Black screen after decrypting system drive
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I let my laptop decrypt my sytem drive as I was getting blue screens after windows update and was afraid to lose my data. When I came back I found a beautiful black screen and my machine will not boot in any way, I cannot get into Bios also.
If I remove my SDD, the laptop boots, I can get into Bios and I can use my Veracrypt recovery USB.
I think Veracrypt has messed up my bootloader. (I know there is some UEFI boot protection thing going on).
Anything I can do beside mounting the SSD into an external rack into another machine with Veracrypt installed, mounting the drive and trying to get my data back this way? I am really afraid to lose my files.
Thank you!
CEN
Hi CEN,
Put your system drive into another computer as a secondary drive and with VeraCrypt installed on the other computer.
Mount the secondary drive using the Mount Options button to select " Mount partition using system encryption without pre-boot authentication" to access and then copy the files off the mounted drive.
EDIT: I am assuming the decryption is not completed.
If the decryption completed, then you would not need to VeraCrypt mount the drive on the other computer. However, Windows may attempt to initialize the drive (quick format) if it cannot access the drive which require using data recovery software.
Probably the safest way is to buy an external docking station to use for the SSD drive on the other computer. With other computer booted, attach the USB cable of the docking station and make sure you cancel any prompts to format the drive.
Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2023-12-20
Thank you!
I will try to add my SDD into a rack and another computer. Actually, the data that I need is not on my system drive but on my second one.
But how do I go on after (hopefully) recovering my data?
Low level format system drive? will that wipe clean the bootloader? So that I can reinstall Windows? Would like to further use that SSD.
Thanks again!
CEN
Hi CEN,
Are you saying their are two drives or are you saying the data you need to recover is on a second partition of the system drive?
If you are saying the second partition of the system drive, did you encrypt the second partition as part of the system encryption process or as a separate encryption process?
If you encrypted the second partition as a separate encryption process, you should be able to use VeraCrypt to mount the second partition in the other computer by selecting it and entering the correct password.
Second partition of the same drive. First I encrypted the second partition (not system partition). Afterwards , I thought, let's have some fun (which I currently have :) ) and encrypt system partition also.
One last question, will a format (or low level format) of the system drive (after I recovered all my data) be enough in order to Install a fresh Windows on the system drive? Or do I need to do more to wipe the bootloader? Because right now I cannot even get into BIOS if the SSD is in place (black screen)
Thank you very much for the time you spend clarifying me!
CEN
Hi CEN,
Since you created the encrypted "data" partition separately from the creation of system encryption, you should be able to regain access to the "data" partition by putting the drive into another computer as a secondary drive (no need for an external docking station since you are not trying to recover the OS) with VeraCrypt installed to mount the "data" partition to copy your data. Be sure to cancel any prompts to format.
The tricky issue with the bootloader is that part of the UEFI specification allows part of the UEFI information to be stored in non-volatile memory. Meaning, even if you wipe the SSD for installation of Windows OS, the PC may still be trying to boot using the "old" values which may lead to the black screen.
The only idea I have is once you have copied-off to another drive the data, while the SSD is on the other computer, use DiskPart commands to clean the drive and prepare for installation of Windows OS.
WARNING: In DiskPart, you should be very certain of the disk number you are selecting to clean.
Open a command windows as Administrator.
Type diskpart and hit return.
DISKPART> list disk
DISKPART> select disk 1 <- This is an example. Select the disk number that is your SSD to clean.
DISKPART> clean
DISKPART> convert gpt
DISKPART> exit
Now you can install the SSD back to the original computer and use a bootable Windows install media to reinstall the OS.
I added my SSD to a different laptop (actually tried more than one) via external rack. Windows detects an "E" drive , which I cannot access ( there should be 2 encrypted partitions but I guess Veracrypt confuses the OS and it sees just "E". But I cannot see anything to mount in Veracrypt and automounting also runs into in error. I attached the screenshots for reference. Am I missing something as the mount menu is a bit complicated? Or is the drive toast?Thanks again for any possible hint, really desperate about my files :(
CEN
Nothing to mount, Veracrypt does specifically not see drive "E"
Last edit: CEN 2023-12-25
FYI: The "E" drive letter is being assigned by Windows and not VeraCrypt.
The next step I would perform is to install the SSD directly into the other computer's secondary drive bay.
Hopefully, the computer will see the two partitions directly instead of the interface of the external drive docking not being able to identify the two partitions.
When you boot Windows, be sure to Cancel any prompt(s) to format.
Also remove the Windows assigned drive letter(s) from the partitions before mounting in VeraCrypt.
I do not have any more suggestions for this issue if you are still unable to see the two partitions after directly installing as a secondary drive in the other computer.
EDIT:
If you are able to access the one or both partitions in VeraCrypt's Select Device screen, you may need to mount the "data" partition using the option of the embedded backup header.
The OS partition will not have an embedded backup header.
Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2023-12-26
Thank you again (really appreciate it), I will get another SDD into the same laptop as primary drive and install Windows on it , then also get my first SSD into this machine and hope to see the drives (also cancel any prompts to format). Anyways, before any mounting in Vercarypt, Veracrypt should be able to first detect the drives(s). Just wanting to make sure that I got it correctly and it is not something I miss from the "mount" menu.
CEN
Correct. Use the Select Device button to mount the partitions. The OS partition per this post and for the data partition in this post.
Beware, you may see empty volumes after mounting. See this thread.
Ok, so I got a fresh SDD, installed Windows on it, Laptop working perfectly fine. If I get my first SSD into the laptop (second slot) , I get again only a black screen, no possibility to enter Bios.
How can this be? Is the veracrypted drive somehow blocking the boot process?
Thanks again also a happy new year!!
Happy New Year CEN!
The only guess I can offer is the original SSD has suffered a hardware failure.
Yes, was thinking the same, maybe a short somwhere on the circuit boars shorting out my motherboard as well. Will try to get it to a repair shop, not much hope but maybe..
Thanks again!
CEN
@cen
I faced a similar black screen issue after a failed update while using Veracrypt. Removing the SSD and accessing it externally was the only way I managed to recover my files.
Try mounting the SSD on another machine with Vera crypt, it worked for me, and I was able to retrieve my data safely. Good luck!
MOD EDIT: Removed link to website and fixed 'at' 'cen' containing the website.
Last edit: mercyjoyce 2024-11-09