HP protect Tools and Mcafee Endpoint Encryption headaches

[Dvanmeter]

We have seen the problem with our laptops where an HP system encrypted with a Enterprise version of Mcafee Endpoint Encryption gets HP protect tools (personal version of safeboot component) installed and messes up the system. We do not install HP protect tools on laptops, but my guess it is a HP software update offered by there updater program gets installed when notifying users of important updates. When this happens the user cannot login as the wallpaper has been changed and the opportunity to type the user name and password has been changed to a list of users and a pin code. Even when booting to the emergency boot disk to do a emergency boot loggin screen this is modified. The way we get around this is to authenticate from a database object in the emergency boot disk or to just to an emergency recovery from the laptop bootscreen to get into windows. You must decrypt the laptop, remove the HP protect tools and start all over. This is a pain when all of a sudden dozens of machine may get this update installed and brick the laptops.

It would be nice for HP and Mcafee to work out something between their home product and their corporate product so that to prevent this from happending. Anyone else had these woes?

[peter_eepc]

Why do you allow HP home product software to reach your corporate laptops? Probably you need to disable (or better yet - remove) that HP updater software.

[Duane_m]

I installed Safeboot on a laptop that had the HP encryption running on it. The drive is obviously toasted. Cannot log in on the safeboot login and cannot do a machine or user recovery. Even the admin accounts do not work.
What can be done and how, to recover the data?

[SafeBoot]

decrypt it using your HP recovery information and SafeTech/WinTech.

[Dvanmeter]

Is the machine just not booting up at all or are you getting a hp protect tools boot screen instead of the normal that is trying to use a pin number? If so, you can hit recovery at that screen and go through an emergency boot process. You will have to decrypt the drive though in order to remove hp protect tools

[amiyabisoi]

I faced a similar situation.

Step 1. Boot with Wintech
Step 2. Do a fix MBR
Step 3. Remove EEPC
Step 4. Try to boot OS. If it boots, good enough!
Step 5. Otherwise boot through XP bootable CD, do a "chkdsk /R" and "fixbr"
Step 6. Still issue persists -> do a "fixmbr"

I was able to recover my system using this procedure. Hopefully this works for you as well.

- A