Boot Loader requires 32 KB can't be fixxed?
Open source disk encryption with strong security for the Paranoid
Brought to you by:
idrassi
Menu
▾
▴
Hello,
on my Win 10 system I suddenly get that error, when I want to permanently encrypt the system disk: "The VeraCrypt Boot Loader requires at least 32 KibiBytes of free space at the beginning of the system drive..."
I managed to get unallocated space before the system drive, but the error still pops up after reboot:
Also unallocated space on another position does not fix the problem:
So why shouldn't that reported as a bug (like the error message says)?
Does anyone know how to fix that problem without re-installing Windows 10?
Last edit: Juergen 2020-12-01
I have the very same problem. No help???
No :(
SCHEISS-TEIL. Now I wiped my drive, reset my BIOS and restored with Acronis. And guess what? This "Password" request comes up again!!! How in all the world do I get this out of UEFI??? I can't install and I can't get it out :(
Moin Jürgen. Here is how I fixed it:
1.) Used Aomei Partition Assistant (search here: www.getintopc,com)
2.) Told it to "resize" the C-Partition and checked: "I need to move this partition"
3.) Created a small space BEFORE every other partition and moved all three partitions to the right (END). Should say: "Unallocated"
4.) Reinstalled VeraCrypt, got error on installation.
5.) Uninstalled VeraCrypt with "Revo Uninstaller" and let it download an extended uninstaller. See above getintopc for download. Do NOT let it reboot before running all deletions within REVO!
5.) Removed all registry entries with "Registrar Registry Manager" also see getintopc.
6.) Installed VerCrypt - this time without error.
I hope it will work for you :) If not, maybe I can help?
Tried this too but I cannot move all the other partitions to the right or at least boot-partition and Mac-Partition.
I am using Windows 10 on Mac which was installed through Bootcamp.
I am trying this since almost 2 years without success.
Anyway, one day I will buy a normal Notebook (no Mac anymore).
Last edit: Jean Dongler 2021-05-13
Just saw on your screen shot: You need to have the free partition for VeraCrypt all the way to the left (at the beginning of the HDD/SSD), Secondly, I noticed, your partition says; "Reserved" - must be "Unallocated".
Hello Chinghisskhan , thanks a lot! It worked for me!
I only had to place the unallocated space to the beginning of the disk and it worked!!
Thank you so much!!
But now when I want to encrypt the system drive the point "Encryp the whole drive" is grayed out :(
Do you know why? I wanted to encrypt the whole drive. Or is that generally not possible?
Moin Jürgen, at least, I was able to help you a little. Try to ask the developer directly: mounir.idrassi@idrix.fr and tell him that after help in the forum, you are still stuck with this problem. He told me that Acronis may not have wiped the EFI-Partition, but that it indeed an error and he will fix it.
Was your C:\ drive encrypted before? If so, then I think the rescue stick may help, but I have no idea how.
Did you uninstall VeraCrypt and cleaned the registry with "Registrar Registry Manager" also see getintopc? Did you get an error message when reinstalling?
I was able to encrypt my entire C:\ drive. I use Acronis to save the unencrypted disk image to an unencrypted drive and use the SHA256 Acronis password.
Gut Glück!
Hi,
thanks. I wrote him.
But I did read now, that Win 10 with GPT installed in UEFI mode is not possible to encrypt whole drive. Is that correct and the reason why it's grayed out?
Here is how it looks on my PC.
Can you answer my questions please in order to help you further?
Was your C:\ drive encrypted before? If so, then I think the rescue stick may help, but I have no idea how.
Did you uninstall VeraCrypt and cleaned the registry with "Registrar Registry Manager" also see getintopc? Did you get an error message when reinstalling?
My drive was encrypted, but then I restored a full backup of all partitions using Acroins True Image. Cause the backup was not encrypted, my system was then not encrypted, but Veracrypt password prompt came up at boot, but could be skipped with ESC button.
Then I clicked on unencrypt system partition in VeraCrypt and the password prompt at boot was gone. Then I had the problems with the needed 32 KB free space, which I could solve thanks to your help.
I uninstalled VeraCrypt normally and did not use the Registry tool. Then I reinstalled VeraCrypt without errors during installation and was able to successfully encrypt - BUT not the whole drive.
