[andrewf604]

I have a brand new Z30 with 10.2.0.429 running. I would like to insert a media card without password or encryption. I can turn off password but when i try to turn off encryption a screen appears demanding that I create a password. The screen blocks the phone. I can only get past it by restarting the phone. I refuse to be pushed into encrypting the card. It is just for music, no big deal. I've never seen anything like this on any other device. Is this a bug in my system? Phone support from Rogers said to wipe the phone and start over but I don't want to do that if this is actually a "feature" rather than a "bug." It will just come back if that is so. Can anyone help me out? BTW balance is not on my phone and I have no password for the phone. I prefer it that way. Thanks!

[tlegend2012]

I think it's asking for your existing device password. what happens when you enter a password?

[andrewf604]

Thanks for replying. I have purposely set the device up with no password. I prefer to operate it like that. I am afraid that if I fill in the password dialogue as it demands, I will end up forever having to use a password on the device. So I have never tried to see what happens.

[cdnrower]

Thanks for replying. I have purposely set the device up with no password. I prefer to operate it like that. I am afraid that if I fill in the password dialogue as it demands, I will end up forever having to use a password on the device. So I have never tried to see what happens.

Weird, I've used an SD card of various sizes 8, 16 and now 32gig and never have been prompted to enter a pw. Did your dev mode get activated by accident?

[93Aero]

I think you have to have a password to turn off/ on Encryption that way a random person can't unencrypt your card.

When you toggle either Device or Media Card Encryption it prompts for you a password for the reason I stated above.

Posted via CB10

[andrewf604]

I can't tell from the two replies above if the software was intentionally designed to force me to have a password (for my own good no doubt) or if I have a bug which is not common to all users of the Z30 with 10.2.0.429, the latest version. What do users think? I wish I knew whether to wipe the phone and start over or return it.

Here is more info:
I checked some more things. I do not have dev mode active. In file manager I have an item called "protected media" which tells me I have no access. I cannot delete it. In Security and privacy in Settings, above the Encryption on-off switch is a line of text saying "media card data and files are encrypted." This phone has never had a media card inserted, except a brand new one I haven't been able to use, since I took possession of it at the store. Could it be that someone involved in the original setup used an encrypted media card and the phone does not know that that card has been removed? Is there a way to tell it? I am worried wiping it won't work since I have learned on the Internet that wiping the phone does not affect the media card, and so may not remove the false indication that I have an encrypted media card inserted. Please tell me if I am wrong to think these indications mean the phone believes it has an encrytped card inserted. If the indications are normal, then the problem is elsewhere. I still don't know if it is normal to demand a password to turn off encryption.

----- Original Message ---

[andrewf604]

I have now wiped the device. 10.2.0.429 definitely requires that you either encrypt a media card or have a device password, or perhaps both. This is a tremendous imposition thought up by some overly nervous designer! This is a ridiculous "feature" they should get rid of in the next release. To give you an idea how bad an idea this is, they automatically update software in Link by default but any encrypted card becomes unusable after the update, at least that's the warning on the Security and Privacy screen. So, if you forget to remove or decrypt the card before plugging in to Link you may have your card destroyed. How convenient!

[twstd.reality]

Try reloading the OS. Those are not defaults. By default, device password and encryption is turned off. I know because I've reloaded it many times.

Posted via CB10

[andrewf604]

I tried that but it doesn't seem to help. The device insists with a message on loading the storage card, "Your Adminsitration requires that you encrypt." Then it gives me 5 minutes before it says it will encrypt the card. I remove the card as I don't want it to be encrypted. Very strange. I've asked the supplier of the phone for advice. Since I don't have Balance activated I doubt if the "administration" in question is my university. Why would they care? Perhaps this is a problem only solved by returning the phone and getting another one. thanks anyway for the advice. It helps to know this is not part of BB's plan for me.

[Shifty88]

I tried that but it doesn't seem to help. The device insists with a message on loading the storage card, "Your Adminsitration requires that you encrypt." Then it gives me 5 minutes before it says it will encrypt the card. I remove the card as I don't want it to be encrypted. Very strange. I've asked the supplier of the phone for advice. Since I don't have Balance activated I doubt if the "administration" in question is my university. Why would they care? Perhaps this is a problem only solved by returning the phone and getting another one. thanks anyway for the advice. It helps to know this is not part of BB's plan for me.

