Version history for TrueCrypt

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Changes for v7.1 - v7.1a

Improvements and bug fixes:
Minor improvements and bug fixes (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v7.0a - v7.1

New features:
Full compatibility with 64-bit and 32-bit Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
Improvements and bug fixes:
Minor improvements and bug fixes (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v6.3a - v7.0a

Improvements:
Workaround for a bug in some custom (non-Microsoft) drivers for storage device controllers that caused a system crash when initiating hibernation on TrueCrypt-encrypted operating systems. (Windows 7/Vista/2008/2008R2)
Other minor improvements (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Bug fixes:
Minor bug fixes (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v6.3 - v6.3a

Minor improvements and bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v6.2a - v6.3

New features:
Full support for Windows 7.
Full support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
The ability to configure selected volumes as 'system favorite volumes'. This is useful, for example, when you have volumes that need to be mounted before system and application services start and before users start logging on. It is also useful when there are network-shared folders located on a TrueCrypt volume and you need to ensure that the network shares will be restored by the system each time it is restarted. For more information, see the chapter 'Main Program Window', section 'Program Menu', subsection 'Volumes -> Save Currently Mounted Volumes as Favorite' in the documentation. (Windows)
Improvements and bug fixes:
'Favorite' volumes residing within partitions or dynamic volumes will no longer be affected by changes in disk device numbers, which may occur, e.g., when a drive is removed or added. (Windows)
Many other minor improvements and bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v6.2 - v6.2a

Improvements and bug fixes:
Improved file container creation speed on systems having issues with write block sizes greater than 64 KB. (Windows)
The 'Device not ready' error will no longer occur when the process of decryption of a system partition/drive is finished. (Windows)
Other minor improvements and bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v6.1a - v6.2

New features:
The I/O pipeline now uses read-ahead buffering, which improves read performance especially on solid-state drives, typically by 30-50%. (Windows)
Improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements:
The boot loader now supports motherboards with BIOSes that reserve large amounts of base memory (typically for onboard RAID controllers). Note: In order to be able to take advantage of this improvement under Windows Vista, you will have to install Service Pack 1 or higher first. Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista resolved an issue causing a shortage of free base memory during system boot. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Mounting using the 'Auto-Mount Devices' feature may take significantly less time as partitions containing unencrypted filesystems are now skipped. (Windows)
When volumes that are mounted as read-only or removable are saved as favorite volumes, they are mounted as read-only and/or removable when 'Mount Favorite Volumes' is used.
When a multiple-pass wipe algorithm is selected when performing in-place encryption of a non-system volume, the header areas will be wiped before the encrypted headers are written to the disk. Note: On an existing volume, you can perform such an operation by changing its password and/or keyfiles. (Windows)
Many other minor improvements, bug fixes and security enhancements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v6.1 - v6.1a

Minor improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Note: If you are using an older version of TrueCrypt, it is highly recommended that you upgrade to the latest stable version.

Changes for v6.0a - v6.1

New features:
Ability to encrypt a non-system partition without losing existing data on the partition. (Windows Vista/2008)
Note: To encrypt a non-system partition in place, click 'Create Volume' > 'Encrypt a non-system partition' > 'Standard volume' > 'Select Device' > 'Encrypt partition in place' and then follow the instructions in the wizard. Please note that this is not supported on Windows XP/2000/2003 as these versions of Windows do not natively support shrinking of a filesystem (the filesystem needs to be shrunk to make space for the volume header and backup header).
Support for security tokens and smart cards (for more information, see section Security Tokens and Smart Cards in chapter Keyfiles).
The TrueCrypt boot loader can be prevented from displaying any texts (by selecting Settings > System Encryption and enabling the option 'Do not show any texts in the pre-boot authentication screen').
The TrueCrypt boot loader can now display a custom message (select Settings > System Encryption and enter the message in the corresponding field) either without any other texts or along with the standard TrueCrypt boot loader texts.
Pre-boot authentication passwords can now be cached in the driver memory, which allows them to be used for mounting of non-system TrueCrypt volumes (select Settings > System Encryption and enable the option 'Cache pre-boot authentication password').
Linux and Mac OS X versions: The ability to mount a Windows system partition encrypted by TrueCrypt and to mount a partition located on a Windows system drive that is fully encrypted by a Windows version of TrueCrypt.
Improvements:
Protection against memory corruption caused by certain inappropriately designed versions of some BIOSes, which prevented the pre-boot authentication component from working properly. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
During the process of creation of a hidden operating system, TrueCrypt now securely erases the entire content of the partition where the original system resides after the hidden system has been created. The user is then prompted to install a new system on the partition and encrypt it using TrueCrypt (thus the decoy system is created).
Note: Although we are not aware of any security issues (connected with decoy systems) affecting the previous versions of TrueCrypt, we have implemented this change to prevent any such undiscovered security issues (if there are any). Otherwise, in the future, a vulnerability might be discovered that could allow an attacker to find out that the TrueCrypt wizard was used in the hidden-system-creation mode (which might indicate the existence of a hidden operating system on the computer) e.g. by analyzing files, such as log files created by Windows, on the partition where the original system (of which the hidden system is a clone) resides. In addition, due to this change, it is no longer required that the paging file is disabled and hibernation prevented when creating a hidden operating system.
Many other improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Bug fixes:
Many minor bug fixes and security improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v6.0 - v6.0a

