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veracrypt / VeraCrypt

Disk encryption with strong security based on TrueCrypt
https://www.veracrypt.fr
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Hidden OS : Windows corrupted after copying to hidden partition #1424

Open IlyasMohetna opened 3 days ago

IlyasMohetna commented 3 days ago

Expected behavior

I expected the copied OS to function identically to the original, with all features and software installations working correctly after setting up the hidden OS.

Observed behavior

After copying the existing Windows OS to a hidden partition using VeraCrypt, the copied OS appears to function but shows signs of corruption. Specifically:

Unable to install certain software. Running wsl --install in Command Prompt results in the error: "1 is not a valid win32 application." Windows Update is malfunctioning, failing to install updates. Attempting to run Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth gives the error: "Cleanup-Image is not a valid command."

These issues only appeared after copying the system to the hidden partition; the original OS worked fine before this process.

Steps to reproduce

1.Set up a hidden OS using VeraCrypt. 2.Copy an existing Windows OS to the hidden partition. 3.Boot into the hidden OS. 4.Attempt to install software or run wsl --install. 5.Try to Run Windows Update. 6.Try to Execute Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth.

Screenshots

Your Environment

Please tell us more about your environment

VeraCrypt version: 1.26.15

Operating system and version: Tried with Windows 8.1 , Windows 10 , Windows 11

System type: 64-Bit

JamesParrott commented 3 days ago

Does this work when copying and pasting to a regular drive? I'm very surprised to learn that Windows is easily portable.

Even if Windows is much more portable than I thought, my understanding is that VeraCrypt integrates with either a Posix OS's version of, or Windows itself's own File Explorer.

Does VeraCrypt also support decrypting and mounting its partitions, straight from BIOS or any other boot loader, in order for an OS therein to be booted from?

IlyasMohetna commented 3 days ago

Thank you for your response, JamesParrott.

To answer your question, I haven’t tried copying and pasting the OS to a regular drive yet. I’ll give that a try to see if the issues persist outside the hidden partition setup. It seems like this might help isolate whether the problem is related to VeraCrypt’s hidden OS functionality or just the copying process in general.

For your second question, VeraCrypt does indeed decrypt and mount the partitions directly during the boot process, and in this case, it should allow the hidden OS to boot normally. However, based on the errors I’m seeing, it looks like something might be going wrong during the boot or I really think it happend during the copying windows to hidden partition process that’s causing corruption in the system files or preventing Windows from functioning properly like i have explained some softwares dont install and windows update stopped working I get lot of errors.