Your university gave you the phone? Are you on BES?

9700 ~ 9900 ~ Z10 ~ Z30

[andrewf604]

No, I bought the phone from the supplier that handles all the phones for the university. The university does not have BES. I think my phone works just like one bought at a Rogers store.

[Shifty88]

It might be asking you to enter a password for the encrypted file so you'll need the password to decrypt it. You should give it a shot. It won't permanently force a device password on you.

Have you tried formatting the card on a computer first and then putting it in?

9700 ~ 9900 ~ Z10 ~ Z30

[andrewf604]

I have tried two different cards, neither of which is encrypted and it asks for a password for both. I put a password on the phone and tried to use that for the card. It seemed to work but then I got this message saying my administer requires that the card be encrypted and giving me 5 minutes either to remove it or to leave it in for encryption. So it's not about the cards and it's not about passwords. It's some sort of weird setting the CIA or the IRS might think it's agents should imperatively have on their media cards. But all I want is to listen to music!

[twstd.reality]

Have you actually reloaded the entire OS or just did a security wipe? Those are two different things.

Posted via CB10

[Shifty88]

Are you sure this phone doesn't have an IT policy of some sort? Are you sure it was brand new when you got it?

9700 ~ 9900 ~ Z10 ~ Z30

[andrewf604]

I did a security wipe. I don't know how to do anything more. I am sure the phone was delivered to me as a new phone by the company that supplies us with Rogers phones and services, but that is all I know. I suspect the phone does have an IT policy enabled but not one anyone at Rogers or Blackberry knows how to disable. Blackberry has agreed to send me a new phone since this one is new and they have never heard of the problem and don't know how to fix it. So I guess we have finished our conversation unless you have a new idea for something I could do that might work. Since Balance is not enabled I don't know what to turn off. Thanks a lot for trying to help! I really appreciate it.

[Shifty88]

Reloading the OS with Link might work. Don't restore from backup and try the card.


9700 ~ 9900 ~ Z10 ~ Z30

[Its Spade]

Well at least BlackBerry is giving you a new phone... here's the problem that you are now gonna have

If you back up this phone... those setting will be enabled again in the next phone you do a restore in.. or at least theoretically that will happen... but I'm pretty sure it will... best bet is to start new with out a backup

Squircle device powered by 10.2.1.1055

[andrewf604]

Oh no! I got the new phone and put the sim card from the old one in. It has the same problem! I removed the sim card and it still won't let me insert a smart card without encrypting it and creating a device password. I begin to think this is a bug in 10.2.0.429. My supplier is trying to escale the technical support. I spoke to 4 or 5 people at Rogers and Blackberry and none offered any help. They had no idea what to do.

[Shifty88]

Smart card or SD card? I'm pretty sure they're two different things.

9700 ~ 9900 ~ Z10 ~ Z30

[andrewf604]

I have heard smart card used for credit cards with chips so perhaps I misspoke. I am talking about the sort of cards we put in cameras to save pictures on or in phones with our music files to expand the phone's memory.

[andrewf604]

I bit the bullet and went out and bought another media card to test the device. It was automatically encrypted with my password as the key. I tried to turn off encryption in the Security and Privacy settings but it comes right back on. The files I put on the media card for the test cannot be opened on my computer so I assume that trying to turn off encryption did not decrypt them. I can find nothing about decrypting media cards. Although BB says you can do it, it seems to be a one-way street. Anyone know how this works?

[Shifty88]

I'm pretty sure turning off encryption decrypts all the files.

9700 ~ 9900 ~ Z10 ~ Z30

[andrewf604]

Yes, that's in the manual but I can't turn it off on my phones. When I try the slider goes to off for a second and then pops back to on. The files remains encrypted. Seems like a bug but I now have the problem on two samples.

[theblob]

Are you connected to any sort of network on the device besides Rogers? As in, does the university have some other phone management software that ISN'T BES? Because this sounds exactly like the computers I use at my work: whenever you plug in a USB or external harddrive, it automatically makes you encrypt it before you can use it.