When attempting to encrypt a disk using Symantec Drive Encryption, you receive one of the following error codes:

Could not start disk encryption error: - 11286 (authorization failed)

Unable to start encryption: end of file:-11988 (unknown request)

Possible causes:

• Corrupt PGP Desktop setup file
• System disk is full with no space to write to the disk
• Not enough contiguous free space on the disk
• User is added to the disk via the command line without first instrumenting the disk

Possible solutions:

Check disk space

Check that the free disk space on the boot drive volume (usually C:) contains at least 20% of free space.  If not enough free space exists, then it is recommended to clear disk space.

Defragment the disk

If on a Windows PC, run Disk Defragmenter on the boot disk volume using Windows Disk Defragmenter and then re-attempt to encrypt the disk.

Use a new setup file

Download a new setup file of Symantec Encryption Desktop/Symantec Drive Encryption from Symantec Encryption Management Server (previously known as PGP Universal Server).

1. Uninstall the previous version of Symantec Encryption Desktop.
2. Install Symantec Encryption Desktop again using the new setup file.
3. Encrypt the disk.

Use the Secure command

Try the --secure command to encrypt the disk instead of the manual method of adding a user to the disk via pgpwde command line tool.

For example:

pgpwde --secure --disk 0 -u testuser -p password --sso --domain TEST

If the solutions above do not work to solve your problem,  contact Symantec Technical Support to log a support case and we will assist you in finding a resolution to the problem.

Applies To

Microsoft Windows 7 

Supported Linux platforms

Symantec Drive Encryption 10.3.0 or PGP Whole Disk Encryption 10.2.1 and older