Written by
Frances Yang
How to change the APFS encryption password without data loss?
Summary: Disk Utility change password greyed out? Cannot change the APFS encryption passphrase in Terminal? Here is how to change the APFS encryption password and recover lost data from APFS encrypted volumes with the help of iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery.
I have a clean install of macOS High Sierra with an APFS encrypted file partition. During install, I checked the "decrypt at login" option, but each has a different password. I now want to change my APFS password but I haven't been able to:
"change password" is greyed out in the Disk Utility for my APFS volume. diskutil apfs change passphrase ... returned an error saying it can't do it.
Any idea how I can do that?
APFS encryption is designed with native encryption which offers a higher level of security. Unlike HFS+, APFS has implemented single-key and multi-key for system-level, file level, and specific data and metadata. However, some Mac users report that APFS encrypted volume won't accept the password and they are unable to change the APFS encryption password. This passage will show you how to change APFS encryption passwords and recover your data from this encrypted APFS volume.
Why you cannot change the APFS encryption password?
Normally, the password of an APFS encrypted volume can be changed at your will. But if the APFS encrypted volume is corrupted, some errors will occur when you try to decrypt it or change its password. APFS encrypted volume corruption can be caused by virus attacks, APFS encryption interruption, sudden power failure, invalid catalog files, etc.
How to change the APFS encryption password?
Solution 1: Change APFS encryption password with Disk Utility
Usually, you will be able to change the APFS password with Disk Utility if your disk is healthy.
- Run Disk Utility and choose "Show all devices" in the View Option.
- Click the encrypted APFS volume and click File on the left top of your desktop.
- Choose "Change Password" and type the information it asked for, then click "Change" to finish.
Solution 2: Recover lost data from encrypted APFS volume and reformatting
However, if your disk is suffering from file system corruption, reformatting will be the best way to solve this issue. But this operation will remove all data on the APFS encrypted volume. Thus, if you have important files on the volume, please recover lost data from APFS encrypted volume with iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery first.
Step 1: Recover lost data from APFS encrypted volume
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac can recover all lost data from APFS encrypted volume, recover lost data from unbootable APFS encrypted volume, and recover lost data from unmountable APFS encrypted volume, etc.
Moreover, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac can also support HFS+, HFSX, HFS, exFAT, FAT32 hard drives, external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, sd cards, etc. It's fully compatible with macOS 12 Monterey/macOS Big Sur 11/10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7 and works fine on M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max Mac.
1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your Mac.
2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac and click "Find Lost APFS Partition" on the top right corner. Then you will see all connected hard drives.
3. Select the drive which contains your APFS encrypted volume and click the "Next" button. The software will list all APFS volumes on the selected drive.
4. Choose the APFS encrypted volume that you want to recover lost data from and click "Next".
5. Enter the correct password and click "OK" to start searching for lost files on the volume.
6. Preview the listed searching results, choose the files you need, then click "Recover" to get lost files back.
Step 2: Change the APFS encryption password by reformatting
- Launch Disk Utility.
- Select the APFS encrypted volume from the left sidebar of the window.
- Click the Erase button on the top of the Disk Utility window.
- Complete the name, choose the APFS(Encrypted), input a new password, and then click Erase.
