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Level 1

5 points

File vault - can't turn it off / encryption stopped

Hello,

I recentl upgraded to Yosemite on my Macbook Air and File Vault seems to have been turned on by default. I want to turn it off, but I can't until encryption is finished. The problem is that encryption seems to have got stuck. When I open the security/privacy section of System Preferences it estimates the time remaining for encryption to be anything from 600 to 2000 days.

I've tried turning encryption off by running disk utility, selecting the volume and then holding down the 'alt' key when accessing the file menu to select the 'turn off encryption' option, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Nov 25, 2014 2:58 PM

Best reply

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,559 points

Posted on Nov 25, 2014 6:03 PM

Back up all data before proceeding. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.

Start up in Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select Disk Utility. In the Disk Utility window, select the icon of the startup volume from the list on the left. Then, from the menu bar, select

File ▹ Turn Off Encryption

Enter the login password of a user authorized to unlock the volume, or the alternate decryption key that was generated when you activated FileVault.

You can then restart as usual, if the system is working. Decryption will be completed in the background. It may take several hours, and during that time performance will be reduced.

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22 replies

_seagull___ Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 27, 2014 6:07 AM in response to Linc Davis

No, no - I'm not using commands that aren't necessary. Not if I can help it, anyway ;-)

Anyway - I have successfully erased the start-up volume and I'm now restoring from a Time Machine backup. I'll report back when it's done.

Thanks again.

_seagull___ Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 27, 2014 7:36 AM in response to _seagull___

Hooray - restore from Time Machine completed, and all appears to be working. And File Vault is firmly OFF, thank goodness.

Many thanks for your help (and patience).

Ruth

~Eddie~

Level 1

0 points

Dec 31, 2014 12:49 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hi Linc, I'm having issue turning off encryption in disk utility. I do not have a back up, I cannot login, I cannot boot into safe mode. Disk repair is okay. Is there anything I can do at this point? Please help!

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

+-- Logical Volume Group B687DCD8-5589-42BE-958B-5376461FA66E

=========================================================

Name: Mac HD

Status: Online

Size: 749296615424 B (749.3 GB)

Free Space: 4096 B (4.1 KB)

+-< Physical Volume 551BAE78-75C3-4457-9089-B0512764D9CF

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 749296615424 B (749.3 GB)

+-> Logical Volume Family A97BC9C0-A6EB-496A-8894-98636649FB8A

----------------------------------------------------------

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: AES-XTS

Conversion Status: Converting

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: Yes

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

+-> Logical Volume 6BC5BE1E-735A-4268-BBA5-F97FF7B05CA2

---------------------------------------------------

Disk: disk15

Status: Online

Size (Total): 748961067008 B (749.0 GB)

Conversion Progress: Paused

Revertible: Yes (unlock and decryption required)

LV Name: Mac HD

Volume Name: Mac HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

Feb 6, 2015 3:00 AM in response to Linc Davis

I am having the same problem with file vault perpetually running and being unable to disable it. I wanted to take the steps in this thread of backing up and restoring, but the efforts I've made to back-up my macbook on time machine continue to fail after about 20 minutes. No detail is given to the cause of failure, and disk utility shows o issues with the hard drive I am attempting to back up to. Any tips please?

MacBook Air, OS X 10.10.2

Mar 22, 2015 11:31 AM in response to Linc Davis

This is my first Mac product. I selected 'enable file vault' at startup, but I checked with my friend who only uses Macs and he said not to use it. I tried to disable it, but it just says 'FileVault is encrypting the data on your disk. Wait until your disk is fully encrypted before turning off FileVault.' Below that is a blue line that says 'encryption paused'. I had already plugged it in, and it went through the process of fully encrypting, stating that it was done.

What do I do now? Other than that, the computer is working fine. Just started it up last night, no data to lose.

Thanks

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

+-- Logical Volume Group 266CBBE6-3577-49D4-A6B2-76C837C95B44

=========================================================

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 250140434432 B (250.1 GB)

Free Space: 0 B (0 B)

+-< Physical Volume 78E75439-FC92-4BF6-91E1-02A21DC81361

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 250140434432 B (250.1 GB)

+-> Logical Volume Family 8CE71CD4-5A41-41F5-AE91-5E190489DAE2

----------------------------------------------------------

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: AES-XTS

Conversion Status: Converting

Conversion Direction: forward

Has Encrypted Extents: Yes

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: Yes

+-> Logical Volume 2CD92226-0C37-4009-B2FF-6630F5756181

---------------------------------------------------

Disk: disk1

Status: Online

Size (Total): 249821659136 B (249.8 GB)

Conversion Progress: Paused

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

pariseau

Level 1

5 points

Jun 17, 2015 10:14 AM in response to Linc Davis

Will this also work on a Snow Leopard computer? From 1300 miles away, I'm trying to help my daughter uninstall FileVault on her boyfriend's computer. When they try to turn it off from the sys prefs, it says there is not enough HD space. They've reformatted and restored from Time Machine numerous times. Stupidly they don't have a back up from BEFORE he turned on File Vault. Thanks for any help - we're heading into 15 hours on this!!

pariseau

Level 1

5 points

Jun 17, 2015 10:15 AM in response to _seagull___

Will this top suggestion also work on a Snow Leopard computer? From 1300 miles away, I'm trying to help my daughter uninstall FileVault on her boyfriend's computer. When they try to turn it off from the sys prefs, it says there is not enough HD space. They've reformatted and restored from Time Machine numerous times. Stupidly they don't have a back up from BEFORE he turned on File Vault. Thanks for any help - we're heading into 15 hours on this!!

File vault - can't turn it off / encryption stopped