a virtual RAID device.

From the Microsoft Update Catalog –

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How would I determine if I have a virtual RAID device?

I don’t think I do, but how can I be sure?

If I don’t have such a device, and don’t need or want one, should I just ignore and block the offered update?

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@Bruce A couple of things to consider –

1. Is this the first time that the Areca driver has been offered?
2. Has your system been functioning correctly and as expected prior to the WU offer?  Afterwards without driver installation?
3. Did you install any new hardware in the system?
4. Have you installed any software that uses virtualization?
5. Have you changed anything in your system settings after which the driver was offered?

My guess is that if you have done nothing to change a properly functioning system and it continues to work as expected then there is no need to install the driver.  Perhaps Windows Update is erroneously offering it to you.  But that’s just my guess.  What do other AW community members think?

 

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This is a new system, only a bit over 3 weeks old. Purchased with Win11 Home, upgraded to Pro. I haven’t used extensively yet, still configuring and customizing to get everything set up as I want it.

Answers to your questions:

1. Yes. This the 1st time the Areca driver was offered.
2. Yes, the system seems to be functioning correctly, although I’m still trying to get used to the Win11 GUI, having migrated from a Win10 system.
3. The only new hardware are an external USB DVD and an external USB SSD for backup.
4. As far as I know, none of my apps are currently using virtualization, although a couple of them have the ability to do so to support sandboxing.
5. I’ve customized a number of settings, but nothing that had anything to do with RAID of virtualization. Mostly, these have been cosmetic, GUI-related things.

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You can use WUmgr to hide the driver. When in need you will be able to unhide.
It is advisable to block drivers, firmware, Bios.. updates in Windows update using GPEdit.
Download drivers directly from OEM (Intel, Nvidia, Realtek..)

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You seem to have a standard Dell with no external controllers, so it seems Windows is confused.
I would follow Alex advice and hide the update.

cheers, Paul

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Thanks to everyone for all your help!

I have decided to hide this update.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

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