Fix Guide: Sequoia FileVault Stuck Decrypting Fix

Symptom: After disabling FileVault on macOS Sequoia, the decryption process hangs indefinitely at "Paused" or a specific percentage (e.g., 90%), and the Mac feels sluggish.

Why this happens

Encryption and decryption are managed by the corestorage and apfs kernel extensions, with the diskmanagementd daemon overseeing the process. On Sequoia, this can hang if there are file system inconsistencies or if the diskutil background process encounters a "bad block" on the SSD that it cannot move. The system then enters a wait-state that launchd doesn't know how to recover from.

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Fix 1: Force Resume via Diskutil

You can often trigger a resume by manually poking the disk management daemon through the Terminal.

# Check the encryption status and get the UUID
diskutil apfs list
# Attempt to resume decryption (replace UUID with yours)
diskutil apfs unlockVolume [UUID]

Fix 2: Flush the Disk Management Cache

Sometimes the UI in System Settings is simply out of sync with the actual status of the disk.

# Restart the disk management daemon
sudo killall diskmanagementd

Fix 3: Reset the NVRAM/PRAM

FileVault status is partially stored in the NVRAM. Resetting it can clear flags that are preventing the decryption from proceeding.

# Note: For Apple Silicon Macs, just shut down for 30 seconds.
# For Intel Macs, hold Cmd+Option+P+R during boot.
sudo nvram -c

Recommended Tool: CleanMyMac

A disk stuck in an encryption loop often generates massive amounts of system logs and temporary swap files as it tries to resolve the error. CleanMyMac’s "Maintenance" module can run "Free Up Purgeable Space" and "Repair Disk Permissions," which helps stabilize the system while the background decryption processes finish.