Intel RST BitLocker eDrive Win10 conflicts

[idata]

Hi,

I'm trying to use BitLocker eDrive hardware encryption, but Intel RST 14.5.0.1081 is confilicting. I know this because when I uninstall RST, it works, but when it's installed it uses software encryption (BitLocker asks if I want to encrypt whole drive or only used portion)

This problem existed with an older version of RST on Windows 8.1 too and was fixed in version 13.2 (not entirely sure of exact version) but seems to be back.

Discussion about the issue earlier: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T/T440s-How-to-enable-the-Windows-eDrive-feature/td-p/1364811 T440s: How to enable the Windows eDrive feature? - Lenovo Community

Using Windows 10 x64 and Samsung 850 EVO SSD...

[npole]

No. I don't see this error message anywhere, either in System or BitLocker logs.

[ALost]

@north_pole Thank you! That is what I thought. Crucial issue...

[LGorn]

I have same issue with my Crucial MX300, I re-formatted my drive, installed RST ver. 16.0.2.1086 and now I'm not able to Turn On hardware encryption. I see there are no news from over a month.

[phillw]

"Will keep close track on what driver installation the encryption gets knocked off. (Last time too it was running with h/w encryption but got reverted soon after installing one of the drivers)"

If you install the RST driver then manage-bde -status will say that the disk is not encrypted, even though you are prompted for the password at startup & the disk is actually encrypted.

A couple of months ago the RST was installed, I have no idea how, and it causes the Windows 10 April update installation to crash. I assume it's because it didn't realise it needed to suspend asking for the pin and adjust for the different partition layout.

Trying to uninstall the RST left me with a bootloop, the only thing I could do was boot into the command prompt in recovery mode. I tried some things I found with googling, but what seemed to work for me was booting into safe mode. Which was easier said than done, I had to use bcdedit.

All traces of RST gone and it reported hardware encryption and April update installed fine.

I'm disappointed that Intel RST can't work with hardware bitlocker, as it seems to only be that the status is not reported. I'm angry that Intel doesn't block installation on hardware bitlocker systems, if they can't make it work.

[MMuel3]

Thought I'm going to share my story too in the hope it may help someone:

I have a Lenovo T450s with Windows 8.1 and a Seagate ST500ML001 HDD as an additional data disk. I've set up the HDD as an edrive with Bitlocker. The system disk is a Plextor SSD, also Bitlocker-encrypted but using software encryption.

Today Lenovo System Update utility offered an update of Intel Rapid Storage Technology software and I was stupid enough to install it (along with a bunch of other driver updates). Rebooting into Windows again after the update took an extremely long time and also after logging on the system was then insanely slow. When opening Windows Explorer the drive letter "D:" for my Seagate HDD appeared but it didn't have the usual bitlocker "lock" symbol. And clicking on the drive letter didn't show any files or folders anymore. Instead, Windows Explorer shows the progress bar for an eternity (like ~30 minutes) to then finally bail out with a "Disk I/O Error".

So the extreme slowness of the system and the "Disk I/O Error" make it look as if the drive has failed. Which is very dangerous as people might then do something stupid to "repair" the drive and thereby actually wipe out the data...

So I tried to uninstall the newly installed version of Intel RST again but, like others reported here already reported, it didn't help.

I created a system image backup of the current state of the system drive (which was still working since using Bitlocker software encryption) and restored an older windows system image I had from a while back. This, like also others reported here, made my edrive HDD accessible again and be recognized as edrive again by Bitlocker.

I noticed I had Intel RST version 13.6.0.1002 installed on the older system image that I had restored. So I restored the current system image again and then did the following:

1) Go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Device Manager. Choose "Intel 9 Series Chipset" under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

2) Right-click "Update driver software"->"Browse my computer for updates" -> "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer". If you broke your system by updating the RST driver, you should now see multiple versions of the IST driver offered here now. Pick the new version that caused the issue, choose OK to enable it for the device.

3) Right-click again on the "Intel 9 Series Chipset" device and click "Properties". Choose the "Driver" tab and select "Uninstall" to remove the broken newer driver version. Hit also the checkbox "Delete files".

4) Repeat the steps 2) and 3) until you have removed all newer versions of the Intel RST driver than version 13.6.0.1002.

5) Now, and this is important, you need to reinstall the RST 13.6.0.1002 driver because uninstalling the newer versions of the RST driver IS NOT ENOUGH! It seems when you install a newer version of the Intel RST driver, it overwrites the *.sys and *.inf files of the older version driver. Then even when you switch back to the older version of the driver in the Device Manager, it actually still is the new version! (You can see this when clicking on "Driver Details"). So get the f6flpy-x64.zip with the 13.6.0.1002 driver from the Intel website, extract, right-click the inf files and choose "Install".

6) Verify in Device Manager that now the working 13.6.0.1002 version of the driver is installed for the "Intel 9 Series Chipset" device (-> "Driver Details"). Reboot and enjoy having access to your data again.

So I can confirm that the RST 13.6.0.1002 version is compatible with edrive at least on Windows 8.1, but any newer versions are not. And as other people didn't have any luck at all with Windows 10: It seems the older 13.6.0.1002 driver is not officially supporting Windows 10 but apparently it is installable also on Windows 10 with a trick:

https://greigmitchell.co.uk/2015/04/install-intel-rapid-storage-technology-driver-on-windows-10/ https://greigmitchell.co.uk/2015/04/install-intel-rapid-storage-technology-driver-on-windows-10/

So possibly this might work then also on Windows 10 then (Intel RST 13.6.0.1002 + edrive hardware encryption with Bitlocker). But I haven't tested it...

[BDubi]

Reported this issue to both Microsoft and Intel security on 1/24, received a response from Microsoft on 2/7:

Hi Ben,

The engineering team has finished their investigation and determined the issue you reported is caused by the Intel driver and is not a flaw in Bitlocker. Intel has been made aware of the issue and is working on a fix; you will need to contact them for the updated driver as Microsoft does not distribute it via our update channels. The information I have today indicates the updated driver will be included in the next release of Windows 10.

We appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention; since the root cause is in code we don't maintain we consider the matter resolved.

Regards,

Nate

MSRC

Other than an auto reply, didn't receive a response from Intel yet. But at least it looks like this will finally be addressed soon.

[ALost]

Hi,

intel rst driver in its latest version 15.9.0.1015 does not work either. It breaks the eDrive/hardware encryption capability of my Crucial MX300 + Windows 10 pro Bitlocker, so that after driver installation only software encryption is left.

Obviously, intel is not doing enough, as this problem can be traced back to Windows 8.

I tried every possible solution available on the Internet, to compensate this issue, but it is not possible. Original windows ahci drivers produce other issues with TCG access.

[moneytree]

EstebanC_Intel

HELLO? INTEL?

Over 3 years later, eDrive is still broken due to defective Intel drivers. Pathetic.

[idata]

moneytree: If you need further support on this subject, please submit your inquiry on a new thread, the reason for this is that every scenario is different even if the same product is being used, so for us to better assist you and in order to try to fix the problem, please submit a new thread:

https://communities.intel.com/community/tech/discontinued-products https://communities.intel.com/community/tech/discontinued-productsLet me apologize for any inconvenience.Regards,Alberto R.Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation