Will Apple fix the FileVault Encryption paused problem in the new release of OS X 'El Capitan'?

Beta software can not be discussed here.

If you don't already have a current backup of all data, back up 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. It will be nested below another disk icon, usually with the same name. Click the Unlock button in the toolbar. When prompted, enter the login password of a user authorized to unlock the volume, or the alternate decryption key that was generated when you activated FileVault.

Then, from the menu bar, select

File ▹ Turn Off Encryption

Enter the password again.

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.

If you can't turn off encryption in Disk Utility because the menu item is grayed out, you'll have to erase the volume and then restore the data from a backup. Select the Erase tab, and then select

Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

from the Format menu.

You can then quit to be returned to the main Recovery screen. Follow these instructions if you back up with Time Machine. If you use other backup software, follow its developer's instructions.

Don't erase the volume unless you have at least two complete, independent backups. One is not enough to be safe.

As the FileVault pausing problem is intermittent, nobody would really know if it was fixed even if they chose to violate their Non-disclosure Agreement to post it here. Even if they experienced it in Yosemite, they could enable it a second time in Yosemite and it would not get stuck.

I turned off filevault in terminal. It took 3 days to dycrypt.

Then I turned file vault back on and now it is stuck and says encrypting "Estimating time remaining..."

It has been this way for 4 days. Still waiting for Apple to release a fix.

going back it appears this issue predates 10.11, it could be the nature of the program by design and the amount of encryption and the speed of the CPU. I know some developers are using GPU's for encryption which can speed things up considerably over mainstream CPU but many macs have shared video which is not going to benefit from that like a high end iMac or Mac Pro with DDR5 to spare, also with the prospect Pascal Cards (Nvidia) and Arctic (AMD) providing substantial improvement over the current line of cards (if the CEO math is even 1/2 right these things are going to be beasts) it actually a detriment to limit encryption to CPU, but no idea if Apple will pursue the new line of cards or keep bundling outdated cards in their systems with little or no support for newer faster more powerful options that Unix and Windows users have 3rd party driver support from the developer which Mac does not offer or allow them to provide for the most part.

/end.rant

Thank you for your insight JimmyCMPIT. I am still looking for an answer. I was able to disable encryption using the terminal. It took 3 days to begin decryption. Decryption began and got to 80.54% 2 weeks ago. Today it is still the same. :-(

I managed to fix this after reading forums and talking to Apple support.

First, I think this happens when the Mac goes to sleep during encryption. I enabled vault on my iMac last night which was progressing happily. Left it on hoping it to complete overnight. In the morning it was sleeping and upon waking it up Encryption was paused. Seems like it is happening more often on Mac Books which are usually set to sleep more often.

Tried many things, following is worked (10.11.5 El Capitan if it is relevant)

1. Shutdown, hold Cmd+Opt+R+P upon starting and wait for the second chime. This resets non-volitile memory (nothing to worry about)

2. As soon as you hear the second chime, leave the keys and immediately press CMD+R to go into recovery mode. Leave CMD+R when you see Apple logo and progress bar.

3. In recovery mode select disk util (you may need to select language first).

4. In my case, having a fusion drive I was presented with three drives Fusion Drive on the top, Macintosh HD under it, and BOOTCAMP under Macintosh HD. Amongst these three Macintosh HD comes greyed out. Don't try to First Aid Fusion Drive, it fails. Instead select greyed out Macintosh HD and select Unlock (from the file menu if I am right, right-clicking does not work).

5. Type your password to complete Unlock, you should see now that Macintosh HD is no longer greyed out.

6. Select First Aid and then Run.

7. Upon completion close all windows and select restart.

I tried this process 3 times, it worked on the last attempt and FileVault is now continuing with Encryption happily.

This is what I did specifically different on the 3rd go (cannot guarantee if it was the reason it worked):

1. I pressed CMD+R immediately after second chime of Cmd+Opt+R+P instead of letting it boot and reboot again to go to CMD+R (as suggested by one other forum user)

2. Upon exiting recovery mode after First Aid, I let it wait on the login screen for about 5 minutes (as I was finding login process very sluggish). I let it run whatever it was running before I attempt to login.

Hope this helps

Charlie