Issue with Veracrypt volumes on external drives

[techm8]

Hey guys - first time posting here as I didn't see this covered.

MC x64 15.6 (3119)
WIN10 x64 24H2 | 16GB

I found https://forum.multicommander.com/forum/index.php/topic,4999.msg14770.html#msg14770 related to MC not starting due to Veracrypt volumes.

In the most recent version, I am having a similar problem, with the exception that in my case MC does start, but it now takes twice as long as before.

I have internal HDD Veracrypt volumes which still load just fine and the mapped drives show up in MC as normal.

However, Veracrypt volumes on external drive (USB-C) and which show up in WIN just fine, are no longer shown in MC.

In MC, I can however use the Command Line Bar to display the drive contents by using it's path e.g. Y:\

If there is no external VC drive connected, MC starts up as normal, and the drive is displayed as normal.

I looked through the log file through repeated runs, but didn't notice anything related to this - other than the increased startup time - which used to be almost instantaneous. I also noticed some anomalous entries related to cloud (Google, Microsoft, Dropbox) drives, though I will probably write that up as a separate issue.

ps. I am a dev; so I can help with debugging this if needed.

[log]

2025-09-27 10:58:47.984 System LCID : 1033, User LCID : 1033, System Lang : en-US, User Lang : en-US
2025-09-27 10:58:47.984 Windows DPI Scaling : 100%
2025-09-27 10:58:47.984 AppDataPath : C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\Roaming\MultiCommander
2025-09-27 10:58:48.024 Use extra UI thread for progress dialogs : 0
2025-09-27 10:58:48.140 Failed load  : C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\Roaming\MultiCommander\Config\UserMenu.xml
2025-09-27 10:59:18.785 OneDrive folder not found : ""
2025-09-27 10:59:18.785 OneDrive folder not found : ""
2025-09-27 10:59:18.785 OneDrive folder not found : ""
2025-09-27 10:59:18.801 Dropbox appdata folder not found : "C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\Roaming\Dropbox"
2025-09-27 10:59:18.802 GoogleDrive folder not found : "<empty>"
2025-09-27 10:59:18.864 FSZIP - Zip will use codepage 437 unless codepage is specified in the zip archive
2025-09-27 10:59:18.901 MultiLanguage text item not found!. ( 10038,g,200 )
2025-09-27 10:59:18.924 Initializing extension : MCPictureViewer
2025-09-27 10:59:18.925 Initializing extension : Explorer Panel
2025-09-27 10:59:18.935 Initializing extension : Settings Panel
2025-09-27 10:59:18.935 Initializing extension : File Search
2025-09-27 10:59:18.936 Initializing extension : Language Editor
2025-09-27 10:59:18.938 Initializing extension : Special Tools
2025-09-27 10:59:18.940 Initializing extension : File Utils
2025-09-27 10:59:18.941 Initializing extension : Multi Rename
2025-09-27 10:59:18.942 Initializing extension : File Checksum Verifier
2025-09-27 10:59:18.945 Initializing extension : File Viewer
2025-09-27 10:59:18.950 Initializing extension : Preview Panel
2025-09-27 10:59:18.951 Initializing extension : FSFTP Script
2025-09-27 10:59:18.951 Initializing extension : Picture Tools
2025-09-27 10:59:18.951 Initializing extension : Audio Tools
2025-09-27 10:59:18.952 Initializing extension : Video Tools
2025-09-27 10:59:18.956 Initializing extension : Workspace
2025-09-27 10:59:18.957 Initializing Completed
2025-09-27 10:59:18.963 Creating Device Broadcast listener for USB devices
2025-09-27 10:59:19.462 Application Ready!
2025-09-27 10:59:19.462 Start background thread to check if new version exists.
2025-09-27 10:59:19.834 No new version found

[techm8]

Upon further investigation, I found that disabling (untick all 3 trees) "Override default settings" in Configuration->Explorer Panel Settings->Device Filtering, then closing and restarting MC, appears to fix this. The external Veracrypt drives then show up in the drive bar (icons) as well as in the drop-down drives list.

