Error while Permanently Decrypting a non System Disk
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Hi Everyone,
I'm praying to the lord on high somebody may be able to help me.
I'm trying to permenantly decrypt a non-system disk. The drive is an external 5TB connected via USB.
During the decryption process, I received the following error at around 17% completion:
"Access is denied. Source: volTransformThreadFunction:2754".
I am unable to mount the drive or seemingly access any of the data on it, and resuming the process gives the same error.
I have only ever used the drive as storage. It was encrypted when new, and has been used as such ever since.
Things I have tried to resolve the issue, in no particular order:
This disk is massivley important to me. I don't have a backup, ironically I was only decrypting as I was in the process of trying to create one, so I really am stuck at the moment.
I don't know where to go from here, so anything you guys can suggest would be really appreciated.
Cheers,
Dan
Hi Dan,
Try right clicking on the VeraCrypt icon and select "Run as administrator" in case the error is a permission issue during the decryption.
Check your Windows Event logs for errors on this drive at the time you get the error to determine if there are other issues with the drive.
Hi mate, thanks a lot for replying.
Run as admin I've done, and get the same error, as for the event logs, nothing noted at the time of the error at all.
Thanks a lot.
Just to follow this up.
Is it possibly to simply resume, but re-encrypt the drive rather than try to continue decrypting?
If I am able to reencrypt then I can mount and recover my data. I can see online its possible to do this process in reverse, i.e, it's possible to decrypt once an encryption process has been interrupted, but not sure if it will work my way round?
Thanks again, Dan.
Hi Dan,
No. There is no option to re-encrypt from an interrupted decryption and any sort of attempt to re-encrypt would destroy the volume.
Do you have Windows Defender Ransomware protection enabled? If yes, disable.
How are you physically connecting your external drive to your PC?
Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2023-10-13
Thanks for the help.
RE ransomware protection, this is switched off both in windows defender and my anti virus software, have also tried totally disabling all features of both and the error persists.
RE resuming encryption from a partially decrypted drive, I ran some test cases on an old disk last night. I encrypted it fully, partially decrypted it, and then pulled the power part way through the decryption. I then plugged it back in and resumed the process, although choosing to resume an encryption rather than a decryption.
In all instances, once the encryption process had completed, the volume was mountable and the data on the disc in tact. I was suprised also, but it worked.
Out of desperation and / or stupidity, I have since started the same process on my main disk. It has about 8 hours left and I will report results back tonight.
Any other suggestions / insight in the meantime are more than welcome.
Thanks again, really appreciate it.
Hi Dan,
I just learn something new. I did not realize VeraCrypt would offer the option upon resumption to either encrypt or decrypt and that your tests worked. (Shocked emoji)
The only other idea I have is to review the Event logs at the first occurrence of the error to see if Windows logged anything relevant to the issue of the first error occurrence at 17%.
[SOLVED] - sort of...
Just a quick update, through VeraCrypt I resumed ENCRYPTING, following a partial decrypt of the drive, rather than decrypting, where I continued to run in to the same error.
The encryption picked up from the same point where the decryption had failed, and continued to sucessfully re-encrypt the data it has already decrypted.
Following sucessful completion of this process, I was able to mount the drive through VeraCrypt as usual. All data was in tact, with no errors noted on the volume.
So, whilst it doesn't explain the initial error which I'm still at a loss to, I have got my data back, which is the main thing.
Thanks again for your help.
Hi Dan,
I am glad you were able to find a solution that allowed you to access your files again.
You said in your first post:
I want to make sure you can backup your data.
What was your plan for creating a backup of your data that had you decrypting the VeraCrypt partition or drive?
Hey guys,
I solved this problem on my laptop. After hours of research, I found that it was because BitLocker was enabled by default even though it was not explicit since I have Windows 11 Home version. I didn't have to disable Windows Defender.
Go to Disk Management to confirm if BitLocker is your adversary. If you see "BitLocker" mentioned in drive C's row, you have the same issue as well.
Step 1: Turn OFF BitLocker for both C and D drives (and other drives that you want to encrypt).
Open cmd as admin.
manage-bde -off c:
manage-bde -off d:
Step 2: Encrypt D drive using VeraCrypt using the same password as that of C drive if you want it to be mounted during pre-boot.
Step 3: Now we need to ensure you are able to mount D drive with the letter "D". For this, go to Disk Management, right click D drive > Change driver letter and paths > remove "D".
Step 4: Go to VeraCrypt > Volumes tab > Select device > select the (previously D) partition
Step 5: Select D drive from the list in the Veracrypt window.
Step 6: Once mounted, right click the partition and add to System Favorites.
Rest are pretty straightforward. Hope this helps!