veracrypt
VeraCrypt and Windows 11 24H2 stuck during "booting..."
Hi, this is my first bug report on GitHub. I will try to explain the issue to my best ability.
I run a Windows 11 24H2 system. I updated to 24H2 just about two weeks ago. Then I started the encryption of the system partition with VeraCrypt as usual and everything seemed to work perfectly fine until the point where you have to do the (booting) test, right before you start the real encryption of the system partition.
The system starts and the VeraCrypt bootloader menu appears as usual, I enter my password, VeraCrypt confirms "OK" and then it prints "Booting..." and nothing happens. You are stuck at this point. Soft-Reset does not work, but a hard reset works. You can then skip the VeraCrypt bootloader via ESC and the system boots normally into Windows where I then chose to not go through with the encryption.
Expected behavior
I expected VeraCrypt to boot into my system as usual.
Observed behavior
After entering the correct password VeraCrypt confirms "OK" but is then stuck showing the prompt "booting...".
Steps to reproduce
- Open VeraCrypt and start system partition encryption process
- Set password, encryption alghorythm etc. (I've used the standard settings and did not change anything)
- Provide randomization data by moving the mice
- Create and burn rescue disc
- Start pre-boot-authentication test
- Wait for VeraCrypt Bootloader to appear
- Enter correct password and confirm -> VeraCrypt shows "OK"
- VeraCrypt shows "booting..." and nothing happens.
Your Environment
-Windows 11 24H2 (64bit) -> running in legacy MBR mode -VeraCrypt recent version 1.26.24 from May 30th 2025
I use VeraCrypt for many years now on the exact same system. It worked flawlessy on all Windows 10 and Windows 11 versions until the 24H2 update dropped.
If anymore information is needed to help with troubleshooting, please let me know. I am happy to support you.
The same error. With fresh Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC (Build - 26100.1742).
After entering the password, the windows logo appears with the loader animation below. After that, the computer reboots. This happens in a circle until you press the ESC button. When you press ESC, the windows load normally and a VeraCrypt message appears stating that the test will not pass with a suggestion to repeat or cancel everything.
Its the bootmgr of Windows 11 24h2 which causes the problem. Once you replace it with the 23h2 version it will boot fine again. but be careful: A windows update might replace the bootmgr file again making the bootloader get stuck at "booting ..." and you unable to enter your system (had to build my m2 into another device, select the m2 from within Veracrypt and replace the file once again).
The same error. With fresh Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC (Build - 26100.1742).
After entering the password, the windows logo appears with the loader animation below. After that, the computer reboots. This happens in a circle until you press the ESC button. When you press ESC, the windows load normally and a VeraCrypt message appears stating that the test will not pass with a suggestion to repeat or cancel everything.
Same for me with a fresh Win11 Pro 24H2, mbr, and latest VC. Fortunately a cold reboot and ESC helped me out. Skipping encryption for now, since I was in the testing phase; yet I don't feel like replacing w/ 23h2 either... (@Zz9uk3: what is an "m2" btw?) – Thanks for trying to resolve this issue, guys!!
@nyamcoder he means the disk M.2 SSD
@idrassi Do you plan to make any fixes to this behavior in the near future?
Its the bootmgr of Windows 11 24h2 which causes the problem.
That's the main issue, however – since VC makes use of Grub for chainloading. Win11 24H2 is 'fighting' it (even it is the only OS), so Grub cannot find it anymore (whether it's on UEFI or MBR), cf.
- askubuntu.com/questions/1529291/grub-problem-after-windows-11-24h2-update
- answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/grub-screen-after-windows-11-24h2-start-up
- Arch Forums: Windows 11 24H2 deletes grub EFI entry on every boot
- . . .
FWIW, maybe this post of the latter link points in the right direction: bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=2228129#p2228129 I wonder if this can be implemented into VC...?
This looks like a promising approach, fitting both BIOS/MBR and UEFI/GPT alike:
it is possible to create a fake MBR partition entry suitable for both kinds of BIOSes manually as a sequence of bytes.
