Encrypted failed catalina upgrade, icloud can't recover the volume?

[ell]

Hi, I'm kinda stuck here. Got in a macbook with a failed Catalina upgrade. I am about to boot to log in, enter his password and it goes into a reboot loop. I tried to even just back up the data but the the drive is encrypted. He doesn't know the key. We logged into his apple id and changed his password but now it says it can't connect to the volume to unlock it. ???

 

[Markverhyden]

You don't need the key, just the machine account password. You should be able to boot into recovery mode and then unlock the volume with the account login password. If you have another Apple machine you can use target disk mode on the patient to allow the drive to be connected externally.

 

[overburnz]

if the account is local you can reset the password with terminal, but If he has FileVault activated you can say goodbye to the data without the password

 

[ell]

You don't need the key, just the machine account password. You should be able to boot into recovery mode and then unlock the volume with the account login password. If you have another Apple machine you can use target disk mode on the patient to allow the drive to be connected externally.

thats what I wanted to do, but when I log into recovery mode the only option is to log into his account, no menu above to access disk utility or terminal, the only option I have is to log in, I put in his user password, it kicks it out, I did password recovery and put in his apple Id & password, then I get the message "icloud can't connect to this volume" Another thing I noticed when I booted to my mac tool usb was there exists a "update" partition alongside the mac hd and data partitions. I can't touch the drive because its encrypted. Know how he can recover his encryption key from apple?

 

[overburnz]

thats what I wanted to do, but when I log into recovery mode the only option is to log into his account, no menu above to access disk utility or terminal, the only option I have is to log in, I put in his user password, it kicks it out, I did password recovery and put in his apple Id & password, then I get the message "icloud can't connect to this volume" Another thing I noticed when I booted to my mac tool usb was there exists a "update" partition alongside the mac hd and data partitions. I can't touch the drive because its encrypted

does he have enough space available to finish the Catalina update? if not use Carbon Copy Cloner and clone the hard drive to a bigger SSD and load the system with that SSD, let it finish the update and try to log in in the user account

 

[ell]

does he have enough space available to finish the Catalina update? if not use Carbon Copy Cloner and clone the hard drive to a bigger SSD and load the system with that SSD, let it finish the update and try to log in in the user account

I don't know if its a space issue, the install might have completed but its corrupt in some way, there's no error message with the upgrade, it boots to the Catalina pic and the his user login, then just loops after putting in the password.

 

[overburnz]

I don't know if its a space issue, the install might have completed but its corrupt in some way, there's no error message with the upgrade, it boots to the Catalina pic and the his user login, then just loops after putting in the password.

usually that means no space available to finish the update, when you install an update in macOS it, after it restarts it needs to login and finish the update

 

[ell]

usually that means no space available to finish the update, when you install an update in macOS it, after it restarts it needs to login and finish the update

ah, is there any way to roll it back when its encrypted? I don't have a bigger ssd, just standard drives. Will I even be able to clone it when its encrypted?

 

[overburnz]

ah, is there any way to roll it back when its encrypted? I don't have a bigger ssd, just standard drives. Will I even be able to clone it when its encrypted?

you will need to know the users password, no way to go around it

 

[ell]

ah, is there any way to roll it back when its encrypted? I don't have a bigger ssd, just standard drives. Will I even be able to clone it when its encrypted? I tried to recover the data with disk drill and it asked for the encryption key.

 

[overburnz]

but if the password is correct you will be able to clone it

 

[ell]

you will need to know the users password, no way to go around it

I have his user password, just not the encryption key to access the drive

 

[overburnz]

I have his user password, just not the encryption key to access the drive

if by encryption you mean FileVault you will loose the data

 

[ell]

does he have enough space available to finish the Catalina update? if not use Carbon Copy Cloner and clone the hard drive to a bigger SSD and load the system with that SSD, let it finish the update and try to log in in the user account

ok, yup its a tiny ssd, no doubt not enough space. I finally got an offline clone going to a big standard hd. So you think I can finish the install if I pop the clone into my bench mac and complete the install then install a bigger sdd into his macbook and restore the working clone to it?

 

[overburnz]

ok, yup its a tiny ssd, no doubt not enough space. I finally got an offline clone going to a big standard hd. So you think I can finish the install if I pop the clone into my bench mac and complete the install then install a bigger sdd into his macbook and restore the working clone to it?

it should do the trick I've done this multiple times

 

[ell]

it should do the trick I've done this multiple times

Perfect, thanks so much for your input. I have upgraded the sdds but never ran into this issue with a mac. You don't think I'll need the encryption key at all?

 

[overburnz]

again only if it is FileVault encrypted

 

[ell]

again only if it is FileVault encrypted

guess I'll know when I try to use the clone

 

[overburnz]

Exactly give us an update after

 

[ell]

Exactly give us an update after

I will, this will be interesting though, the only mac I have now is a hackintosh I made with Mojave on it, eveything works but I'll have to try and finish the catalina install on the clone via usb from it.