File Share Encryption

Having this problem with several machines at our company. When booting up the computer and getting the PGP splash screen for the passphrase, the USB keyboard attached to docking station WILL NOT work to type passphrase. You have to open laptop, type it there, and close it, then USB keyboard will work after that. It is not limited to one type of laptop, dock, or keyboard. I've seen the issue with HP wired keyboards, logitech wireless keyboards, Lenovo keyboards, etc. PGP 9.10 windows 7 and xp. A fix for this would be greatly appreciated.

You have to enter the passphrase at BootGuard with the keyboard directly connected to the laptop.  You cannot use a keyboard attached to a docking station or a USB keyboard because the drivers for those peripherals do not load until after BootGuard has been entered.  There is no work around for this, nor do I see there being one as you would have to have those specific drivers loaded before the operating system boots.

It doesn't happen to all computers. Only some. And it works for plenty of computers running a keyboard off a docking station. Computers that are the same model/OS/hardware.

That's news to me.  Thanks for pointing that out.  

This is a known issue with that release. Also, some bioses have a problem with not allowing the USB to work on bootguard like comment 2 suggested.

I am trying to find the exact bug number to reference this issue. but I do believe that this was fixed in our 10.x release cycle. We are now on PGP Desktop 10.1.2.

Is there a reason that you are running PGP Desktop 9.10 on Windows 7? Windows 7 is not supported on PGP Desktop 9.10. Not only that, PGP Desktop 9.10 is already in limited support (no bug fixes and no service packs) and will be officially not supported at all as of April 1, 2012.

I would highly recommend upgrading to the latest release of PGP Desktop if you are running Windows 7 in your environment. Especially if you are on Windows 7 Service Pack 1.

I run PGP 10.2.0 and having the same issue. Since I can acces the BIOS and boot menu directly from the keyboard attached to the Dockingstation, I find it hard to believe it could be a driver issue.

I found that PGP does not correctly handle all USB inputs.  With my HP8510 docked, PGP took my USB keyboard input with no problem *until* I purchased a Logitech mouse with the very small USB wireless adpater that is intended to remain plugged in all the time.  With the adapter plugged in to my laptop, PGP will no longer recognize the keyboard input, and I have to either unplug the adapter or open the lid and use the laptop keyboard.

I  am using PGP 10.1.2 and since Windows correctly recognizes the keyboard even with the mouse adapter plugged in, this is a PGP defect.

FYI, I have also heard that BIOS updates can often times resolve this type of problem with Bootguard not recognizing the USB Device while docked. If you haven't done that, it's worth a try. Also, often times your docking station will haev firmware updates.

If you have tried all of the above (updating bios, updating firmware on the docking station, installing PGP Desktop 10.2) and you still have problems. Post as many details as you can about your hardware setup

Examples of this info would be:

- laptop make/model and part number if possible,

-docking station part#/model#

-BIOS version of the machine

-what version of PGP Desktop you have

-whether the disk is encrypted

- what language version and keyboard regional setting you have installed with Windows

I've been experiencing this too. My two colleagues have not however (despite having the exact same Dell laptops, docking stations, and Logitech keyboard (in one case). I have found an easy work around for the problem. When you are on the passphrase screen, and your external keyboard does not work, simply un-plug the external keyboard from the docking station and immediately plug it back in. For me, the keyboard works then.