Encrypted Ubuntu with TrueCrypt

penguinHugger · 12-18-2008, 10:46 AM

I have been googling like mad and can't find what I need.

I am using TrueCrypt and Ubuntu (8.10), and want to have my entire drive (os and all) encrypted. I don't care if I have to reinstall to do so, and have several live cd's I can use to encrypt the drive from. My problem is that I can't find how to install and use the TrueCrypt bootloader.

If someone could help me with what I need to do to have an encrypted ubuntu that I can actualy boot, that would be much appreciated.

Thanks

bye.

nyle · 12-18-2008, 04:39 PM

I didn't even think this was possible, else I would have attempted to do the same already. According to the website:

Operating Systems Supported for System Encryption

Quote:

TrueCrypt can currently encrypt the following operating systems:

Windows Vista
Windows Vista x64 (64-bit) Edition
Windows XP
Windows XP x64 (64-bit) Edition
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 x64 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 x64 (64-bit)

penguinHugger · 12-18-2008, 05:35 PM

I had already read that on the website, but, to my knowledge this isn't system encryption per-say. But instead, I'm just creating an encrypted partition, and then installing Ubuntu on that partition. The only problem is that I don't know how to setup the TrueCrypt bootloader to load Grub, and then Grub to load Ubuntu. I have read about people doing this, but can't figure out how to do it myself.

Thanks for any help that you can provide.

bye.

tredegar · 12-19-2008, 12:33 PM

@nyle:
From http://sourceforge.net/projects/truecrypt/

Quote:

Operating System : 32-bit MS Windows (NT/2000/XP), 64-bit MS Windows, Linux, OS X, Vista, Win2K, WinXP, Microsoft Windows Server 2003

@penguinHugger:
There are many HOWTOs about truecrypt all over the web. I briefly looked at it a few months ago, it seemed straightforward, but I lost interest as I was too busy with other stuff.
Using http://google.com/linux
means you can refine your search towards linux.

Please note, you should only download truecrypt from a reliable repository - www.truecrypt.org

Start here: http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/

penguinHugger · 12-19-2008, 02:07 PM

@ tredegar

nyle was correct in his quote, as "System Encryption" (which is, in this case, encrypting the entire OS while it is running) is only available for the windows version of TrueCrypt.

mostlyharmless · 12-19-2008, 03:08 PM

Not that it's a solution, but you could use something else for encryption, LUKS, for example:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EncryptedFilesystemHowto4