My solution to this would be to put the Encrypted Container INSIDE of a Virtual Hard Drive file.
Using the following:
1) VirtualBox (to create the Split VMDK) - https://www.virtualbox.org/
2) ImDisk (to mount the Split VMDK) - https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/
Instructions:
1) Download and install VirtualBox
2) Download and install ImDisk
3) Command Create Split VMDK: (change --filename and --size params as you see fit)
"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage" createmedium --filename D:\VirtualMachines\VMDK-SPLIT\VMs-VMDK-SPLIT.vmdk --format VMDK --size 123904 --variant fixed,Split2G
This will setup the disk in 2GB increments. Sorry, there is NO facility to change that to any other increment size. I checked.
4) Run the "Mount Image File" program on your desktop
Supply the:
Image File, Drive Letter
and then Check the box next to "Mount at Windows Startup"
5) When you go to mount this, IMDisk will ask you to Format the drive. Do that. After ImDisk formats it, it WILL NOT APPEAR in the drive list. Then Windows will ask you to format the drive again. DO THAT ALSO. That's when it WILL appear in the drive list.
You're all done. Now it will be permanently mounted!
So, you want some more control over the mounting? OR maybe you want to change the drive letter or completely stop it from auto mounting? Go to the registry at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ImDisk
There you will find the registry entries for the drive letter
Here is my .reg file that I use to control that:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ImDisk]
"MountPoint"=dword:00000000
"MountDir"=""
"ImMaxReg"=dword:00000000
"Im0FileName"="D:\VirtualMachines\VMDK-SPLIT\VMs-VMDK-SPLIT.vmdk"
"Im0MountPoint"="U:"
"Im0Param"=hex(b):00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00
To completely remove the mounting, just delete the registry entries in that IMDisk key.
I've done this already and found it to work pretty well.
Backups: Warning! Since the VMDK is a fixed size, it will not show a time/date change if the contents change inside of it. It will need to be backed up forcefully or with a content compare. I use SmartSync (www.smsync.com) and I tick the "File Contents" option. This forces the copy because it is comparing the content of the files.
Hope this works for everyone.
Please comment on your success or your problems with this solution.