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Can a Windows partition be encrypted with FileVault?
No, Windows does not support FileVault (so it would not boot if it was encrypted thus!) The Windows option would be BitLocker. (perhaps it is more correct to say FileVault does not support anything but Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partitions) If you need a great, free, cross-platform, open-source, strong encryption tool check out VeraCrypt.
Why does boot camp not boot with FileVault?
There are quite a few mentions (if you google) of the Boot Camp partition failing to boot if FileVault isn’t enabled in a very specific way. That could be from early FileVault and everything might be fine now but it makes me nervous enough. If you do it clone your drive first.
Do you need to encrypt both partitions to boot?
If you have already encrypted both partitions, then there is nothing else you need to do. FileVault is just a means to unlock your boot disk so you can startup, and to do so with your login password so that you don’t have to enter two different passwords to login after booting.
What happens if you encrypt both containers before enabling FileVault?
If you encrypt both containers prior to enabling FileVault, all that will happen is that FileVault will enable login on decrypt. It won’t change anything about the encryption. FileVault is “whole-disk” encryption. I don’t think it encrypts by partition, but I couldn’t find any wording in the Apple articles I found to confirm that.
Why is FileVault 2 unsuitable for bootcamp users?
This article describes a major limitation of the FileVault 2 full disk encryption that ships with OS X 10.7 Lion and later and why the use of FileVault 2 is unsuitable for Bootcamp users. Users who run Windows within a Virtual Machine (VM) such as Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion or Sun VirtualBox are not affected.
Can a Windows partition be encrypted on a Mac?
With Bootcamp enabled on a Macintosh running OS X Lion or later versions, FileVault 2 will only encrypt the Mac OS Partition. The Windows partition is completely unencrypted and is mountable on any system that can read NTFS.
What happens if I encrypt my Bootcamp partition?
If you have both encrypted using a method the other can’t handle you lose that ability. However, if you use VeraCrypt, you can host a partition file on either OS and access it from both, and mount it as required – as well as back it up, archive it etc.