FileVault stuck on "Encryption Paused"

I fixed it by doing a clean install. I used TimeMachine to backup the current data to an external hard drive. Then recovery mode to erase the Macintosh HD partition. Then reinstalled OS-X in recovery mode. Took about 2 hours to download everything over WIFI. I used my apple iCloud account as the login account as before.

During the re-install, it never asked if I wanted FileVault enabled. It enabled it by default and started encrypting in the background. But it finished encryption this time. I left the power adaptor plugged in the whole time.

Now I have to figure out how to do a partial restore from Time Machine.

Just bought new 13" Retina Mac. I checked enable File Vault during the initial Migration from Time Machine during the setup. Got the "Encryption Paused..." warning. Tried every trick on the web to fix it with no luck. Everyone save your time and just WIPE THE HARD DRIVE AND START OVER!!! After clean install, I setup new Mac without Migrating anything. When it asks for User and Computer Name, just put whatever in those fields because you'll write over it when you finally do Migration later. After setting everything up like new computer, go get all updates from App Store. With that done, plug in Time Machine Backup and open Migration Assistant. It won't ask to Enable File Vault during this process. When everything is restored and you're happy, go to File Vault tab and select Enable. Done. Clearly a bug in Yosemite setup.

To avoid reinstalling my apps, I ended up doing a full restore from Time Machine which also turned off File Vault. Then I enabled FV which finished encrypting in about an hour. So the quickest fix is to do a full backup to TM then a full restore in recovery mode.

We had that too - a brand new mac - we took it back to the apple store and the they replaced it. The replacement one went thru the same step just fine, and has had no issues in the last few weeks.

We'd previously tried the PRAM reset too, and that didn't take it any further forward.

This is sooooooo frustrating and disappointing. I mean really. I was just assured a few days ago by Apple tech support (after they lost my Mavericks download) that Yosemite was "well out of beta and the most stable and secure operating system Apple has produced to date" and also that if I upgraded to Yosemite I would have my computer "up and running better than ever in a couple of hours" Hmmmph. So much for that idea. I've been trying to restore (or at this point rebuild and reinstall) a windows partition just so that I can play a stupid game over my holiday break and enjoy myself for a few hours. Well, it's been three weeks of frustration and I still can't play my game. I may just go buy a PC and sell the POS my computer has become.

I've been a loyal Apple customer for years and don't mind paying the premium because usually their products are well tested, work properly with minimal fuss, and their tech support is highly capable. Well, they failed on all three counts for me this month and my hard-earned cash may find a home elsewhere from now on.

They should have a disclaimer. And they should be giving us a portion of our money back for this hassle.

Don'l hold your breath for a fix in the next version/patch of Yosemite. It's not fixed. All they've done is fixed the apparently erroneous message about connecting the power adapter. However, the encryption will remain in the paused state indefinitely. Not fixed.

This solution, http://www.macissues.com/2014/12/16/fix-your-mac-stuck-on-encrypting-with-fileva ult/, worked just as described for me. Hope it will for you. It's pretty frustrating and I accidentally knocked out the power chord for a second, but quickly plugged it back in. To my relief, the encryption resumed!

I've been testing the latest beta and the problem is not fixed. The message for connecting the power adapter is not shown but the encryption is paused yet. I'm very disappointed with Apple: their computers are very expensive and the software is very poor. I haven't been able to fix the problem with the FileVault but this is not my only problem since I have serious problems related with the WiFi connection.

The only sure-fire fix is to do a clean reinstall after erasing the disk, or do a full backup to external drive with TimeMachine, erase the Mac partition and restore. Then enable FileVault. Both methods work, but the latter is faster.

Thanks to scafede(Federico) [Discussion page #4] useful information. Your solution is just working for my trouble! Thanks.

But my experience is too bad. Because after the disc recovery, restarting encryption is only 10 minutes, but optimization is 7 DAYS....too long to wait.

If I know it, I'll select format and clean install to my disk.

But this is my case, Federico's solution is perfect for me.

Not happy with Apple at all. My old Macs warranty ended two months ago and today it just was dead. Nothing. So I bought a new one. Got home, took it out of the box, and now I have this issue. That this happens isn't weird either Yosemite has to be the single worst OS X version ever.

To begin, I will state that I have fixed the problem for my MacBook. I wanted to share my story, in the hope that I can provide some reassurance if anyone else finds they cannot boot their OS, that there is a solution, and you don't need Apple support if you are willing to experiment. If you have your data backed up, there's not too much damage you can do (I think).

I had the same problem yesterday as what others have mentioned on here when I started using my new MacBook Pro on Yosemite. During the initial configuration on first boot, I left FileVault enabled. During the encryption process after startup, it paused indefinitely. I followed the steps others suggested on here - resetting PRAM, clearing disk permissions, repairing disk etc. with varying order. None of that worked. I later made a Time Machine backup onto my external HDD and attempted a restore via Recovery (Cmd+R). This failed quickly, but I can't remember what the error was. I think it had something to do with not being able to modify an encrypted disk, even though it said it would turn off FileVault. Presumably this is because it hadn't finished, which is why you can't stop it in the UI either. This had a bad consequence in that the partition was deleted when I inspected in Disk Utility. I was also unable to create a partition as the options were greyed out. The Disk Utility was not able to modify the Macintosh HD drive, other than a Repair Disk button which didn't help.

After some research, I came across a post online which explained how to delete the CoreStorage volume without the need to decrypt the drive. This is useful if the encryption process messes up. I ran the command:

diskutil cs list

This produces a list of the volumes. The top Logical Volume Group was my drive. Be sure to find the correct one! I copied the UUID (long number) into my clipboard for use with the next command:

diskutil cs delete MyUUID

where MyUUID is that number I copied into my clipboard.

After running that, it reformatted the CoreStorage volume into an unencrypted (HFS+) one, with a blank partition. This looked promising.

Afterwards, I booted into Recovery again and attempted the restore from Time Machine again. This time it was successful and the drive booted up with FileFault turned off. I decided, since I know how to fix the problem if it happens again, I would be a daredevil and attempt the encryption again. This time, the encryption was also successful, completing in less than 1 hour. I decided not to do any other tasks while that happened.

This experience was rather stressful, especially since it happened within a few hours of booting up the first time. However, it was an educational task for me, coming from a Windows background. There is clearly some major bug in FileVault when run in a Yosemite environment. I don't know if it affects everyone and if it can go wrong again, but I will be interested to see if Apple come up with a patch fix.

I only had one, and the name property value was "Encrypted HD". Your configuration may be different to mine so be careful what you do.

Note that this process is not for those with Fusion drives.

Source: https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/erasing-a-filevault-2-encrypted-vol ume/

http://www.macissues.com/2014/12/16/fix-your-mac-stuck-on-encrypting-with-fileva ult/
This actually fix my problem and now that popup in battery never happen again. MacBook Pro Retina 13in base model. Apparently my drive have some issues with permission so that FileVault cannot encrypting it.

Actually when I tried turning it off after it worked, it stuck on again like it was! And while it was working perfectly my battery drained a lot faster. Now it's ok, it's stuck in "please plug the power " or whatever and it's not draining my battery! That's a ridiculous problem. Apple WHERE THE **** ARE YOU?!