Get FileVault enabled on Mojave

[MoerBoer]

I've finally got a metal enabled card ( RX 560 ) for the upgrade from High Sierra. Running a MacPro 5.1 2010.

The problem I'm sitting with is that it won't let me upgrade without turning off FileVault.

Can FileVault be turned on again after the upgrade ( I can keep my 5870 in for the boot screen if need be ), or is this impossible?

Is there maybe a way to boot into a verbose / console mode and type in the password then?
If all this is not possible, is there another way of encrypting a APFS filesystem without FileVault?

Thanking you in advance.

 

[bookemdano]

You can't use it with the 560 because the 560 can't display bootscreens (of which the FileVault password entry screen is one).

Even if you bought a Metal-capable card that could show bootscreens, Apple decided to completely disable the ability to enable FileVault on the Mac Pro 5,1 in Mojave.

There is a workaround posted here by W1SS that involves using dosdude1's Mojave installer, which is modded to remove platform checks. You then have to format your drive as APFS (encrypted), at which point you would choose a "disk password". Then you install Mojave onto it. That will work, but with a 560 GPU you would still be stuck as you wouldn't be able to see the prompt at every boot asking you to enter that password. Even with a GPU capable of bootscreens that method involves entering two different passwords (the disk password in order to boot, then your user password), and there's no way I've seen to save a recovery key. Definitely not ideal.

Another workaround he and others have mentioned is locating your home folder on a different disk and encrypting that by formatting as APFS (encrypted). Your boot drive would be unencrypted and must be set up with a dummy user account you use to log in with, then you unlock the second disk that contains the home folder for your actual user account, then you switch users to that user account.

You cannot keep your 5870 and 560 installed at the same time. This has been tested and Mojave will not boot.

 

[MoerBoer]

You can't use it with the 560 because the 560 can't display bootscreens (of which the FileVault password entry screen is one).

Even if you bought a Metal-capable card that could show bootscreens, Apple decided to completely disable the ability to enable FileVault on the Mac Pro 5,1 in Mojave.

There is a workaround posted here by W1SS that involves using dosdude1's Mojave installer, which is modded to remove platform checks. You then have to format your drive as APFS (encrypted), at which point you would choose a "disk password". Then you install Mojave onto it. That will work, but with a 560 GPU you would still be stuck as you wouldn't be able to see the prompt at every boot asking you to enter that password. Even with a GPU capable of bootscreens that method involves entering two different passwords (the disk password in order to boot, then your user password), and there's no way I've seen to save a recovery key. Definitely not ideal.

Another workaround he and others have mentioned is locating your home folder on a different disk and encrypting that by formatting as APFS (encrypted). Your boot drive would be unencrypted and must be set up with a dummy user account you use to log in with, then you unlock the second disk that contains the home folder for your actual user account, then you switch users to that user account.

You cannot keep your 5870 and 560 installed at the same time. This has been tested and Mojave will not boot.

Thank you so much for the detailed response, much appreciated. I'll search for the posts from W1SS.