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NeoMayhem

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2003
916
1
hmm..

I use FV2 and went:

10.7.4 -> DP4 -> GM via the App Store (DEV).

No problems.

Can you explain how that worked?

My understanding of the the 10.7/8 installer is that when you run the installer from OS X, it creates a '/OS X Install Data' folder containing all the packages and the BaseSystem.dmg from InstallESD.dmg. BaseSystem.dmg gets marked as bootable, and you are asked to reboot. Normally, this causes the installer to take over when you restart.

With FileVault 2 turned on, BaseSystem.dmg can't be accessed at boot, because it is encrypted. Instead, the EFI boots the EncryptedLogin app from the recovery partition, and then boots back into 10.7 when you type in your password.

I tried to upgrade an Encrypted 10.7.4 install to 10.8, and it didn't work. After the first reboot, did you type in your password and then have it continue to the 10.8 installer?
 

AlanShutko

macrumors 6502a
Jun 2, 2008
804
214
How did you get it to boot into the installer with FileVault on? Many of us were unable to do so.

This was on a 2012 MBA, which might have something to do with it or maybe not.

What I did:
  1. Redeemed dev code and downloaded the installer from the app store
  2. Ran the installer, which did some setup and prompted me to reboot
  3. First thing on reboot, the laptop prompted me to select an account and type in the password (just as done with a normal Filevault boot)
  4. Laptop booted into the installer.
 

JohnDoe98

macrumors 68020
May 1, 2009
2,488
99
This was on a 2012 MBA, which might have something to do with it or maybe not.

Yeah maybe it is system specific, everything but the last step happened to me, instead it would just dump me back into Lion. Disabling FilveVault fixed it. I'm on a RMBP. I guess we'd need more cases to determine a pattern.
 

NeoMayhem

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2003
916
1
This was on a 2012 MBA, which might have something to do with it or maybe not.

What I did:
  1. Redeemed dev code and downloaded the installer from the app store
  2. Ran the installer, which did some setup and prompted me to reboot
  3. First thing on reboot, the laptop prompted me to select an account and type in the password (just as done with a normal Filevault boot)
  4. Laptop booted into the installer.

Interesting. Glad to know it works that way when installed from the official app. I believe users who are installing it directly from the InstallESD.dmg file are the ones having issues.
 

Tinmania

macrumors 68040
Aug 8, 2011
3,528
1,016
Aridzona
I'm glad I found this thread. I had suspected it was file vault 2 before updating to ML but this thread confirms it. Now I am about halfway through decryption and will have to wait. I almost just went the USB route too.

Oh well, at least I already had decrypting for a few hours. Wish was there was a way to stop and reverse that process.




Michael
 

silverjam

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 25, 2012
121
2
I never should have read this thread.

As suggested here I turned off FV2 before upgrading from 10.7.4 to 10.8 GM. By upgrade I mean I installed 10.8 over 10.7.4 with the installer from the App Store. No problems during the installation/upgrade process.

But now I can't turn on FV2 again :-(. Shortly before the required reboot an error pops up: "FileVault failed. Could not write start file." Konsole says: "CoreStorage conversion failed with mainError: -69853".

Before someone asks, yes I have a recovery partition on my Macintosh HD drive.

I think it was a big mistake to deactivate FileVault. Now I don't know what to do to get it back.

I have
- a Time Machine backup of my 10.7.4 system (not touched by 10.8)
- a SuperDuper clone of my 10.7.4 Macintosh HD drive on an USB disk

What's the best way to get an FileVault encrypted 10.8?

Any hints welcome!

How long did you wait for FV2 to decrypt? It can take an hour for an SSD and hours (if not a day) for a standard HD. Did you confirm decrypt had finished? I am not saying that is the answer. I am just wondering if that is what you did?
 

JohnDoe98

macrumors 68020
May 1, 2009
2,488
99
How long did you wait for FV2 to decrypt? It can take an hour for an SSD and hours (if not a day) for a standard HD. Did you confirm decrypt had finished? I am not saying that is the answer. I am just wondering if that is what you did?

My RMBP took about 20 minutes to decrypt. I guess speeds vary tremendously.
 

silverjam

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 25, 2012
121
2
My RMBP took about 20 minutes to decrypt. I guess speeds vary tremendously.


