VeraCrypt / Forums / Technical Topics: Unable to encrypt whole drive

Dandry - 2016-02-21

First of all I'd like to say hello to all Forum users, as I'm new here.

I am trying to encrypt my whole drive using VeraCrypt. I have two 600GB hard drives which are combined in RAID0. There are three partitions - one with Windows 10 x64 on it (clean installation), the other two for data (empty for now).
I've decided to try encrypting (using Twofish encryption) at first only the system partition, and later the whole drive, but without result. I am unable to pass the pretest.

At first the VeraCrypt Boot Loader gets stuck at
Booting...

So I followed the VeraCrypt Troubleshooting and tried

Boot your machine using a Windows Installation disk and select to repair your computer. Choose "Command Prompt" option and when it opens, type the commands below and then restart your system:
BootRec /fixmbr
BootRec /FixBoot

No change.

Then, I followed the second possible solution:

Delete the 100 MB System Reserved partition located at the beginning of your drive, set the system partition next to it as the active partition (both can be done using diskpart utility available in Windows Installation disk repair option). After that, run Startup Repair after rebooting on Windows Installation disk. The following link contains detailed instructions: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71363-system-reserved-partition-delete.html

The startup repair was unable to repair the boot files, I was also unable to install(upgrade) Windows again, as the wizard told me to log into Windows while its on launch the System Repair Disc. Even advanced installation of Windows, which I tried to do, popped me an error that the system cannot be installed as there is no System Reserved Partition present.

I then followed Repair Master Boot Record (MBR) in Windows 10 / 8 / 7 to get my system working again. Used the following commands:

bootrec /RebuildBcd bootrec /fixMbr bootrec /fixboot Exit

Which... restored the partition.

Knowing that I somehow have to get rid of this 500MB System Reserved Partition, I used Windows 7: Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD guide using EasyBCD 2.3 which is compatible with Windows 10. It successfully moved the bootmgr to C:\ and I was able to boot into Windows after removing the System Reserved Partition using diskpart.

After that, followed the VC Wizard again, burned the Rescue Disk, allowed the pretest and VeraCrypt Boot Loader does not even start. Everytime I power on the PC, it just loads Windows. I tried to use the VC Rescue Disk, but it bothers me with "Invalid password" notice all the time. Haven't tried to repair VC Boot Loader by it, though. I must have missed the popup informing that pretest failed so I have no idea whether VC Boot Loader is present at the moment or not.

I would really love to somehow get it working.
Thank you very much for help.
Cheers!

Last edit: Dandry 2016-02-21
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Enigma2Illusion - 2016-02-21

Hello,

Please use the latest version of VeraCrypt.

You may not be allowing enough time for VeraCrypt to complete the hash during mount/boot.

As a test, you can try again using a PIM value equal to 1.

https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Personal%20Iterations%20Multiplier%20%28PIM%29

Kind Regards.

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Dandry - 2016-02-21

Thank you for your answer.

I reinstalled Windows and with 500MB Sysem Reserved Partition, I attempted once again to encrypt the whole drive. This time with PIM set to 1. I gave the Boot Loader 30 minutes, no response. So I guess that was more than enough.

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Enigma2Illusion - 2016-02-21

You cannot use the option to encrypt the entire disk when using the System Reserved Partition due to the system will not be able to boot.

Select encrypt only the OS partition.

You can setup System Favorites or Favorites if you encrypt other partitions except the System Reserved Partition.

https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=System%20Favorite%20Volumes

https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Favorite%20Volumes

Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2016-02-21

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Dandry - 2016-02-21

Thank you for the answer.
This time I tried to encrypt only system partition, PIM set to 1. Booting... for 15 minutes, no luck so far.
No idea whether this information is relevant, but my motherboard is MSI Z87-G43. Yesterday I flashed the newest version of BIOS.

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Enigma2Illusion - 2016-02-21

VeraCrypt does not support UEFI/GPT for system encryption. Is your BIOS setup to use Legacy instead of UEFI and during installation of Windows 10 set to use MBR instead of GPT for the system disk?

https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Supported%20Systems%20for%20System%20Encryption

Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2016-02-21

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Dandry - 2016-02-22

Yet again, thank you for your answer.

Well, my BIOS boot mode was set to LEGACY+UEFI and there is no option to only use LEGACY but... I've noticed, that all the first boot devices were "UEFI + ..." and then the "normal" boot deviced such as my RAID volume, CD/DVD and USB key. So I guessed, that Windows Installation Disk might have run in UEFI mode and installed itself using GPT. But I was wrong, diskpart shows me this (see attachment). There is a blank space in Gpt column so to my knowledge, it's using MBR.
Also, Disk Manager shows me my raid volume partition style as MBR.
Changed first boot devices to non-UEFI but I see no point in installing Windows again, as MBR is used. Also, with changed boot devices to firstly USB key, then CD/DVD and then the RAID volume (with no "UEFI" prefix of course) I am still unable to boot into Windows using VeraCrypt Boot Loader (this time I gave it 10 minutes).

Thanks!

Last edit: Dandry 2016-02-22

IMG_20160222_114625.jpg

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Enigma2Illusion - 2016-02-22

Sorry, I am out of ideas. I have not personally setup system encryption using RAID 0 and I do not know if that is contributing to your problem. Hopefully other forum members who have successfully setup system encryption using RAID 0 can offer solutions.

Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2016-02-22

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Dandry - 2016-02-23

Thank you for your patience and time.
Please, dear users, does anyone have any other idea?

Thank you!

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Dandry - 2016-02-23

Sorry for another post after my previous one, but I want to make it visible.
I have succesfully solved the problem - the issue was... Twofish encryption. After switching firstly to Serpent (was quite slow), then AES the system boots just fine. I have successfully encrypted my system partition using AES and am in the process of encrypting another volumes.

Thank you very much!

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Enigma2Illusion - 2016-02-23

To clarify, using either Twofish or Serpent encryption algorithms for your system encryption prevented your system from booting?

If the above statement is true, then it seems the issue is the memory requirements of Twofish and Serpent are too high for your motherboard. I know the developer increased the memory reserved by 1 KB due to a different issue in version 1.18 Beta 2.

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Dandry - 2016-02-24

No no, it was just Twofish. I chose it based on benchmark results as I didn't fully trust AES. Serpent worked just fine but I was not satisfied with its performance. But eventually, I ended up with AES encryption on all my volumes, using (in my opinion) quite a strong and long password.

I am not a professional, but maybe system encryption successfulness has something to do with RAID Stripe size? Mine is set to 128KB.

Last edit: Dandry 2016-02-24

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Unable to encrypt whole drive - Windows 10, RAID0

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Unable to encrypt whole drive - Windows 10, RAID0

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Unable to encrypt whole drive - Windows 10, RAID0