Hidden OS boots into repair mode when decoy OS is Windows XP
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I’m having trouble setting up hidden OS.
I use Win 10 x64 1909 as hidden system and Windows XP SP3 x86 as decoy system
The drive is standard MBR and has three partitions: 70Gb, 100Gb and 500Gb
The machine is and old i750 CPU based system without UEFI
The problem is following: After performing all steps of creating hidden system, I finally get fully operational encrypted decoy system, but hidden system boots only into repair mode, and from cmd it can’t see windows 10 installation, diskpart only sees encrypted partitions as RAW.
Repeated it twice, got the same result.
1. Install Windows 10 on first partition, works ok
2. Start hidden system creation, destination partition is second 100Gb partition, external volume FS is exFAT, all other parameters default, result successful, I can boot and use hidden system
3. Installing Win XP decoy system on first partition (tried fresh install or restore from an unencrypted image)
4. Start encrypting Win XP decoy system, all parameters default. After proceeding to the test phase (installing bootloader, without starting encryption, and trying to boot hidden system) the hidden system goes into repair mode.
5. After finishing encryption of decoy system, the hidden system can still boot only in repair mode.
All data on hidden partition is ok and accessible when mounting from decoy system or a LiveUSB .
I spent several days for experiments and tried other OS combinations.
Win 8.1 x64 as both decoy and hidden
Win 8.1 x86 as decoy and Win 8.1 x64 as hidden
Win 8.1 x86 as decoy and Win 8.1 x86 as hidden
Win 8.1 x86 as decoy and Win 10 x64 1909 as hidden
All work ok.
Then I did the final experiment.
- installed Win 10 for the third time, created hidden system from it
- installed Win XP decoy, encrypted it. Hidden system only could boot into repair mode, as in previous tries.
- WITHOUT touching hidden system, installed Win 8.1 decoy. After launching system encryption and entering test phase, the hidden system could boot ok, no repair mode.
All this narrows the problem down to Win XP. I guess, something’s wrong with the bootloader which is installed by VeraCrypt when running under Win XP and fails to boot hidden system properly. When the bootloader is installed from Win 8.1+, it works ok.
I used VeraCrypt 1.24 Update 6
I really need Win XPas decoy OS and would appreciate any solution.
Workaround found.
Installed Win 8.1. decoy and encrypted it (without touching hidden Win 10)
Saved Rescue Disk ISO
Installed WinXP decoy and encrypted it (without touching hidden Win 10)
Restored Boot Loader (only loader, no headers) from that WIn 8.1. iso.
Now both systems boot ok.
That's weird tho... And crazy time waste...