Well that was not really the point that I was trying to make lol and I was being general as my MBA 2011 takes 35 Mins, my MM Server takes 20 minutes (OZC Agility 3) and my MBA 2010 takes 40 mins, BUT my MM on 7500rpm HD takes a n hour or so.

I was more making the point that the poster may have decrypted, then did an install over Lion while decrypting was going on, hence the problem with re-encrypting he had after install of ML as some of the files may not have been decrypted. Decrypting restarts after you reboot normally but I am guessing it may not restart/finish if you also then throw in a major upgrade during the decrypt process.

Silver.
 

Tinmania

macrumors 68040
Aug 8, 2011
3,528
1,016
Aridzona
That hypothesis holds for me ;)
Maybe, maybe not. That didn't work on my 2010 mini. But my 2011 air installed it just fine (also with fv2).

Ahhhhhh.... wait. I copied the app from the air to the mini. That must do the same thing.

Either way they are both updated now.


Michael
 

Kendall015

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2006
115
1
I had no problem upgrading from Lion to ML with FV2 enabled, but I think I did the install differently than most.

1. I made a partition on an external drive, and restored the contents of InstallESD.dmg into it using Disk Utility.
2. I shut down my MBP (w/ Lion)
3. I started up the MBP holding Option, and started up from the partition containing the contents of InstallESD.dmg.
4. The installer came up eventually, and I selected the main drive to update (which is FV2). The installer asked for me to unlock the drive, but then it upgraded fine.
 

TheMaJa

macrumors newbie
Apr 6, 2009
13
17
Rostock, Germany
I would do a clean install of 10.8 and then use the Migration Assistant to import your files/settings from one of your backups after you turn on FV2.

Unfortunately that didn't work (same error message). I ended up with a time machine restore of Lion, encryption of the drive with 10.7.4 and an upgrade to Mountain Lion with the installer from the App Store. The upgrade worked fine with my encrypted disk, so there is no need for decryption!

This was all very time-consuming and I had to invest two days of my vacation to fix the problems. Hopefully people will read the whole thread before they start to decrypt their drive, which - in my case - was absolutely not necessary.
 

megasad

macrumors member
Aug 29, 2009
88
0
This is old news now, and Mountain Lion comes out in just a few days, but maybe this helps those wanting to install OS X 10.8 from the "InstallESD.dmg" disk image before then.

First, this does seem only to affect machines with FileVault 2 encrypted drives, so this is probably only of use to those who don't want to wait for the drive to decrypt.

Second, here's what I did:

  • Restored "InstallESD.dmg" to 8GB SDHC card using Disk Utility
  • Restarted with Option held down and booted into the OS X installer
  • Got told nothing could be installed
  • Opened Disk Utility
  • Unlocked "Mac SSD" (my boot drive)
  • Quit Disk Utility and opened the Terminal
  • Typed this:
Code:
cd /Volumes/Image\ Volume/Packages/
  • And then this:
Code:
installer -pkg OSInstall.mpkg -target /Volumes/Mac\ SSD/
  • Waited 24 minutes
  • Got a bunch of error messages in the Terminal regarding cache files not being found
  • Figured this was okay as said cache files couldn't exist due to the installer not starting in the normal way
  • Rebooted my machine
  • OS X Mountain Lion is installed, everything looks right.
So like I say, this is only relevant for a few more days, seems not to be an issue if you use the actual Mountain Lion installer App. So just wait and do that :)
 
Last edited:

TibookAktive

macrumors member
May 27, 2010
82
19
I had the issue where after running the ML GM installer after the first restart it would just load back into 10.7 and not continue the install.

Turning off FV did the trick for me and allowed me to install ML.

Almost fully specced out (2.7/16/512) rMBP took 40mins to decrypt the SSD that was filled 380gb out of 512gb. Similar to re-encrypt post ML install.

Richard.
 

grimmermatt

macrumors newbie
Jun 1, 2009
9
0
This is my issue

I'm 99% sure that this is what has bricked me. System was flawless 10.7.4 before 10.8 upgrade. Several failed install attempts, early in the process (when it needs to write to the drive). Cannot boot into safe mode (encruyption probably blocking). Cannot unmount MacHD (says it's busy). Cannot see the HD in terminal. Cannot format the HD (need to unmount). Nowhere obvious to enter encryption key, so I'm up S creek. Possible solution : override supposed boot flags telling the machine to boot into the install image as opposed to the regular HD. If I could force a normal boot, I'd be golden. mid-2011 Macbook Air.
 
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