Good evening, I no longer know where to turn with my problem. Here’s what happened: since I upgraded my computer in the winter of this year, I’ve been having issues finding games in Black Ops 6, and it turns out I am constantly in a shadow ban without reason, and then I received a permanent ban in Cold War. For a long time, I thought I got banned first due to purchasing used hardware - specifically a motherboard and a processor, but that turned out not to be the case - they were new according to the receipts from the store. Then I thought the ban came from the nvidia dlss override feature, but upon rechecking, that version turned out to be invalid. After more time, my friends and I came to the conclusion that for some reason in the Call of Duty series, a ban occurs if you launch the game from a ReFS partition where Windows 11 24h2 is installed. What should I do about this? Activision support doesn't help at all and forces me to read their policy like a dogma (but there is absolutely nothing there regarding the use of file systems even), and their supposed solution after appealing is final and cannot be reconsidered... Yes, I fully understand that Windows does not officially support booting from a ReFS partition; however, the Windows installer allows one to do so, both on ReFS and to install the system with Server 2025. But that's not a reason to ban me in just one game, because in other games like Counter-Strike 2 everything is fine, including those protected by EAC. Statements and proofs: reddit.com/r/Warzone/comments/1kl8wys habr.com/ru/articles/923190/

Good evening, I no longer know where to turn with my problem. Here’s what happened: since I upgraded my computer in the winter of this year, I’ve been having issues finding games in Black Ops 6, and it turns out I am constantly in a shadow ban without reason, and then I received a permanent ban in Cold War. For a long time, I thought I got banned first due to purchasing used hardware - specifically a motherboard and a processor, but that turned out not to be the case - they were new according to the receipts from the store. Then I thought the ban came from the nvidia dlss override feature, but upon rechecking, that version turned out to be invalid. After more time, my friends and I came to the conclusion that for some reason in the Call of Duty series, a ban occurs if you launch the game from a ReFS partition where Windows 11 24h2 is installed. What should I do about this? Activision support doesn't help at all and forces me to read their policy like a dogma (but there is absolutely nothing there regarding the use of file systems even), and their supposed solution after appealing is final and cannot be reconsidered... Yes, I fully understand that Windows does not officially support booting from a ReFS partition; however, the Windows installer allows one to do so, both on ReFS and to install the system with Server 2025. But that's not a reason to ban me in just one game, because in other games like Counter-Strike 2 everything is fine, including those protected by EAC. Statements and proofs: reddit.com/r/Warzone/comments/1kl8wys habr.com/ru/articles/923190/

So what do you expect us to do here? Microsoft will certainly not make ReFS behave and act like NTFS because it's not implementing the same features. Hacking anti cheat and anti tempering software is also forbidden. And there's no way anyone here will be able to tell Activision to change their software to run on ReFS.

I've got a disk with ReFS for gaming but also a disk for games that run only on NTFS. I suggest you do the same. You can easily have these two disks on a physical disk when you use Storage Spaces.

Guys how do i enable it

Guys how do i enable it

HELP

Guys how do i enable it

Enable what?

Good evening, I no longer know where to turn with my problem. Here’s what happened: since I upgraded my computer in the winter of this year, I’ve been having issues finding games in Black Ops 6, and it turns out I am constantly in a shadow ban without reason, and then I received a permanent ban in Cold War. For a long time, I thought I got banned first due to purchasing used hardware - specifically a motherboard and a processor, but that turned out not to be the case - they were new according to the receipts from the store. Then I thought the ban came from the nvidia dlss override feature, but upon rechecking, that version turned out to be invalid. After more time, my friends and I came to the conclusion that for some reason in the Call of Duty series, a ban occurs if you launch the game from a ReFS partition where Windows 11 24h2 is installed. What should I do about this? Activision support doesn't help at all and forces me to read their policy like a dogma (but there is absolutely nothing there regarding the use of file systems even), and their supposed solution after appealing is final and cannot be reconsidered... Yes, I fully understand that Windows does not officially support booting from a ReFS partition; however, the Windows installer allows one to do so, both on ReFS and to install the system with Server 2025. But that's not a reason to ban me in just one game, because in other games like Counter-Strike 2 everything is fine, including those protected by EAC. Statements and proofs: reddit.com/r/Warzone/comments/1kl8wys habr.com/ru/articles/923190/

