File Share Encryption

I just loaded my PGP WDE software on a new Windows 7 computer.  The software loaded, and I ran the whole disk encryption.  I restarted the computer after the disk was encrypted and now I cannot login.  The PGP screen starts to load, however, the lower portion is pixelated.  Then the screen goes blank and displays initializing loader in the upper left hand corner, and stops.

It sounds like you first need to decrypt your disk - please see this Knowledge Base Article. 

What PGP version are you using?

Please review the PGP Release Notes before re-installing.  They  may identify conflicts within your system that need to be addressed, or setting adjustments that need to be made.

I'm running 10.1 and the new computer is a Dell Inspirion 5520.  I read the article, but how do I get a Command Prompt without being able to login to the compuer?

Unless you want to attach the disk to another computer with PGP installed for the decryption, you may want the option of using the WDE Recovery CD that the KBA provides a link for.  However, this option only provides 16 bit processing and can take several days for the decryption to complete - and the decryption must not be stopped for any reason until it completes.

I have another computer running the software.  How do I attach the disk for decryption?

You can place the disk in a USB hard disk caddy for the connection.

I have never done that before, is that something I can get somewhere like Best Buy?  Which method would you actually suggest?

I just bought the caddy and I am preparing to connect it.  What is the process to decrypt the drive?

After the disk is connected to the computer, open PGP Desktop, click on the PGP Disk module on the left.  On the right select Encrypt Whole Disk Or Partition, select the disk needing decryption, and click Decrypt on the top of the far right.

Okay, the disk is connected and I started running the decryption.  Thank you for your help.  I looks like in about 1 day and 10 hours I'll get back to working on my new laptop.  I, obviously, won't be encrypting this drive again with the PGP 10.1 software.  Is there a fix for this issue or should I look for a different software vendor?  From many of the discussions, it appears this is a widespread problem.

Please be aware that although there may appear to be a lot of this kind of problem reported here, PGP has a lot  of users, and what you see here would be a very small percentage of users (I have no idea what the actual number would be).  Most people doing the PGP installation do not bother to look at the offered Release Notes to see what known conflicts may exist within their system, or what settings adjustments should be made for their system.  There have been multiple improvements in PGP since your version (most but not all, are reflected in the Release Notes).  It is likely that if you were to try the current version, review the Release Notes and act as may be needed, that this problem would not recur.  But, of course, not knowing the specific cause of your difficulty, it could not be considered definite. 

We had this problem in 10.1.2 it's very specific to running PGP desktop on new hardware with next generation Intel - i3, i5, and i7 processors.  Please see this KB article for the solution:

TECH177861

In summary:

The fix is to decrypt your disk and upgrade to PGP Desktop 10.2 or later (most current version today is PGP Desktop 10.2.1 MP3).

Thank you for all the help and advice.  I was able to remove the hard drive, attach it to another computer and decrypt it.  The process took 35 hours to complete, but it has now been reinstalled and the new computer is working again.

You are very welcome - glad to hear you have the computer working again.