I guess, you did not delete all partitions with a partitioning tool? Did you delete them with DOS or a Windows Install Stick or just installed the image with Acronis? Acronis does not recreate the EFI-Partition in a way that VeraCrypt can write to it nor does it wipe the VeryCrypt entry. Both of our problems are then related to Acronis. If you didn't have a problem installing VeryCrypt, then no need for the "Registrar".
I guess, I will try it as follows: Wipe all partitions with Aomei on an encrypted test drive with Win 10 as OS, then restore unencrypted Acronis Image and see if VeraCrypt can be installed normally.
Thanks for that information.
In the meanwhile I installed VeraCrypt on another fresh Windows 10 PC where VC has never been installed before. There it is also not possible to select "Encrypt the whole drive".
So are you really sure, that VC can encrypt whole drive of Win 10 with GPT UEFI?
@mensa84: it is indeed not possible to encrypt the whole drive in the case of GPT UEFI boot and the reason is that UEFI boot requires that the EFI partition which holds the bootloaders files remain unencrypted. Simply put, If VeraCrypt encrypted the whole drive, the PC would not be able to boot at all. So this is a limitation forced upon us and the best thing users can do is to manually encrypted all other data partitions and then configure them to be mounted as system favorites.
Thank you @chingghiskhan for proving a workaround for this 32KB issue. Actually, VeraCrypt should not check for 32KB unallocated space at the beginning of the drive in UEFI boot mode: this check is needed only for MBR boot where VeraCrypt bootloader is stored in this unallocated space. for UEFI boot, VeraCrypt stores its bootloader in the standard EFI partition.
I will implement a fix in VeraCrypt for this issue.
Hi Mounir,
After restoring an image with Acronis, I cannot create a partition at the
beginning of the drive, altough I was able to do so before. Now Aomei just
crashes and also Easus and Niubi can't move partitions. In VeraCrypt, I am
getting the famous 32kb error message. Any idea what I could try next? Did
you make a fix?
Cheers,
Robert
Last edit: Mounir IDRASSI 2021-01-02
@Mounir IDRASSI: Thanks for getting into the discussion and helping us with this issue. I checked, and my system is installed in UEFI-Mode AND I was able to encrypt the entire C:\ drive normally! So creating the small partition for VeryCrypt at the beginning of the drive may be a work-around? But why did it work for me and not for @Juergen? What could be the difference? I am puzzled!
Last edit: Chinghisskhan 2020-12-11
After restoring an image with Acronis, I cannot create a partition at the beginning of the drive, altough I was able to do so before. Now Aomei just crashes and also Easus and Niubi can't move partitions. In VeraCrypt, I am getting the famous 32kb error message. Any idea what I could try next?
I have upload a preview build of 1.24-Update8 containing the change to fix this issue.
You can find them at:
https://veracrypt.fr/downloads/VeraCrypt%20Setup%201.24-Update8-Preview.exe
https://veracrypt.fr/downloads/VeraCrypt%20Portable%201.24-Update8-Preview.exe
Their gpg signature is at:
https://veracrypt.fr/downloads/VeraCrypt%20Setup%201.24-Update8-Preview.exe.sig
https://veracrypt.fr/downloads/VeraCrypt%20Portable%201.24-Update8-Preview.exe.sig
Don't hesitate to share if you find any issues.
I managed to create a partition by copying the MSR-Partition to a new unallocated space to the right (second Partition). Then, I am only able to encrypt the Windows partition, not the whole drive, just the same as with Juergen. Now, I will try your new built.
maybe there is a confusion between whole drive and whole disk.
In UEFI mode, it is technically impossible to encrypt the whole boot disk. This is not a VeraCrypt limitation. But you can still encrypt whole drives individually (e.g. C: , D: ...).
The build I shared fixes OP issue about missing 32KB space so that there is no need to add unallocated space at the beginning of the drive manually
Hi Mounir,
On my Notebook, I have ver. 1.24 Update 7 and it has an option to change the
password dialog - a feature which I like very much.
On my PC, when I had ver. 1,24 Update 7, this feature was gone?
Any chance to bring this very nice feature back?
Thanks
Robert
Last edit: Mounir IDRASSI 2021-01-02
@chingghiskhan : can you please clarify which change password option is gone? Nothing changed in this functionality for system encryption nor for normal volumes.
Hi Mounir,
On my Notebook, I have ver. 1.24 Update 7. It has an option to change the
password message so that on boot, it would not just say; "password" but I was able to change this boot message to anything, let's say: "No boot device"
On my PC, I also have ver. 1,24 Update 7, here, this option this can't be found, or do I just overlook it?