Resolved incompatibilities / bug fixes:
On systems where certain inappropriately designed chipset drivers were installed, it was impossible to encrypt the system partition/drive. This will no longer occur. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Other minor bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v5.1a - v6.0

New features:
Parallelized encryption/decryption on multi-core processors (or multi-processor systems). Increase in encryption/decryption speed is directly proportional to the number of cores and/or processors.
For example, if your computer has a quad-core processor, encryption and decryption will be four times faster than on a single-core processor with equivalent specifications (likewise, it will be twice faster on dual-core processors, etc.)
Ability to create and run an encrypted hidden operating system whose existence is impossible to prove (provided that certain guidelines are followed). For more information, see the section Hidden Operating System. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
For security reasons, when a hidden operating system is running, TrueCrypt ensures that all local unencrypted filesystems and non-hidden TrueCrypt volumes are read-only. (Data is allowed to be written to filesystems within hidden TrueCrypt volumes.)
Note: We recommend that hidden volumes are mounted only when a hidden operating system is running. For more information, see the subsection Security Precautions Pertaining to Hidden Volumes.
On Windows Vista and Windows 2008, it is now possible to encrypt an entire system drive even if it contains extended/logical partitions. (Note that this is not supported on Windows XP.)
New volume format that increases reliability, performance and expandability:
Each volume created by this or later versions of TrueCrypt will contain an embedded backup header (located at the end of the volume). Note that it is impossible to mount a volume when its header is damaged (the header contains an encrypted master key). Therefore, embedded backup headers significantly reduce this risk. For more information, see the subsection Tools > Restore Volume Header.
Note: If the user fails to supply the correct password (and/or keyfiles) twice in a row when trying to mount a volume, TrueCrypt will automatically try to mount the volume using the embedded backup header (in addition to trying to mount it using the primary header) each subsequent time that the user attempts to mount the volume (until he or she clicks Cancel). If TrueCrypt fails to decrypt the primary header and then decrypts the embedded backup header successfully (with the same password and/or keyfiles), the volume is mounted and the user is warned that the volume header is damaged (and informed as to how to repair it).
The size of the volume header area has been increased to 128 KB. This will allow implementation of new features and improvements in future versions and ensures that performance will not be impaired when a TrueCrypt volume is stored on a file system or device that uses a sector size greater than 512 bytes (the start of the data area will always be aligned with the start of a host-filesystem/physical sector).
For more information about the new volume format, see the section TrueCrypt Volume Format Specification.
Note: Volumes created by previous versions of TrueCrypt can be mounted using this version of TrueCrypt.
Parallelized header key derivation on multi-core processors (one algorithm per core/thread). As a result, mounting is several times faster on multi-core processors. (Windows)
Ability to create hidden volumes under Mac OS X and Linux.
On Linux, TrueCrypt now uses native kernel cryptographic services (by default) for volumes encrypted in XTS mode. This increases read/write speed in most cases. However, the FUSE driver must still be used when the volume is encrypted in a deprecated mode of operation (LRW or CBC), or when mounting an outer volume with hidden-volume protection, or when using an old version of the Linux kernel that does not support XTS mode. (Linux)
Improvements:
Up to 20% faster resuming from hibernation when the system partition/drive is encrypted. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Many other improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Removed features:
Encrypted system partitions/drives can no longer be permanently decrypted using the TrueCrypt Boot Loader (however, it is still possible using the TrueCrypt Rescue Disk). (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Note: This was done in order to reduce the memory requirements for the TrueCrypt Boot Loader, which was necessary to enable the implementation of support for hidden operating systems.
Bug fixes:
When Windows XP was installed on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition (as opposed to an NTFS partition) and the user attempted to encrypt the system partition (or system drive), the system encryption pretest failed. This will no longer occur.
Many other minor bug fixes and security improvements (preventing e.g. denial-of-service attacks). (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v5.1 - v5.1a