So what do you expect us to do here? Microsoft will certainly not make ReFS behave and act like NTFS because it's not implementing the same features. Hacking anti cheat and anti tempering software is also forbidden. And there's no way anyone here will be able to tell Activision to change their software to run on ReFS.

I've got a disk with ReFS for gaming but also a disk for games that run only on NTFS. I suggest you do the same. You can easily have these two disks on a physical disk when you use Storage Spaces.

In the end, Activision banned me from their technical support, and they don't accept direct bug reports.

@funkerwolf I'm afraid if you want to use Activision's servers, and they don't want you booting from ReFS, you have to play by their rules.

@funkerwolf I'm afraid if you want to use Activision's servers, and they don't want you booting from ReFS, you have to play by their rules.

Unfortunately, their rules, license agreement, and policy do not mention file systems, refs, or ntfs. https://habr.com/en/articles/929782/

@funkerwolf There's nothing we can do about that for you, and to be fair, ReFS isn't supported for booting by Microsoft, so it's doesn't seem fair to blame Activision for not supporting it in their anti-cheat software.

This thread has to be marked as the official complaint page for MSFT ReFS

This thread has to be marked as the official complaint page for MSFT ReFS

Considering the fact that Activision is owned by Microsoft and, for some reason, the former has not been punished for this yet, they are in a convenient position to shift the blame for their mistakes onto users. And it's not a very funny situation when games set in the future don't work on the file system of the future, on the operating system of the future, and on the company of the future, Microsoft...

@funkerwolf There's nothing we can do about that for you, and to be fair, ReFS isn't supported for booting by Microsoft, so it's doesn't seem fair to blame Activision for not supporting it in their anti-cheat software.

You can raise a fuss in the media. Why is this even possible? I didn't violate anything, but I got banned. What's more, I got banned by their technical support, and they don't accept direct bug reports, even early ones, until Windows defaults to using ReFS instead of NTFS. They should be grateful to me, not treating me this way and banning four accounts belonging to my friends.

@funkerwolf Sorry but at present the fact is that Microsoft do not support booting via ReFS (NB 'it works' does not mean 'it is supported'). That means Microsoft and Activision cannot really be considered fully accountable for any issues you may encounter while doing so.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/refs/refs-overview#features-unavailable-on-refs
Until it's supported, I don't think your complaint has a leg to stand on here. But regardless, I wish you every success in regaining access to your account.

@funkerwolf Sorry but at present the fact is that Microsoft do not support booting via ReFS (NB 'it works' does not mean 'it is supported'). That means Microsoft and Activision cannot really be considered fully accountable for any issues you may encounter while doing so. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/refs/refs-overview#features-unavailable-on-refs Until it's supported, I don't think your complaint has a leg to stand on here.

If that were really the case, then the Windows installer wouldn't allow it, but it does allow it, and it's entirely possible in the release version 24h2 with Server 2025. But even so, it shouldn't be a reason for a ban, especially since no other game has this, but for some reason Call of Duty is fine, and I repeat, there is nothing in their policy/terms/agreement about file systems, which again means that the ban is not legitimate, but unfortunately, I cannot go to court.

@funkerwolf Again, 'the installer allows it' is another way of saying 'it works', but again, this is not the same as 'it's supported'.

@funkerwolf Again, 'the installer allows it' is another way of saying 'it works', but again, this is not the same as 'it's supported'.

Why should this be a reason for a ban, which does not contradict the terms and conditions/policy/agreement?