Arch wiki: Tricking_old_BIOS_into_booting_from_GPT
Yet another idea: Maybe the Grub version VC uses is missing os-prober, which is obligatory for detecting Windows partitions; that is, because latest versions of Grub (or the Linux distro VC is being build on, respectively) might not include it, so it must be explicitly installed and enabled. It's FOSS: Missing Windows from Grub After Dual Boot? Here's What You Can Do
Thanks to everyone for gathering information on this issue, much appreciated! I understand that the root cause is the bootmgr/bootloader which is being overwritten(?).
@idrassi Can this be fixed by the Veracrypt team? Can we hope for a fix soon-ish? Any response is much apprectiated.
It is horrible not being able to use Veracrypt to encrypt my system drive. Without a fix I guess there is no other option than to fall back on Bitlocker (which I don't want to use at all, but it is better than nothing).
This seems like a severe issue rendering accidental update to Win 11 24H2 unbootable if I understand correctly? Can anyone elaborate on this if it's worth the risk to update to the latest version of Veracrypt?
This seems like a severe issue rendering accidental update to Win 11 24H2 unbootable if I understand correctly? Can anyone elaborate on this if it's worth the risk to update to the latest version of Veracrypt?
You can replace the bootmgr file but after a windows update it is often overwritten with the bootmgr causing problems with veracrypt making booting the system not possible which means for you to take the image and replace the file once again. It's kinda annoying tbh
Very annoying to be honest. These are heart attack level kind of stuff. Decided not to update.
@idrassi Hello Mounir, at first congratulations for your successful move to Japan. A friend of mine just did that and so I know it is not that easy to do that. :-) I have only a brief question to you. Do you plan to fix the bug I reported here? - or is it maybe something that can't be fixed on your side? Thanks a lot!
Hi djex,
There has been no response to this ticket/issue so far. What you can do is "like" this issue to raise its visibility.
We need to wait until Mounir has time to look into this and provide a fix/update - if it is something that can be fixed by him.
With the knowledge I have about the issue, I consider it a critical bug, as it blocks Windows 24H2 users from using Veracrypt from now on.
However, it is still unclear if this affects Win11 24H2 UEFI / SecureBoot installations or if it is only breaking Win11 MBR/Legacy-systems.
Therefore, I believe this will need some investigation before we know what is causing the issue exactly. @cmimar01 Already made a very good assessment about the core issue.
I managed to get it working after I did the upgrade from Win10 to Win11 and it works as expected/as before. First I fully decrypted the system partition. Then I performed the update and ran VeraCrypt again. I did not encrypt the system before performing the pre-boot step as I was unsure if I would run into this exact problem. The system booted up successfully though, I performed the encryption and it has been working like that for ~8 days now without any issues. These are my settings:
- VeraCrypt version 1.26.24 (64 bit)
- Windows 11 Home, version 24H2 installed on the 9th of August 2025, Build 26100.4652 (I paused updates though when the news about Windows potentially killing SSDs came out)
- 2TB NVME drive with a GPT partition table
- AMD CPU (no idea if this makes a difference)
- Secure boot is enabled
- UEFI
@ph1387 The Problem is only affecting Legacy NON-UEFI Installations! and is actually Present! Got the same Preoblem on my AMD FX-6300 ASUS M5A78L-M LX3 Crucial MX500 SSD Windows 11 24H2 / Upgraded from Windows 10 22H2 (running without Problems on VC) Disabled VT Because Windows BSODs with hypervisor error LEGACY BOOT MODE cause the Board does not Support UEFI
Ugly Old system, i Know, but it runs a Special software Licensed on that Board
Easiest way to reproduce:
- Enable CSM (Legacy mode)
- Convert disk to MBR and delete all partitions
- Install Windows 11 25H2. It doesn't matter whether you allow partitions to be created (so Windows creates a 100MB partition for boot files) or manually specify installation on a single partition.
- Encrypt OS with VC (Windows partition or whole drive - it also doesn't matter)
Result: Pre-test failed - infinite "Booting..."
This problem makes it impossible to create a hidden OS, since creating a hidden OS is easy only in legacy mode (doing it in EFI mode is still overcomplicated)
@ofxc1995 & @dartraiden Thanks to both of you for contributing and sharing information. It would be great if you could please like / upvote the issue-ticket so that we get more visibility for this request.