VeraCrypt



VeraCrypt is free disk encryption software and is based on TrueCrypt.

Veracrypt
  • The VeraCrypt Volume Creation Wizard window should appear. In this step you need to choose where you wish the VeraCrypt volume to be created. A VeraCrypt volume can reside in a file, which is also called container, in a partition or drive. In this tutorial, we will choose the first option and create a VeraCrypt volume within a file.
  • Veracrypt is a Russian offline version of a ransomware-type program that belong to the Aurora ransomware family. This particular ransomware was discovered by MalwareHunterTeam. It encrypts files, renames them, and creates three identical ransom messages.

TrueCrypt and its follower, VeraCrypt, are wonderful encryption tools that are freely available. These tools can are used to encrypt data at rest on storage devices including external hard drives and USB flash drives. This tutorial explain how to repair your corrupted TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt container (volume) using TestCrypt and get your data back.

Veracrypt For Mac

Update 2nd January 2021:

We have since the below update recieved a steady stream of inquiries of varying degrees of quality regarding the recovery of damaged VeraCrypt containers.

Please ensure to include:

  • A brief description of the damaged container and the issue including screenshot(s) of errors
  • Steps you have taken in attempts to repair your damaged container (e.g. formatted, commands, re-paritioning, use of recovery tools or devices)
  • What worked and what didn’t work?

Please be assured that your emails are being read and that we are doing the best we can to develop an open source solution that may help people like you with recovering lost files and memories.

Review

In the meantime, feel free to join the discussion in the comments below.
Stay safe and take care out there.

Update 8th November 2020: Users of VeraCrypt needed for research project
The solution in this article seem to work mostly for TrueCrypt users. As of today, a research project has launched in attempts to build a open source software tool that can help VeraCrypt users to repair VeraCrypt volumes and recover the encrypted data. Please email veracrypt {at} infosysteria.com if you would like to get directly in touch with the researcher and pilot the tool that may succeed in mounting your VeraCrypt drive.

Veracrypt

Signs and Symptoms of Broken TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt Volumes

After using TrueCrypt for years to protect my Western Digital external hard drive, I recently noticed that I was no longer able to mount my volume and access my files, and started to panic a bit. I connected the USB to my laptop and tried to mount the volume on Windows, Linux and Mac without success.

In Windows I got the message “You need to format the disk in drive X: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?” and in macOS I tried to mount the disk manually using “diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk2” without success. I also tried to mount the volume using VeraCrypt in TrueCrypt mode. However, I received “Invalid password” and “Invalid Volume” albeit the password entered was correct. Uac anydesk.

How to Repair TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt Volumes

If you are in a similar situation, I recommend that you try the following steps. By the way, do not attempt to repair any filesystems using “chkdisk” or similar recovery tools at this point as it may damage the volume. If you have already attempted to repair the volume, you may have luck so read on. I recommend you to use any version of Windows to recover your volume.

I’m using a MacBook and used VirtualBox to install Windows 10 on a virtual machine. If using VirtualBox, you will have to give the virtual machine access to the device storing your volume. Connect the USB device or USB cable to the computer and make sure that your host is not trying to mount or occupy its resources.

In VirtualBox and after installing a virtual machine with Windows, right click the virtual machine and click “Settings”. Click “Ports” and “USB”. And make sure “Enable USB Controller” and “USB 3.0 (xHCI) Controller” is enabled. Click the green plus sign to add a new USB filter. In the drop down menu select your storage device and enable it in the list before clicking “OK”.

VeraCrypt

Finally, start the virtual machine. In my case using USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 did not work, and with USB 3.0 as controller, Windows automatically downloaded the required device drivers. So make sure the virtual machine has internet access. Converter mp4 to mp3 for mac free. Before you proceed make sure your storage device is listed in “Disk Drives” in “Device Manager”.

Veracrypt tutorial

Installing TestCrypt

TestCrypt is a first aid tool that you can use to recover your TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt volume. It is a Windows tool. So ensure that you have access to a device with Windows installed, or, alternatively, an virtual machine running Windows.

Simply visit http://testcrypt.sourceforge.net and download TestCrypt. You must install the required dependencies, as described in the “Requirements” section on the website before you install TestCrypt, otherwise you won’t be able to mount you volume. And you will receive this error:

Now, connect the device that holds the corrupted volume, and start TestCrypt and follow the on-screen instructions to recover your volume. Note that you must provide the correct password to recover your volume. TestCrypt is a tool to repair your volume, not a password cracking tool. If you can’t remember your password, it is worth guessing as you might be lucky. The recovery process usually takes around 20-30 minutes.

Veracrypt Android

Once recovered, you should be able to navigate your files using Explorer in Windows. TestCrypt is a rescue tool so you will only be able to copy, and not modify any files or folders on the damaged volume. Nevertheless, you still got your data back and now your first priority should be to copy it to a safe place.

Veracrypt

Feel free to ask questions in the comments if you are stuck. Or share your approach with others if you succeeded. All the best.

BranchCommit messageAuthorAge
masterWindows: add Visual Studio build artifacts to .gitignore fileMounir IDRASSI4 weeks
TagDownloadAuthorAge
VeraCrypt_1.24-Update8_MacOSXMounir IDRASSI5 months
VeraCrypt_1.24-Update7Mounir IDRASSI8 months
VeraCrypt_1.24-Update6Mounir IDRASSI13 months
VeraCrypt_1.24-Update5Mounir IDRASSI13 months
VeraCrypt_1.24-Update4Mounir IDRASSI15 months
VeraCrypt_1.24-Update3Mounir IDRASSI16 months
VeraCrypt_1.24-Update2Mounir IDRASSI16 months
VeraCrypt_1.24-Hotfix1Mounir IDRASSI18 months
VeraCrypt_1.24Mounir IDRASSI19 months
VeraCrypt_1.23Mounir IDRASSI3 years
[..]
AgeCommit messageAuthorFilesLines
2021-03-22Windows: add Visual Studio build artifacts to .gitignore fileMounir IDRASSI1-0/+77
2021-03-22Windows: first implementation of MSI installer for silent mode deployment (AC..Mounir IDRASSI37-52/+8713
2021-02-28Adding more Turkish translations (#744)Özgür Pekçağlıyan1-29/+29
2021-02-28update Simplified Chinese translation (#747)江南一根葱1-127/+127
2021-02-27Windows: Load UrlUnescapeW dynamically from Shlwapi.dll and use safe URL open..Mounir IDRASSI1-5/+14
2021-02-27Windows: Block Windows from resizing system partition if it is encrypted. Thi..Mounir IDRASSI3-18/+45
2021-02-24Windows: Fix failure to launch keyfile generator in secure desktop modeMounir IDRASSI1-2/+6
2021-02-24Windows: Fix freeze when password dialog displayed in secure desktop and try ..Mounir IDRASSI2-3/+39
2021-02-21Windows: Fix failure to load local HTML documentation if application running ..Mounir IDRASSI1-6/+24
2021-02-21Hebrew translation (#725)thewh1teagle2-2/+1612
[..]
Clone
https://github.com/veracrypt/VeraCrypt.git
https://git.code.sf.net/p/veracrypt/code
https://bitbucket.org/veracrypt/veracrypt.git