I have no complaints about ReFS itself, only about the attitude of programmers who, in 13 years, have not learned how to work with it. But for some reason, ordinary users and gamers have to pay for their mistakes. I wouldn't be surprised if ReFS itself is a target for their anti-cheat system, which means I can't use two hard drives in a mirror to speed up game startup.

Don't you have a better place to whine?

Don't you have a better place to whine?

I shouldn't have been banned from a Microsoft game on a Microsoft file system with a Microsoft operating system, considering that this platform has also belonged to Microsoft for a long time. I want to draw attention to the problem so that it can finally be solved, rather than being banned for programmers' mistakes, a ban that is unjustified on the part of the player/user.

Your banning has absolutely nothing to do with ReFS and this gist.

Your banning has absolutely nothing to do with ReFS and this gist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaDhROH4oio

Your banning has absolutely nothing to do with ReFS and this gist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaDhROH4oio

OK, what on earth do you think you're doing here?

1. This is a group of tech interested people, we're not connected to either Microsoft nor Activision.
2. Just because Activision is owned by Microsoft, there's no need for them to support all Microsoft file systems that can run on Windows like FAT, VFAT, exFAT, TFAT, TexFAT, REFS, HPFS, FatX, WinFS, CSVFS, CLFS, ProjFS or other, closed and open sourced third party file systems.
3. Ordinary users and gamers aren't the target audience of ReFS on client versions of Windows. The main target audience are Windows developers for the dev drive and then people who want to store their DATA similar to a server.
4. Mirroring on Windows also works with NTFS, there's no need for ReFS. Installing Windows still isn't supported on ReFS despite its not blocked anymore.
5. There's no advantage of installing online games on mirrored disks since they can be downloaded again for free and often use online auto-repair.
6. Windows Store games mostly refuse to even install on ReFS which should be a warning to any gamer that Microsoft has yet to support ReFS for gaming.
7. Your ban in the video seems to only be partially active so I suggest you uninstall and reinstall on NTFS and then wait until you get unbanned again (if it's actually the cause and not something else you did).
8. Online game services are usually offered as is with no guarantee for uptimes, access or server availability beyond the day of the release. If you can't use them as expected, you can try to get a refund.
9. Please stop pointless arguing and bothering us here. We're only discussing the changes and improvements of released versiona of ReFS here, nothing more. Despite you mentioning file system and anti cheat development, I doubt you have any idea about how to do that.
10. If you continue to talk off topic, you risk getting suspended here, too.

To add to the excellent points made above, I suspect the reason why your anti-cheat software is blocking you when you boot with ReFS is because of bypasses like this, which use EfiGuard to bypass various signed driver requirements in Windows, but also seems to involve booting from a FAT / FAT32 USB stick.

https://www.unknowncheats.me/forum/anti-cheat-bypass/504191-undetected-cheat-engine-driver-2023-bypass-anticheats-eac.html

So it could be a blunt mitigation against that e.g. ‘if you’re not booting from an NTFS drive, you may be cheating?’ But again, Microsoft are very clear that ReFS is not yet supported for booting (which means they haven’t completed testing that scenario, so even if it does work, it is not under their ‘support’ which is like their ‘manufacturer’s guarantee’, and you must accept that there may be unwanted side effects). One of these is apparently, it may trip anti-cheat software. The answer is to run it on a supported file system, not to moan on a GitHub gist where sadly nobody you’re talking with has any ability to change anything for you.

I don't know where you got the information that Microsoft supports or does not support this, but banning users and referring to terms, agreements, or policies that do not specify this, i.e., according to you, is normal, and even threatening to suspend accounts here is brilliant logic. And the fact that this thread is for developers further emphasizes that this is important and necessary information, which was revealed by chance and could prevent such cases in the future if they take note of it.

Your banning has absolutely nothing to do with ReFS and this gist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaDhROH4oio

OK, what on earth do you think you're doing here?

He telling if you using refs, you will get ban.
Developers must write something to activision, cos peopeles getting bans for nothing.

He telling if you using refs, you will get ban. Developers must write something to activision, cos peopeles getting bans for nothing.

