Unable to encrypt usb stick

[Callie Mitchell]

I have used Veracrypt successfully on Mac High Sierra and Windows 10 to create encrypted containers. On Windows 10 I'm trying to encrypt my first usb stick, which is a cheap generic 32 gb usb stick. I go through the setup wizard and am trying to encrypt it, I follow the steps and it warns me about not being able to mount it as D:), I tried to give it a different letter. It asked if I'd put over 4 gb on it, I said no. It says it created it successfully. There are and were never files on it.

After I get the message that it was successful, I can see it as usb D:) in Windows explorer. It was changed from Fat32 (or exFAT or FAT) to RAW. It says I can't mount it because I must have the wrong pw, keyfile, PIM, etc. I am sure that is not it cause I went through this process 3 times. I also tried mounting it several ways, auto-mount, etc.

Any ideas on how I'm being unsuccessful in encrypting this drive? Thanks,
-C

[Callie Mitchell]

If there is anybody out there, I just wanted to add that I am having the same problem with my Macbook Air-it tells me to encrypt it and reformat it and then I get an error msg when trying to mount. At first the same as on Windows, that I must have the wrong pw, keyfile etc., then this:

[Adrian Kentleton]

I was able to reproduce your problem when I tried to encrypt an old USB stick, but the problem went away after doing a full (Windows) format on the stick, before starting the encryption process.

I wonder if the problem is that your USB stick has some physical faults?

If you do a FULL (ie not 'Quick') format on the stick, this will mark areas that are unreliable as unusable, meaning no data will be written there, important when encrypting. I'd recommend doing the full format using Windows Disk Management (Run > diskmgmt.msc), keeping an eye on the % formatted readout as it progresses. If it appears to stall at (take ages to get past) any particular percentage, that would be an indication of serious physical issues with the stick, so best discarded; it it proceeds relatively pro-rata timewise, that means any physical issues are limited, so safe to use after format.

PS When you format it, don't allocate it a drive letter. That makes life simpler later!