Cannot decrypt my SD card or my Lumia 650.

[John Loo]

I think this is the last straw for me for Windows 10 Mobile. I'm done supporting it.

So, first of all, I'm trying to recover some photos I deleted on my SD card, but the problem is, I activated encryption on it a while ago and now I cannot plug my SD card into my laptop to scan it because it's encrypted.

So I try turning off encryption for my SD card on my Lumia 650, but every time I press the turn off button, it turns back on. And the option to turn off encryption for my whole phone is greyed out.

So I contact Microsoft using the Get Help app but they refer me to the B2X app. But it's useless, because my 650's warranty has expired. But the app tells me hey, try registering an account with us. Ok. So I try to register but it asks me for my credit card details. Ok, I'm not purchasing anything because the app tells me that my bill is zero, so I give it my credit card details but then it tells me error, the billing amount is zero and therefore invalid. Utterly useless.

So I'm stuck there, I contact Microsoft again and they refer me to B2X again. I tell them I already tried B2X, can you tell me how to contact someone relevant from Microsoft? The agent I'm speaking to says hold on, let me check and.. he refers me to B2X again. I tell him I really regret supporting Windows Mobile right now and I sarcastically tell him that I bet he doesn't use Windows 10 Mobile. He just repeats that he is sorry, he can't help me, he's just from the billing department. Ah, wth.

So.. Microsoft doesn't give a f**k about Mobile users at all. It has outsourced support to another company and that company will only support you if you still have a warranty. Hey.. it's not like my problem is with Microsoft's software in the first place! Nothing to do with my phone's warranty! So.. Microsoft owes me a Class 10 64GB SD card, and the data that I cannot recover because I cannot scan my SD card.

F**k whatever Surface Phone that Microsoft will or will not launch. What is the point if service for it is going to be s**t? I hope Zac Bowden or whatever reads this. But I think at this point, even the Windows Central editors have given up on Windows phones.

Rant over. I sincerely hope that someone has a solution for me. Sorry if my words were vulgar. I'm really frustrated right now. All that sticking up for Windows 10 Mobile for nothing. I think the next thing Nutella is going to do is sell Microsoft to a consortium of Google, Amazon and Facebook or something. That will bring a lot of profits for shareholders. Also, is it possible to scan the internal storage of my phone for deleted files? The photos I'm looking for might be in there.

 

[John Loo]

If you try finding support on Microsoft's website for Mobile Devices, it will direct you to B2X - https://support.microsoft.com/en-my/contactus/lumia/. Hahahahahaha... :angry::angry:

 

[John Loo]

Okay, I finally managed to chat with someone from B2X using a web browser on my laptop. So I guess it's either the B2X app sucks, or the IMEI that my phone itself gave me is wrong. I checked my Microsoft account, the IMEI for my phone listed there has different last 2 digits.

So anyway, B2X guy is telling me to do a soft reset of my phone by holding down the Power button and Volume Down button for 10 to 15 seconds.

So questions:

1) Will my phone still be able to recognize my SD card after doing this? Will it be able to decrypt it? Or will my SD card be permanently inaccessible? B2X guy says that after resetting my phone, I should be able to turn off decryption in the settings.

2) Will this wipe everything from my SD card including the deleted files that I want to scan for and recover? B2X guy says that when resetting, I will have the option of wiping my SD card or not.

3) As above, is there a way to scan my phone's internal storage for deleted files? The photos I'm looking for might be in there instead of my SD card. Is there a way to skip this whole decryption thing? The main goal is to recover some photos. Are there any software out there that can scan my phone's internal storage and my SD card while I plug my phone to my laptop using a USB cable? I've tried Recuva and EaseUS and they can't detect the phone when it's connected.

4) Will resetting wipe my phone's internal storage, thus making all files unrecoverable?

 

[Diamond67]

B2X guy is telling me to do a soft reset of my phone

First of all, I haven't used encryption because I have read some stories about how it slows down the phone and might cause some problems.