Improvements:
Faster booting when the system partition/drive is encrypted (typically by 10%). (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Other minor improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Resolved incompatibilities:
On computers with certain hardware configurations, resuming from hibernation failed when the system partition was encrypted. Note: If you encountered this problem, the content of RAM may have been saved unencrypted to the hibernation file. You can erase such data, for example, by decrypting the system partition/drive (select System > Permanently Decrypt System Partition/Drive) and then encrypting it again. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Remark: As Microsoft does not provide any API for handling hibernation, all non-Microsoft developers of disk encryption software are forced to modify undocumented components of Windows in order to allow users to encrypt hibernation files. Therefore, no disk encryption software (except for Microsoft's BitLocker) can guarantee that hibernation files will always be encrypted. At anytime, Microsoft can arbitrarily modify components of Windows (using the auto-update feature of Windows) that are not publicly documented or accessible via a public API. Any such change, or the use of an untypical or custom storage device driver, may cause any non-Microsoft disk encryption software to fail to encrypt the hibernation file. We plan to file a complaint with Microsoft (and if rejected, with the European Commission) about this issue, also due to the fact that Microsoft's disk encryption software, BitLocker, is not disadvantaged by this.
Workaround for a bug in the BIOS of some Apple computers that prevented users from entering pre-boot authentication passwords and controlling the TrueCrypt Boot Loader. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Bug fixes:
When the system partition/drive is decrypted under Windows, the original partition table will not be restored. Note: This issue affected users who repartitioned an encrypted system drive and then decrypted it under Windows. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Other minor bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v5.0 - v5.1

New features:
Support for hibernation on computers where the system partition is encrypted (previous versions of TrueCrypt prevented the system from hibernating when the system partition was encrypted). (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Ability to mount a partition that is within the key scope of system encryption without pre-boot authentication (for example, a partition located on the encrypted system drive of another operating system that is not running). (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Note: This can be useful e.g. when there is a need to back up or repair an operating system encrypted by TrueCrypt (from within another operating system).
Command line options for creating new volumes. (Linux and Mac OS X)
Improvements:
Increased speed of AES encryption/decryption (depending on the hardware platform, by 30-90%). (Windows)
Faster booting when the system partition is encrypted. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
When the system partition/drive is encrypted, the TrueCrypt Boot Loader is now stored in a compressed form and is, therefore, smaller. If a non-cascade encryption algorithm is used (i.e., AES, Serpent, or Twofish), the TrueCrypt Boot Loader is now small enough so that a backup of the TrueCrypt Boot Loader can be (and is) stored in the first drive cylinder. Whenever the TrueCrypt Boot Loader is damaged, its backup copy is run automatically instead.
As a result of this improvement, the following problem will no longer occur: Certain inappropriately designed activation software (used for activation of some third-party software) writes data to the first drive cylinder, thus damaging the TrueCrypt Boot Loader. The affected users had to use the TrueCrypt Rescue Disk to repair the TrueCrypt Boot Loader. This will no longer be necessary after upgrading to this version of TrueCrypt (provided that the system partition/drive is encrypted using a non-cascade encryption algorithm, i.e., AES, Serpent, or Twofish).
Note: If your system partition/drive is currently encrypted using a non-cascade encryption algorithm (i.e., AES, Serpent, or Twofish), a backup copy of the TrueCrypt Boot Loader will be automatically stored in the first drive cylinder when you upgrade to this version of TrueCrypt.
The minimum memory requirements for the TrueCrypt Boot Loader have been reduced from 42 KB to 27 KB (twenty-seven kilobytes). This allows users to encrypt system partitions/drives on computers where the BIOS reserves a large amount of memory. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Many other minor improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Resolved incompatibilities:
On some computers, when performing the system encryption pretest, Windows failed to display the log-on screen. This will no longer occur. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Bug fixes:
On some systems, drive letters were not correctly assigned to newly mounted non-system volumes. This will no longer occur. (Windows)
Many other minor bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)

Changes for v4.3a - v5.0

New features:
Ability to encrypt a system partition/drive (i.e. a partition/drive where Windows is installed) with pre-boot authentication (anyone who wants to gain access and use the system, read and write files, etc., needs to enter the correct password each time before the system starts). For more information, see the chapter System Encryption in the documentation. (Windows Vista/XP/2003)
Pipelined operations increasing read/write speed by up to 100% (Windows)
Mac OS X version
Graphical user interface for the Linux version of TrueCrypt
XTS mode of operation, which was designed by Phillip Rogaway in 2003 and which was recently approved as the IEEE 1619 standard for cryptographic protection of data on block-oriented storage devices. XTS is faster and more secure than LRW mode (for more information on XTS mode, see the section Modes of Operation in the documentation).
Note: New volumes created by this version of TrueCrypt can be encrypted only in XTS mode. However, volumes created by previous versions of TrueCrypt can still be mounted using this version of TrueCrypt.
SHA-512 hash algorithm (replacing SHA-1, which is no longer available when creating new volumes).
Note: To re-encrypt the header of an existing volume with a header key derived using HMAC-SHA-512 (PRF), select 'Volumes' > 'Set Header Key Derivation Algorithm'.
Improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements:
The Linux version of TrueCrypt has been redesigned so that it will no longer be affected by changes to the Linux kernel (kernel upgrades/updates).
Many other minor improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements. (Windows and Linux)
If you are using an older version of TrueCrypt, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade to this version.

