Upon successfully encrypting a non-system drive, VeraCrypt produces the following warning message:
IMPORTANT: Please keep in mind that this volume can NOT be mounted / accessed using the drive letter [x:], which is currently assigned to it!
To mount this volume, click 'Auto-Mount Devices' in the main VeraCrypt window (alternatively, in the main VeraCrypt window, click 'Select Device', then select this partition/device, and click 'Mount'). The volume will be mounted to a different drive letter, which you select from the list in the main VeraCrypt window.
The original drive letter [x:] should be used only in case you need to remove encryption from the partition/device (e.g., if you no longer need encryption). In such a case, right-click the drive letter in [x:] in the 'Computer' (or 'My Computer') list and select 'Format'. Otherwise, the drive letter [x:] should never be used (unless you remove it, as described e.g. in the VeraCrypt FAQ, and assign it to another partition/device).
As far as I can tell, this quirk is not mentioned or elaborated on anywhere in VeraCrypt's documentation. As such, I have several questions regarding this.
Why can the encrypted drive not be mounted using the original drive letter? What exactly would happen if you were to do so (by unassigning the original drive and giving the encrypted drive the letter)?
If I was to unassign the original drive letter, am I able to assign a DIFFERENT drive with that letter, or am I reading this wrong? If not, how does this work with Windows automatically assigning drive letters to new devices? e.g., if I encrypted the D:, mounted that encrypted drive as E:, then unassigned the letter D from the original drive, then inserted an external HDD which Windows automatically assigned the letter D as it was considered free, would this cause any problems or not?
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When you perform VeraCrypt encryption in-place for non-system partition, the Windows OS will have a drive letter already assigned to the unencrypted partition.
Once the VeraCrypt encryption in-place has completed successfully, if you want to mount the partition using the same drive letter as the one Windows OS is currently using, with the VeraCrypt volume dismounted, use Windows OS Disk Manager to remove the existing drive letter so that drive letter will become available to VeraCrypt to mount.
Later, if you decrypted in-place non-system VeraCrypt partition and you performed the above procedures, you will need to use Windows OS Disk Manager to assign the drive letter back to the unencrypted partition.
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So there's no reason you can't assign the original drive letter to the encrypted drive after removing it from the original drive?
Wow, that warning's wording is needlessly confusing.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Upon successfully encrypting a non-system drive, VeraCrypt produces the following warning message:
As far as I can tell, this quirk is not mentioned or elaborated on anywhere in VeraCrypt's documentation. As such, I have several questions regarding this.
Why can the encrypted drive not be mounted using the original drive letter? What exactly would happen if you were to do so (by unassigning the original drive and giving the encrypted drive the letter)?
If I was to unassign the original drive letter, am I able to assign a DIFFERENT drive with that letter, or am I reading this wrong? If not, how does this work with Windows automatically assigning drive letters to new devices? e.g., if I encrypted the D:, mounted that encrypted drive as E:, then unassigned the letter D from the original drive, then inserted an external HDD which Windows automatically assigned the letter D as it was considered free, would this cause any problems or not?
When you perform VeraCrypt encryption in-place for non-system partition, the Windows OS will have a drive letter already assigned to the unencrypted partition.
Once the VeraCrypt encryption in-place has completed successfully, if you want to mount the partition using the same drive letter as the one Windows OS is currently using, with the VeraCrypt volume dismounted, use Windows OS Disk Manager to remove the existing drive letter so that drive letter will become available to VeraCrypt to mount.
Later, if you decrypted in-place non-system VeraCrypt partition and you performed the above procedures, you will need to use Windows OS Disk Manager to assign the drive letter back to the unencrypted partition.
So there's no reason you can't assign the original drive letter to the encrypted drive after removing it from the original drive?
Wow, that warning's wording is needlessly confusing.
Correct.
Alright, thanks for that.