PGP WDE Recovery using a Windows PE Disk

Products

• Symantec Products

Issue/Introduction

This article details the steps to use a Windows PE Disk to assist in troubleshooting and recovery of PGP Whole Disk Encrypted disks. You must have PGP Desktop for Windows version 9.7 or later installed in order to use Windows PE.

 

Resolution

Warning: If you receive the following message "the subsystem needed to support the image type is not present" you are using Windows PE with an incorrect platform type 64-bits instead of 32-bits.

Using the Customized Windows PE CD or USB Flash drive

 

1. Boot from the customized Windows PE CD or USB Flash drive.
2. From the DOS console, use the pgpwde command line to authenticate to the disk.

Windows XP

 

1. Click Start>Run.
2. Type cmd in the Open field and click OK.
3. Change to the Program Files\PGP Corporation\PGP Desktop directory.
4. Type the following at the command prompt:

pgpwde --enum and press Enter.

Displays disks on the system with the number of the disk

pgpwde --disk 0 --status and press Enter.

Displays status of encrypted/unencrypted disks

pgpwde --disk 0 --auth -p <passphrase> and press Enter.

If the passphrase successfully authenticates, you will be able to access the encrypted disk to troubleshoot Windows and disk errors.

To decrypt the disk, type the following command:

pgpwde --decrypt --disk 0 --passphrase <passphrase>

Windows Vista & Windows 7

 

1. Click Start>Run.
2. Type cmd in the Start Search field.
3. Click cmd from the list of Programs.
4. Change to the Program Files\PGP Corporation\PGP Desktop directory.
5. Type the following at the command prompt:

pgpwde --enum and press Enter.

Displays disks on the system with the number of the disk

pgpwde --disk 0 --status and press Enter.

Displays status of encrypted/unencrypted disks

pgpwde --disk 0 --auth -p <passphrase> and press Enter.

If the passphrase successfully authenticates, you will be able to access the encrypted disk to troubleshoot Windows and disk errors.

To decrypt the disk, type the following command:

pgpwde --decrypt --disk 0 --passphrase <passphrase>