Anyway, Soft Reset shouldn't normally cause any trouble to the SD Card files. And I am talking about Soft Reset now, NOT Hard Reset. However, if you perform a Soft Reset while the SD Card is connected to the phone (instead of "safely removing" (you don't have to physically remove it, just go to menu and do the safe removal thingy) it before Soft Resetting), after rebooting the phone an error check may be suggested and you should run it. It may take tens of minutes, depending on the size of the SD Card.

 

[John Loo]

First of all, I haven't used encryption because I have read some stories about how it slows down the phone and might cause some problems.

Anyway, Soft Reset shouldn't normally cause any trouble to the SD Card files. And I am talking about Soft Reset now, NOT Hard Reset. However, if you perform a Soft Reset while the SD Card is connected to the phone (instead of "safely removing" (you don't have to physically remove it, just go to menu and do the safe removal thingy) it before Soft Resetting), after rebooting the phone an error check may be suggested and you should run it. It may take tens of minutes, depending on the size of the SD Card.

Hey, thanks for the reply. Sorry, I meant to update this thread yesterday but was too busy. So.. the problem just solved itself overnight. I checked the setting after waking up and decryption was finally turned off. So I guess the OS needed some time to decrypt everything. I guess the person who designed the UI didn't think about putting some cue to let the user know that the OS was processing the decryption. Boy, am I glad I didn't reset anything. I'm still really disappointed that Microsoft outsourced support for Windows Mobile to another company. But what's the difference, right? Microsoft already outsources their tech support to India and even though I read that this B2X company is German, they still use employees from India.

So.. the encryption causes the phone to slow down, huh? Ok, I'll test it out without encryption. Hmm.. so what should I do for security now? I guess at the very least this answers the question of whether Windows 10's encryption works or not. Yeah, it works, and it might brick your SD card. Hah.. brick a micro SD card.. I don't know what other expression to use..

So, I managed to scan my SD card using Recuva and found the files I was looking for. But it still won't detect the phone's internal storage when it's plugged in. So, is there no software out there that can scan and recover deleted files from a phone's internal storage?

 

[Diamond67]

So.. the encryption causes the phone to slow down, huh?

https://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-mobile/461203-sd-cards-can-now-encrypted.html

 

[John Loo]

https://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-mobile/461203-sd-cards-can-now-encrypted.html

Thanks for the link. Reading it now.

Seems like once again I'm late to the party. The news about B2X was already reported last year - https://www.windowscentral.com/b2x-worldwide-customer-care-microsofts-lumia-and-feature-phones. I wonder how the Windows Central editors feel for reporting that Microsoft is "committed" to Windows 10 Mobile. F**k, now I have to go back to Android or even switch to iOS. Depressing. Surface Phone? Yeah, maybe Microsoft will release it when Half-Life 3 is released.

 

[TechFreak1]

During the fiasco with Wp7 lock msd cards people found some devices that can read these encrypted cards - locked by the WP7 os. As far as I recall this was the list of devices I read awhile back -


Kodak EASYSHARE Z1485
Nokia 5530
Nokia 5800, 5700 XpressMusic!
Nokia C5-00
Nokia C7
Nokia E65 (4gb max)
Nokia E66
Nokia E71
Nokia N8
Nokia N79
Nokia N96
Nokia N97
Nokia Supernova
Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Presuming the Lumia 650 uses the same encryption process as Wp7 these may work. Should anyone encounter a similiar problem like the OP. If it's using bitlocker encryption then I am not sure the above devices will work.

So I guess the OS needed some time to decrypt everything. I guess the person who designed the UI didn't think about putting some cue to let the user know that the OS was processing the decryption.

I agree, there should have been a progress bar indicating the progress and this reminds me of the oversight during Wp8.0 days when it was first released there was no progress indicator when you did an update or hard reset and you would end up with Spinning gears for hours or days. The only thing that would resolve it was either a soft reset (barely worked for me) or key press combination.

There are so many basic things lacking in Wm10 right now... it's disappointing. I tried ios and android but they were just too dull for me. The Windows Phone launchers on Android are nowhere near able to replace the live tiles UX.

I suppose I'm still used to WM6.x days where users could us an app to do an on device backup and have it saved to a msd card. As well as setting a static ip address- - to name two critical omissions in the iterations of the mobiles o/ses that have followed.