So go write something already. And not here, for fuck's sake. This is a gist, not a platform for activism.

Don't you have a better place to whine?

I shouldn't have been banned from a Microsoft game on a Microsoft file system with a Microsoft operating system, considering that this platform has also belonged to Microsoft for a long time. I want to draw attention to the problem so that it can finally be solved, rather than being banned for programmers' mistakes, a ban that is unjustified on the part of the player/user.

This is a gist for developers and enthusiasts that is NOT CONNECTED WITH MS nor Activision.
You should contact game developer or MS.

No one here cares about your fking ban.
Others respond you just because your comments are disrupting the discussion, not because everyone cares so much about the problems you're facing.

Just for anyone actually interested in the underlying tech here, I've compiled some information.

Creating a working WindowsApps folder for Windows Store and Xbox games installs on any drive currently involves these steps:

• When you run Add‑AppxVolume, PowerShell calls into the PackageManager COM API (Windows.Management.Deployment.PackageManager), which in turn calls the internal AppxVolume::Add routine in the AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC).
• That routine queries the target path’s file system type via Win32 APIs (e.g., GetVolumeInformationW) and compares it against NTFS.
  • If it’s not NTFS, the API returns an error (ERRORNOTSUPPORTED), which surfaces in PowerShell as a failure to add the volume.

So it's impossible to setup a Windows games install folder on ReFS.

The only way I can think of doing this is by either forcing the Windows 11 installation on ReFS during Windows Setup (formatting with ReFS during the setup is still not enabled) or manually cloning an NTFS file system to ReFS. Both ways are clearly manipulations of the OS and it's behavior and certainly unsupported.

Don't you have a better place to whine?

I shouldn't have been banned from a Microsoft game on a Microsoft file system with a Microsoft operating system, considering that this platform has also belonged to Microsoft for a long time. I want to draw attention to the problem so that it can finally be solved, rather than being banned for programmers' mistakes, a ban that is unjustified on the part of the player/user.

This is a gist for developers and enthusiasts that is NOT CONNECTED WITH MS nor Activision. You should contact game developer or MS.

No one here cares about your fking ban. Others respond you just because your comments are disrupting the discussion, not because everyone cares so much about the problems you're facing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f4RKuZLq_0

Just for anyone actually interested in the underlying tech here, I've compiled some information.

Creating a working WindowsApps folder for Windows Store and Xbox games installs on any drive currently involves these steps:

* When you run Add‑AppxVolume, PowerShell calls into the PackageManager COM API (Windows.Management.Deployment.PackageManager), which in turn calls the internal AppxVolume::Add routine in the AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC).

* That routine queries the target path’s file system type via Win32 APIs (e.g., GetVolumeInformationW) and compares it against NTFS.
  
  * If it’s not NTFS, the API returns an error (ERRORNOTSUPPORTED), which surfaces in PowerShell as a failure to add the volume.

So it's impossible to setup a Windows games install folder on ReFS.

The only way I can think of doing this is by either forcing the Windows 11 installation on ReFS during Windows Setup (formatting with ReFS during the setup is still not enabled) or manually cloning an NTFS file system to ReFS. Both ways are clearly manipulations of the OS and it's behavior and certainly unsupported.

24h2 installs through the installer with nothing if the disk is formatted through diskpart and these are all regular versions through steam and blizzard, they don't even ask any questions and work

I'll bite.

I setup a REFS volume, had Steam install Call of Duty on it. I played one match of Warzone (won too lol). I didn't get banned. 🤷

Next is to setup a bootable refs volume and do the same?!

I'll bite.

I setup a REFS volume, had Steam install Call of Duty on it. I played one match of Warzone (won too lol). I didn't get banned. 🤷

Next is to setup a bootable refs volume and do the same?!

Yes. Don't launch CoDBOCW unless you don't mind losing it and don't want to get your account banned. The free WZ will suffice; you'll get a shadow for a week, and it will be removed automatically.