Graphics driver failure followed by unbootable system

Will Advanced Options offer you the option of a command line?
If so, do you know if it's possible to type in a command which will cause Truecrypt to decrypt the drive?

Which Tecra are you talking about? please be specific on the model and name

EDIT: That is just too old to run on Windows 10.

DavidY said:

Will Advanced Options offer you the option of a command line?
If so, do you know if it's possible to type in a command which will cause Truecrypt to decrypt the drive?

Yes thanks I think that I possible. I have not yet worked out the correct syntax though as it is not working for me. Obviously got something wrong.

Once I get back home I should have the correct truecrypt rescue disc. I'll give that a try as I think it is the boot into windows that is the problem. Wil post back when I have given that a try.

RoasterMen said:

Which Tecra are you talking about? please be specific on the model and name

EDIT: That is just too old to run on Windows 10.

Thanks. Could you expand on how it may be too old when it has been running happily for at least four weeks? I'm intrigued as to what you think the problem may be.

I did some experimentation with Truecrypt - I installed it on a Virtual Machine, and encrypted the system drive. (Only a very basic drive/partition layout.)

I couldn't get it to boot to a Command Prompt as I suggested earlier - I think it tries to reboot from its own Windows PE boot loader and without the Truecrypt step, it can't read the partitions.

However I could get into Safe Mode - if you could get it to boot into Safe Mode that might help.

I also tried booting from an old Truecrypt rescue disk from an old system which has long since been over-written.
This old Truecrypt rescue disk could decrypt my VM which I only encrypted last night, even though they had different passwords/keys etc. I just needed to type in the new password.

So my suggestion would be to see if you can boot into the old rescue disk, then select the option to decrypt the system disk. (I'm afraid it won't be a quick process .) Then on an un-encrypted disk, there's more chance of getting windows going again or at least recovering your files. If you have Windows 10 Pro, you could use Bitlocker in any case (even on old hardware) which will play more nicely with boot problems of this sort.

kevvyb said:

Once I get back home I should have the correct truecrypt rescue disc. I'll give that a try as I think it is the boot into windows that is the problem. Wil post back when I have given that a try.

I just saw this. Although I think the old rescue disk might still be able to decrypt it, it took ages for me, so if you're travelling home soon, then it might be better to wait until you're somewhere you can leave it for a few hours/overnight, rather than start the decrypt process and have to interrupt it to travel.

Thanks David. Just tried to use the rescue disk to boot and same windows error message about something going wrong. Just checking out the various truecrypt options and will almost certainly decrypt the drive. Will post back with results.

EDIT: decrypting now. Fingers crossed for the morning!

Truecrypt rescue decrypted successfully. Once I got around the truecrypt pre-boot authentication window (ESC) and mounted my data partition I am up and running again.

Now need to work out where to go from here. I am still thinking this was to do with a Windows 10 update or version upgrade that maybe also screwed graphics driver.

I have found this which suggests that this may happen every time a windows version upgrade is pushed out. See last paragraph in first section...
https://www.winhelp.us/truecrypt-sys...ncryption.html

I think I could carry on using Truecrypt on the data partition having decrypted the system partition as long as I am prepared to mount the data partition manually each time I log on. Does that sound like it should work? Presumably any upgrade failure only applies to the system partition/files?

Or I need to go to BitLocker.... but I really do not trust that this has not been 'back doored'.

kevvyb said:

Truecrypt rescue decrypted successfully. Once I got around the truecrypt pre-boot authentication window (ESC) and mounted my data partition I am up and running again.

I found that, aftar using the Rescue Disk to decrypt, I could run TrueCrypt within Windows itself, and select the option to Permanently Decrypt the System Drive. Although you have already done this, it did seem to get rid of the Boot Loader which might be left behind. Or there may be an option on the Rescue Disk to get rid of the Boot Loader?

kevvyb said:

Now need to work out where to go from here. I am still thinking this was to do with a Windows 10 update or version upgrade that maybe also screwed graphics driver.

I have found this which suggests that this may happen every time a windows version upgrade is pushed out.

I wouldn't be at all surprised. I don't think TrueCrypt is compatible with the sort of things Windows 8/10 try to do at boot time, especially when Windows decides it wants to auto-repair etc.

If you have the default Fast Startup enabled in Power Options, that probably won't help either, as it means a 'Shut Down' is only really a form of Hibernate and the machine rarely does a 'proper' boot-up.

kevvyb said:

I think I could carry on using Truecrypt on the data partition having decrypted the system partition as long as I am prepared to mount the data partition manually each time I log on. Does that sound like it should work? Presumably any upgrade failure only applies to the system partition/files?

Or I need to go to BitLocker.... but I really do not trust that this has not been 'back doored'.

I think using Truecrypt on a Data partition should be less likely to lock you out, although there's no guarantee.

Has Bitlocker itself been 'back-doored' though? And even if it has, is it any worse that Truecrypt whose own creators have said it's not secure (albeit for no apparent reason as far as I know)?