Cannot Turn Off FileVault

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Henry Liau Author

Level 1

32 points

Cannot Turn Off FileVault

About this Mac:

macOS Mojave 10.14.2

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)

3.3 GHz Intel Core i5

3.12 TB Fusion Drive

8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3

AMD Radeon R9 M395 2048 MB

I originally turned on FileVault because someone in the community recommended it to prevent the black screen that occurs randomly after logging into macOS Mojave.

Now I'm having all sorts of issues with FileVault on:

Unable to properly shutdown/restart the iMac without it idling in a load-state indefinitely. Can only do hard shutdown by holding power button.
Unable to software update macOS. The iMac completely crashes and needs manual restart (see Photo below). I've tried Combo Update as well. Doesn't work.
Unable to run First Aid on my Macintosh HD without the system freezing and the screen go black.
Bluetooth Keyboard and Magic Mouse disconnect after each hard shutdown/restart.

I'm at my wit's end because I've been trying to find solutions online of how to turn off FileVault, but nobody seems to have my specific FileVault problem. As shown in the photo below, it says my FileVault encryption has already finished but the "Turn off FileVault..." button is still greyed out. I've tried the Terminal method which is to type in "sudo fdesetup disable" but doesn't work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, I'm going to have to backup and wipe my iMac which I'm really not looking forward to.

iMac 27", macOS 10.14

Posted on Feb 24, 2019 2:55 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

ioana131

Level 1

4 points

May 5, 2019 1:19 AM in response to Henry Liau

Did anyone find a way around turning off FileVault? I am experiencing the same error message when trying to disable from Terminal "FileVault was not disabled (-69595)".

The problem is I can no longer use Time Machine because it says "Time Machine did not back up because FileVault was encrypting or decrypting a disk. Backups will resume once FileVault finishes.".

Any ideas on how to manage this? The only thing I can think of is to restore an old backup, but I REALLY DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS.

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Answer 2

Henry Liau Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 24, 2019 5:45 PM in response to leroydouglas

My user account is enabled. There's a few family members account on the iMac that are not enabled.

UPDATE: I just enabled every user account on the iMac and the "Turn Off FileVault..." button is still greyed out.

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Answer 3

Feb 24, 2019 5:56 PM in response to Henry Liau

As a test verify you are issued a secure token for your admin user—

From the Application/Utilities/Terminal.app replace the "username" in this command line, with your logged in admin, then copy and paste:

sudo sysadminctl -secureTokenStatus username

(note: psswd will not echo on screen)

Is the output from entering the command < Secure token is ENABLED for user " " > ?

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Answer 4

Feb 25, 2019 1:00 PM in response to Henry Liau

If other user have been enabled above,

did you try and log in with one of those other accounts (if they have admin priv)

and from there try and disable Filevault?

Maybe all other users have to be logged out.

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Answer 5

Henry Liau Author

Level 1

32 points

Apr 10, 2019 1:27 PM in response to nitrovapor

Yes!

Unfortunately, it's rebooting the whole computer to factory setting. That was the only way I found that would get rid of this issue.

My guess is, for me personally, that the issue happened when I turned FileVault on and must've accidentally turned off or hard reset the Mac at one point while it was in the middle of encrypting.

Let me know if you find another solution. Good luck!

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Answer 6

Henry Liau Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 25, 2019 7:30 AM in response to leroydouglas

It says "Unknown user username." Which is weird because I'm the admin for this iMac.

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Answer 7

Feb 24, 2019 3:37 PM in response to Henry Liau

Filevault>Enable users

Click the Some user not able to unlock disc— and add yourself

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Answer 8

Feb 25, 2019 12:08 PM in response to Henry Liau

Your command line is generic—

replace the "username" in this command line, with your logged in admin

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Answer 9

Henry Liau Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 25, 2019 12:13 PM in response to leroydouglas

Oops, sorry about that.

OK, yes. It says "Secure token is ENABLED..." now.

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Answer 10

Feb 25, 2019 12:26 PM in response to Henry Liau

Try this—From the terminal, look at status:

sudo fdesetup status

If enabled and you want to disable FileVault, try :

sudo fdesetup disable

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Answer 11

Henry Liau Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 25, 2019 12:53 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks, but I tried that already. I have the screenshot of it in my original post.

Status: "FileVault is On."

"FileVault was not disabled (-69595)"

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Answer 12

Henry Liau Author

Level 1

32 points

Feb 26, 2019 12:36 PM in response to leroydouglas

I've tried disabling FileVault using Terminal with all the accounts. I've done so with everyone else logged out as well. I still get the same message.

Ah well. Thanks anyway!

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Answer 13

Apr 10, 2019 12:13 PM in response to Henry Liau

Hello I am having this exact same problem, did you ever find a resolution?

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Cannot Turn Off FileVault

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