[Mathias (Author)]

If it gets a device letter it should just work.  There is nothing special with Vera that MC sees.. (I use it myself)

Everything in device filter should be off already by default. It is used so you can tweak the and override some default behaviours, So you must have enabled something there that would have filter it out. And when you turned it off it got back
But good that you got it working.

[techm8]

Indeed. I only thought to look in device filtering because it was the only setting that would have made sense for controlling device display behavior.

However, as you said, "if it gets a device letter it should work", I can't imagine why only VC devices would be affected by this device filtering setting. Why are other drives unaffected?

And I just tested it again. With those settings enabled, the VC device icons disappear. And the standard drives remain unaffected regardless of that device filtering setting.

As a dev myself, it's the sort of puzzle that I would take a closer look at because, if standard devices are displayed - regardless of device filtering setting - then VC devices shouldn't be affected either.

[Mathias (Author)]

It depends what is check under the device filtering section. Might be that Removable harddrive is unchecked.

[techm8]

I had checked all 4 sections in Device Filtering to figure out what the issue was. Which is why I wrote up this report.

Also, I have both internal HDD encrypted volumes as well as external SSD encrypted volumes.

If it's any help to you, I am using VC 1.26.24 x64

[Mathias (Author)]

Yes But if you expand them. there are individual options under each section.. on what devices should be shown for each UI place to show devices..
Some of the option for the place where you did not see the device was probably not checked.


I don't think VC version matter.. MC does not see it as a VC device. it just see a removable harddrive. it does not know if it is VC or not. all that is handled in kernel level in Windows

[techm8]

Yes But if you expand them. there are individual options under each section.. on what devices should be shown for each UI place to show devices..
Some of the option for the place where you did not see the device was probably not checked.

Yup - I am aware. That's why it's the first place that I checked when I was trying to reproduce this issue. I have all of them checked - except "Floppy" (which appears to be unchecked by default)

[Mathias (Author)]

The Removebale HD option will enable/disable for USB connected devices.

But you got it working so no issue anymore.

[techm8]

But you got it working so no issue anymore.

It's a workaround - not a fix. To be sure, I just ran another test, which I hope you will run on your end.

1. In MC. ENABLE "Override default settings" in device filtering (see image 1-4). Apply, Save, Exit, Restart MC
2. Plug in external VC drive (HDD or SSD). Login using VC credentials

The VC drive WILL NOT appear in the UI, though can still be accessed via the Explorer input box

3. Unplug external VC drive
4. In MC. DISABLE "Override default settings" in device filtering (see image 1-4). Apply, Save, Exit, Restart MC
5. Plug in external VC drive (HDD or SSD). Login using VC credentials

The VC drive WILL appear in the UI, and can also be accessed via the Explorer input box

In the attached images 5-7:

- D & E are VC partitions on an internal drive - which appear as normal, regardless of the above settings
- K is an VC partition on an external drive - which is subject to this issue as per above
- F (normal exFAT partition) & J (VC partition) on the same external drive - only the mounted VC partition (J) is subject to this issue as per above

My conclusion is that there is likely a MC bug that's affecting VC partitions hosted on external drives - but only if "Override default settings" in device filtering is enabled.

[Mathias (Author)]

I can't replicate that.
External VC devices show up for me. If I enable override and uncheck removable HD.. than it goes away. and it should. But else it is shown.

Don't know why it different for your system.
Is it only if you connect it while MC is running ? If you restart MC after VC drives is connected does it show up ?

[techm8]

I can't replicate that.
External VC devices show up for me. If I enable override and uncheck removable HD.. than it goes away. and it should. But else it is shown.

Don't know why it different for your system.

Yeah, weird - I know. But I've seen more elusive bugs than this. lol

As you can see from the images, I have all the sub-items enabled, with only the top-level option checked or unchecked depending on the test.

Is it only if you connect it while MC is running ? If you restart MC after VC drives is connected does it show up ?

It doesn't matter whether it's running or not. From the test, I exit MC with each test.

I will test with a clean MC profile that has all default settings for Core & Explorer to see if that makes a difference. I just have to figure out how to wipe out the current config and start clean.