Changes for v4.3 - v4.3a

Full support for custom screen DPI settings. (Windows, GUI)
Other minor improvements. (Windows and Linux)
Fixed bug that in some cases caused the 'Safely Remove Hardware' function to fail.
In Windows Vista, it is now possible to read data from file-hosted TrueCrypt volumes located on UDF-formatted media mounted in read-only mode.
All Volume Creation Wizard GUI elements are now correctly displayed on systems with custom DPI settings. (Windows, GUI)
Other minor bug fixes. (Windows and Linux)
Linux: When running without administrator privileges, TrueCrypt automatically attempts to elevate its access rights (if necessary) using the sudo command. The Linux version of TrueCrypt no longer supports the set-euid root mode of execution. These changes also prevent all discovered and undiscovered (if any) security issues related to the set-euid root mode of execution, including an issue affecting all previous Linux versions of TrueCrypt where a local non-administrator user could cause a denial of service or gain administrator privileges.
If dismount is forced on a TrueCrypt volume when TrueCrypt runs in traveller mode, the TrueCrypt driver will not be unloaded when TrueCrypt exits (it will be unloaded only when the system is restarted or shut down). This prevents various problems caused by a bug in Windows (for instance, it would be impossible to start TrueCrypt again as long as there are applications using the dismounted volume). (Windows)

Changes for v4.2a - v4.3

New features:
Full compatibility with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista:
Support for User Account Control (UAC).
All .sys and .exe files of TrueCrypt are now digitally signed with the digital certificate of the TrueCrypt Foundation, which was issued by the certification authority GlobalSign.
When moving the mouse on a single-CPU computer while reading or writing data to a TrueCrypt volume, the mouse pointer stopped moving for a second every few seconds. This will no longer occur. (Windows Vista issue)
Other minor compatibility-related changes.
TrueCrypt volume is automatically dismounted if its host device is inadvertently removed.
Important: You should always dismount the volume in TrueCrypt and then use the "Safely Remove Hardware" function (built in Windows) before you physically remove the host device (e.g. a USB flash drive).
Support for devices and file systems that use a sector size other than 512 bytes (e.g., new hard drives, USB flash drives, DVD-RAM, MP3 players, etc.)
Support for devices with a GPT partition table (GUID partitions). (Windows Vista/2003/XP)
After a partition is successfully encrypted, the drive letter assigned to it (if any) is automatically removed. (Windows)
Volume name (label) is displayed in device/partition selector. (Windows)
New hotkey: 'Wipe Cache'. (Windows)
New command line switch '/q background' for launching the TrueCrypt Background Task. (Windows)
Improvements:
Portions of the TrueCrypt device driver redesigned.
Maximum allowed size of FAT32 volumes increased to 2 TB (note that NTFS volumes can be larger than 2 TB).
Traveller Disk Setup improved. (Windows)
Volumes hosted on read-only media will always be mounted in read-only mode. (Windows)
Improved support for big-endian platforms.
Other minor improvements (Windows and Linux)
Bug fixes:
The built-in FAT format facility now functions correctly on big-endian platforms.
Improved handling of partitions and devices during volume creation. (Windows)
Improved handling of low-memory conditions. (Windows)
Fixed bug that rarely caused system errors when dismounting all volumes. (Windows)
Tray icon is recreated when Windows Explorer is restarted (e.g. after a system crash).
Other minor bug fixes (Windows and Linux)
Security improvements:
Improved security of set-euid mode of execution. Volume can be dismounted only by the user who mounted it or by an administrator (root). (Linux)
Removed features:
It is no longer possible to create new volumes encrypted with 64-bit-block encryption algorithms (Blowfish, CAST-128, and Triple DES). 64-bit block ciphers are being phased out. It is still possible to mount such volumes using this version of TrueCrypt. However, it will not be possible to mount such volumes using TrueCrypt 5.0 and later versions (this applies also to volumes encrypted with AES-Blowfish and AES-Blowfish-Serpent, which have been in the process of being phased out since TrueCrypt 4.1). If you have such a volume, we recommend that you create a new TrueCrypt volume encrypted with a 128-bit-block encryption algorithm (e.g., AES, Serpent, Twofish, etc.) and that you move files from the old volume to the new one.

Version history for TrueCrypt

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