Unable to boot operating system after encrypting disk

Products

• Symantec Products

Issue/Introduction

This article details the solution to resolve an issue when a computer will not boot to the operating system after encrypting the disk.

 Cause

After encrypting the disk with PGP Whole Disk Encryption, the computer will not boot to Windows and displays a blinking cursor or a message similar to the message below. This issue occurs when the computer contains a recovery partition and has been encrypted using the option to encrypt the whole disk.

Press F11 to enter recovery mode

 

Resolution

When encrypting a hard disk on a computer which contains a recovery partition, the disk will need to be encrypted using partition encryption.

Please use the steps below to resolve the issue.

 

1. Decrypt the hard disk using the Recovery CD. After the disk has finished decrypting, continue to the next steps.
    
2. Open PGP Desktop and click on the PGP Disk Control box.
3. Click Encrypt Whole Disk or Partition. The Encrypt Whole Disk (Partition) work area displays, and you see a listing of the disks on your system that can be protected by PGP Whole Disk Encryption. This will include disks, disk partitions, and removable media.
4. In the Encrypt Whole Disk or Partition work area, below the window titled Select disk or partition to encrypt expand the desired disk on your computer and select the partition that you want to protect using PGP Whole Disk Encryption.
   
   

   Caution: Do not select to encrypt the recovery partition on the hard disk.

   
    
5. After selecting the desired access type, click Encrypt.

When using the Recovery CD to decrypt the hard disk, the amount of time to decrypt the disk will be greatly increased in comparison to decrypting the disk when using the PGP Desktop interface.