Phones have been around for almost three decards and the method of interaction has not changed from icons... that is why I find ios and android so dull.

I wonder how the Windows Central editors feel for reporting that Microsoft is "committed" to Windows 10 Mobile. F**k, now I have to go back to Android or even switch to iOS. Depressing. Surface Phone? Yeah, maybe Microsoft will release it when Half-Life 3 is released.

In terms of Windows Central editors saying Microsoft was committed to Windows 10 Mobile, that is what they were informed by Microsoft. However if you read the recent articles... you will see the stark difference as Microsoft does one thing and says another therefore completely contradicting themselves.

 

[John Loo]

During the fiasco with Wp7 lock msd cards people found some devices that can read these encrypted cards - locked by the WP7 os. As far as I recall this was the list of devices I read awhile back -


Kodak EASYSHARE Z1485
Nokia 5530
Nokia 5800, 5700 XpressMusic!
Nokia C5-00
Nokia C7
Nokia E65 (4gb max)
Nokia E66
Nokia E71
Nokia N8
Nokia N79
Nokia N96
Nokia N97
Nokia Supernova
Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Presuming the Lumia 650 uses the same encryption process as Wp7 these may work. Should anyone encounter a similiar problem like the OP. If it's using bitlocker encryption then I am not sure the above devices will work.

You mean the encryption sucks and encrypted devices can actually be read without decryption? Teach me, master. But I think Windows 10 Mobile should be using Bitlocker? Not sure. Kinda sucks though if W10M has Bitlocker but my Windows 10 Home edition doesn't Bitlocker.

In terms of Windows Central editors saying Microsoft was committed to Windows 10 Mobile, that is what they were informed by Microsoft. However if you read the recent articles... you will see the stark difference as Microsoft does one thing and says another therefore completely contradicting themselves.

Now I know why everyone hates Microsoft. They keep coming up with all these great ideas then just squash them themselves.

 

[TechFreak1]

You mean the encryption sucks and encrypted devices can actually be read without decryption? Teach me, master. But I think Windows 10 Mobile should be using Bitlocker? Not sure. Kinda sucks though if W10M has Bitlocker but my Windows 10 Home edition doesn't Bitlocker.

To be very precise it's not encryption persay but since people equated and classed it as encryption so if you searched for Wp7 locking up msd cards you will get people calling that process encryption :eck:.

Basically what Wp7 would do is take the msd card as it's own storage and it would basically treat the phones storage and msd card as one storage medium - I am over simplyfing it but that is what it did / does.

Which is why I said if the Lumia 650 used a similar process as Wp7 those devices listed may work in reading the msd card. As I have no device that can officially run the "creators update" on a phone I can not test and check.

Windows 10 Home does not bit locker encryption and other advance tools, I personally would recommend everyone to stay away from windows 10 home and upgrade to windows 10 s or pro - the latter if you rely on proper Win32 applications as the former is locked to the store apps.

Now I know why everyone hates Microsoft. They keep coming up with all these great ideas then just squash them themselves.

Microsoft has a habit of a knee-jerk over reaction, they just can't to find a balance for example Rooms in Windows Phone 8.x was replaced by GroupMe. This an external solution that was brought by Skype and then Microsoft brought Skype. The now defunct rooms used the old Windows Live Messenger backend as such would seamlessly integrate with WLM and the now removed passport.net service (where you could have any email you wanted as your Windows Live Messenger login providing it was a valid one and combined with a custom domain would a wealth of options).

In terms of hardware, the microsoft band which was an amazing device in it's own right but as it was running it's own firmware and they were having difficulty (allegedly) in getting a flavour of Windows 10 running on device satisifactorily - the MS band team was disbanded - quite literally.

Then you have the spot smartwatch which was released years ago before smartwatches became a thing, Zune released only in the US and barely available anywhere else and so on. The Zune software ace it would wirelessly sync your library when you set your phone to charge. The current Windows Phone PC client is utterly basic and essentially useless as the same thing can be done much easily with drag and drop. The list is pretty endless, Microsoft have amazing ideas it just the implementation more than often just sucks - just like their communication skills.

Then again Microsoft have always been "engineer centric" and Apple "designer centric".