If encrypting a partition with TrueCrypt can be a lengthy and painful process, the decryption is a lot smoother and faster. In this guide, I would like to share the steps involved, to make you feel comfortable and confident enough to go ahead with the process.
NOTE: In order to decrypt a drive, it must be first mounted by TrueCrypt. If you are working with an external drive, manually mount it before you can go ahead with the decryption process.
Decrypting a TrueCrypt Encrypted Drive/Partition
Open TrueCrypt and right click on the partition you want decrypted. In the right click menu, select Permanently Decrypt.
You are asked whether you want to permanently decrypt the selected partition/drive. Press Yes.
You are asked to confirm again that you want to decrypt the selected drive/partition. Again, press Yes.
Confirming twice... this is a bit too much even for Windows software. But hey, this is how TrueCrypt was designed.
The decryption process finally starts. Arm yourself with some patience as it will take a while, depending on the size of the encrypted drive/partition. To speed up the process it is best not to use your computer too much and leave all the available resources to the decryption process. You will save a few minutes.
However, if you have to, you can use your computer. The decryption process should not stop you if you need to get some work done.
When the process is over, you are informed. Press OK.
If you encrypted your system drive or another important partition on your computer, you will be asked to restart your computer. Close all open applications and documents, press Yes and wait for the reboot to be done.
The selected partition/drive is no longer encrypted and its contents can be accessed by anyone.
Conclusion
Fortunately, the decryption process involved fewer steps than the encryption. Also, it is less error prone and easier to make. For more tips and tricks about using TrueCrypt, don't hesitate to read the articles recommended below.
Discussion (15)
I have a question: I have a volume encrypted in Truecrypt for Mac; I don’t remember if when I created it, I choose Mac only option, but I suppose I did it, because (I am not using Mac anymore) when I mount that volume with Truecrypt for Windows, the volume is mounted, but I cannot access to the data inside the volume (the message is that Windows cannot recognize the format). The question is: may I permanently decrypt this volume in Truecrypt for Windows, without risk of loose of encrypted data? Or any other suggestion to recover the data in Windows originally encrypted in Mac? Thanks to everyone for your support and help.
Hello,
If I permanently decrypt a storage array, all the information within it would be deleted as well? What would be the risk of losing the information?
Are there any risks to lose the data when decrypting a huge drive? It looks as if something happens (restart, crash, etc.) during the decryption process, all the data will be lost (both encrypted and decrypted).
Unless a power failure happens, you should be safe.
I have a new laptop, and my old laptop had the TruCrypt software. I was wondering if I could get that software so that I can decrypt my thumb drive?
How do I decrypt the entire drive?
Read this guide please and you will find the answer to your question.
Guys you can’t.
Truecrypt can only decrypt the System drive.
Every other drive can’t be permanently decrypted with it. They never supported doing that because they are stupid
I’ve used TrueCrypt for several years without problems. Then I had a power outage during a Windows 7 update. I have the disk (boot) encrypted and now Windows 7 won’t boot and I can’t repair. I can mount the drive on a different system so my data is good. I just can’t decrypt the drive because it doesn’t take my password (same one I mounted with). Any ideas?
Does anyone know a way to decrypt a drive from true crypt using command line? I have a large number of remote drives to decrypt remotely and want to push out the command.
or how can i access my non-system partition from another computer running truecrypt? i’ve tried accessing my truecrypt encrypted non-system partition on a second computer running truecrypt, and mounting the non-system partition doesn’t seem to work. it’s not accepting my password. If i use the “mount partition using system encryption without pre-boot authentication” it accepts my password, but doesn’t mount the drive in ntfs format. instead its mounted with an unrecognised [raw] filesystem. How can i go around this?
Once you “mount partition using system encryption without pre-boot authentication” you have to go into the computer management section to Storage>Disk Management. Once there you will see your raw system drives, right click on each one and choose “Change Drive Letter and Paths” and pick a drive letter, you will then see your data
How can I repeat the same process for a NON-SYSTEM partition?
Thank you for this tutorial. I am wondering how long it will take before the files are encrypted, (closley 600gig).
I don’t know but it will surely take a long time.