1.26.30 upgrade shows “original system loader backup” errors on machines without system encryption

[ulip]

Hello,

I upgraded VeraCrypt from 1.26.29 to 1.26.30 on two Windows 11 machines. Both machines are used for file containers only. System encryption has never been active on them, and I have no VeraCrypt Rescue Disk.

During the upgrade, both attached error dialogs appeared:

“VeraCrypt could not confirm that a trustworthy, complete original system loader backup is available in protected storage…”
“VeraCrypt cannot safely use the original system loader backup because its ownership, permissions, or file path could allow modification by another user…” (source: VeraCrypt::BootEncryption::ReadSystemLoaderBackup:5365)

The upgrade itself completed. Both machines boot normally, there is no pre-boot authentication, and containers can be mounted and dismounted without problems. I also could not find a file named “Original System Loader” anywhere on the system drive.

My questions:

Why does the upgrade check for a system loader backup when system encryption has never been used on these machines?
Is this expected behavior in 1.26.30 (GHSA-w98h-pqh6-wfjj), or a false positive?
Does anything need to be done on a machine without system encryption, or can the messages be ignored?

Setup: Windows 11, [BIOS/UEFI], upgrade via [EXE/MSI installer], from 1.26.29 to 1.26.30.

Thanks!

[franet65]

Unfortunately, I can't upgrade at all. I get the error message attached here. When I click OK, it rolls back to the previous version. However, the portable version runs without any problems.