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Locked out by Windows 10 update

jw
2018-07-19
2018-10-05
  • jw

    jw - 2018-07-19

    Hi,
    I encrypted my Win10 system partition with Veracrypt a couple of years ago, and have recently and belatedly allowed the laptop to update Windows. After a couple of reboots it now fails to boot other than into the Windows recovery options. Having read another thread about this I gather it might be because the drivers have not been migrated correctly (but see notes below).

    The Veracrypt bootloader seems to work fine, it accepts the password OK but then Windows goes to the recovery options.

    It appears I didn't make a rescue disk or I've lost it. There is nothing particularly important on the machine (maybe that's why I didn't bother with the rescue disk), but I would like to try to recover gracefully to save having to reinstall all my applications, and as a learning exercise.

    I am able to inspect the system partition by mounting it using Veracrypt under Linux Mint. Veracrypt tells me Windows is hibernated so I have to mount it read-only. (Not sure how this happened, I guess I left it sitting too long during the Windows updates.)

    In the system partition I have Windows.old with little in it except notably the folder 'Windows.old/Cleanup/0000.~BT/NewOS/Windows/System32/drivers' with just the file veracrypt.sys in it.

    In 'Windows/System32/drivers' I also have veracrypt.sys.

    Any suggestions for what's gone wrong or how to get Windows working again would be very gratefully received. Thank you!

     
  • Enigma2Illusion

    Enigma2Illusion - 2018-07-20

    One idea I can offer is to mount the system drive and search for the VeraCrypt Rescue Disk ISO file. Perhaps you saved the file on your system since you did not burn a disk.

    Search for either "VeraCrypt Rescue Disk.zip" or "VeraCrypt Rescue Disk.iso".

    Then burn the ISO to a CD/DVD and decrypt your system to allow Windows update/repair to complete.

    In the future, VeraCrypt 1.23 should prevent this issue. Once your system is working properly, you can upgrade to 1.23 Beta which is stable.

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/veracrypt/files/VeraCrypt%20Nightly%20Builds/

     
  • jw

    jw - 2018-09-15

    I was able to find the rescue disk and decyrpted the system partition but Windows still wouldn't boot. I reverted the laptop to factory settings, and installed VeraCrypt 1.23 - all working. Then allowed Windows to update itself to 1803. It has now gone back the state as per my original post where Windows can't boot.

    So I guess v1.23 doesn't fix the Win 10 updates problem. If you would like any more info to help improve it please ask, I will be wiping it again soon. Then I will have to find an alternative to VeraCrypt.

     
  • jw

    jw - 2018-09-15

    Sorry I should have said this problem was with v1.23 BETA 2.

     
    • Enigma2Illusion

      Enigma2Illusion - 2018-09-15

      Please try again using the 1.23 released version.

      https://sourceforge.net/projects/veracrypt/files/VeraCrypt%201.23/

      EDIT: In a later version of the beta, the developer made changes that should resolve this issue.

       

      Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2018-09-15
  • Enigma2Illusion

    Enigma2Illusion - 2018-09-15

    Can you provide the following information?

    • What is the make and model of your PC?
    • Is your BIOS using the latest firmware?
    • What version of Windows 10 did you install before you attempted to upgrade to 1803?
    • Is your Windows 10 Home Edition, Education, Pro or Enterprise?
    • Did you disable Windows Fast Startup before upgrading the OS?
      https://sourceforge.net/p/veracrypt/discussion/general/thread/49b6b132/#ce58
    • Is your BIOS setting for Secure Boot enabled or disabled?
    • Is your BIOS setting for TPM module enabled or disabled? (May not exist on consumer PCs)
    • Is your PC using MBR or UEFI? (Windows > System Information > Look for BIOS Mode.)
     
  • jw

    jw - 2018-09-15

    Hi,
    Lenovo ideapad 310-15ABR (a couple years old).
    BIOS - I think there is one update available which I have not applied, so no.
    Initial version of Windows - 1511
    Home Edition
    I didn't disable Fast Startup, didn't realise this was necessary.
    Secure Boot disabled.
    No TPM
    Can't check in Windows, but my BIOS is set to try 'legacy' mode before UEFI.
    Hope this helps

     
  • jw

    jw - 2018-09-21

    No still same problem with v1.23. Fast Startup was disabled this time. Everything else is still as reported above.

     
  • jw

    jw - 2018-09-22

    As I should be able to access the system disk e.g. by using the rescue disk, is there some change I can make to enable Windows to boot again? Any suggestions? Thanks.

     
  • Mounir IDRASSI

    Mounir IDRASSI - 2018-09-25

    Just to confirm the current state on your configuration because it seems you have done some changes since your original post: you have a Windows 10 machine encrypted with VeraCrypt 1.23 and after applying Windows Upgrade, Windows doesn't boot?
    In this case, I will need to have information about the content of your EFI partition which you can access by booting Linux for example. Specifically, I need information about the files "EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi", "EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw_ms.vc", "EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi".

     
  • jw

    jw - 2018-10-05

    Hi Mounir, your summary is correct.

    Re the files you asked about, the first two files do not exist. The files in that folder are LrsBootmgr.efi, BCD.LOG, language resource files, etc.

    The file EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi exists:
    -rw-r--r-- 1 mint mint 1156448 Jul 9 2015 bootx64.efi

    The folder I was looking in was /media/mint/LRS_ESP/EFI, can't find any other EFI folder, hope this is correct.
    Thanks

     

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