Solved Unique situation: Win7 MBR unable to encrypt using TrueCrypt

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rarex

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SOLUTION FOUND: You have to delete the 100MB Partition and it will work perfectly. Link on how to do this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71363-system-reserved-partition-delete.html

edit: Summary of problem-- I get stuck on the part where TC asks you to restart in order to test the bootloader (the "pretest"). My computer restarts, bootloader comes up, I put my password in and it doesn't move past "Booting..."

Hi. My laptop originally came with Win8 UEFI on it. I hated it. So I wiped the whole thing and installed Win7 from "scratch". Changed my "BIOS" to Legacy and disabled Secure Boot.

Here is my problem: I'm trying to encrypt my whole system using Truecrypt. In theory it should work, because my disk is MBR: http://i.imgur.com/j4r4BRm.png (I also checked via cmd.exe if my disk was MBR, and it was)

Picture of my dxdiag: http://i.imgur.com/5H2VOEc.png

However, TC gets stuck at "Booting..." and I have to unplug & remove the battery in order to boot the laptop. Whenever I boot it back up, TC tells me that the test failed. I don't understand what the problem is. I know I'm stuck in a pretty unique situation but yea...

What can I do in order to fix this and get TrueCrypt working on my laptop?
 
Last edited:

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Sony VAIO
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Windows 7
Bizarre indeed. The only thing I can recommend is to try and encrypt only the Windows 7 system partition and not the 100MB System Reserved partition.
 

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Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
I will try that.

Been messing around a lil bit using the TC Rescue Disk. I get this error "Error: No bootable partition found" after putting my password in. I press enter after that and it goes into "Booting..." which never ends.

I will try what you suggested and edit back with results. Thank you for replying btw, really appreciate it
 

My Computer My Computer

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Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
:thumbsup:

Hopefully you made a system image prior to encrypting?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
I tried encrypting only the Win7 partition but it didn't work. TC still got stuck in "Booting...". I also tried using the repair tools in the Win7 install/rescue disc. It didn't find any problems.

Something interesting to note. TrueCrypt is somehow able to find my partition to boot because whenever I take my battery out, boot up, and get to the TC bootscreen... I press ESC, and it finds what to do... So if it can find it by me pressing ESC, how come it can't find it when I put my password in?..

Next thing I might try is unlock my bios (InsydeH2O). Although this task seems like a complete pain and probably an all nighter.. Uhhh!!...

Btw, to answer your question: no, I haven't/didn't

What else could I try?
 

My Computer My Computer

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Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
Its not possible to perform an on-the-fly encryption of the system partition that quickly.....it takes a few hours. How exactly are you encrypting this partition?

You shouldn't have to unlock anything in your BIOS at all.....Truecrypt works independently of the BIOS - its simply a boot authentication wrapper around the system partition.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
I get stuck on the part where TC asks you to restart in order to test the bootloader. I agree, my computer restarts, bootloader comes up, I put my password in and it doesn't move past "Booting..."

I usually wait 2-5 minutes and call it quits after that (disconnect battery cable & take my laptops battery out, then put it back in and start up the laptop). Am I being inpatient (honest question)? Because in almost every single TrueCrypt setup vid on Youtube, this "Booting..." part of the TC "encryption process" only takes a couple of seconds.. and then it actually boots. But this isn't the case for me.

My encryption "settings" are as follows: Normal -> Encrypt whole drive (I tried just the Windows partition, but didnt work) -> No (for Host protected area) -> Single boot -> AES -> Create rescue disk

Thanks btw
 

My Computer My Computer

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Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
Ahhh....perhaps its just testing the recovery media, prior to encryption? Have you tried different CD's/DVD's? What version are you using? 7.1a?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Yes, I'm using version 7.1a. I tried booting from the TC rescue disk -- sample problem. Tried restoring the boot loader, headers, etc. Still same problem :S
 

My Computer My Computer

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Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
Mmmm......I'll have to experiment on my system.

You only have Windows 7 installed right? No other OS?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Correct. Keep in mind that my BIOS is "InsydeH2O" which is technically not a BIOS but a EFI (according to Google anyway). TrueCrypt doesn't support EFI/UEFI for Windows. Although on the other hand my partition is MBR. Also this laptop (Sony VAIO SVE17122CXB) came with Win8 on it originally. There are absolutely no traces of it left though.

Boot mode is on Legacy and Secure Boot is off (my bios settings)

Then again you said that TC is independent of the bios.. Ummm
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
Mmmm. OK, did you try "Yes" for host protecting area?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
No, but I'm about to now that you mentioned it. I will report back whenever my computer reboots and all. Which should be soon. Hopefully the "test" passes this time
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
Also try this combination:

Only encrypt system partition, and host = yes
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
"Yes" for HPA with system drive didn't work
It's not offering me the option of choosing y/n for Host Protected Area when I select Windows partition.

ummmm
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
Yikes, I am out of ideas, although admittedly TruecRypt doesn't look like it fully supports Windows 8, and thus probably EFI and GPT...........I think you are out of luck :( One last check, EFI is definately turned off, and Legacy BIOS enabled, right?

TrueCrypt - Future
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Yes, Secure Boot (EFI) is disabled. Umm, I guess I will head over to the TC forums and begin my forum searching lol. Hopefully someone before me has had this problem.

Thank you very much for you help btw, much appreciated
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
Very strange issues....it should work. Please let us know if you manage to get it to work.

Good luck :thumbsup:
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Cha...EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Golden Mk. I.4
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
CPU
Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz O/C'ed to 4.0GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory
16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card
Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution
1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Hard Drives
1*Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD;
1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
1*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB;
2*Western Digital 1TB External USB 3.0
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
PSU
Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case
Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling
Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Keyboard
Logitech G110
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Thank you and I shall. I found an interesting article that I might try: TeraByte Unlimited Knowledge Base

Provides a plausible explanation of why my pretest isn't working...
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
Found the solution. Updated the original post with it!

:D Hopefully this will help others
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony VAIO
OS
Windows 7
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