Hello folks,

How does one go about creating encrypted file system, so that when it is accessed it asks for a password. I under stand this is possible to create an encrypted VFAT ( windows) file system .
I will elaborate. I have a laptop and also one portable USB hard disk. The data is sensitive, and if the laptop or the portable hard disk is lost, others may have access to all my personal information, business information etc. Therefore the encrypted hard disk.

Thanks in advance.

Prabhat Soni

My Linux filesystems are encrypted with LUKS - Linux Unified Key Setup

Thanks a lot sir,
I created a encrypted ext3 file system on my USB flash disk, and it worked perfectly.

To help others I am listing the steps:

(1) Step -1
# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdc
This fills up the pen drive with the random data. Not necessary. But it enables good security.
(2) Step -2
# fdisk /dev/sdc
Create file system. I created a single partition on the pen drive.
(3) Step -3
# cryptsetup -v -y luksFormat /dev/sdc1
To format a luks (encrypted) device. It will ask for the password.
(4) Step -4
# cryptset luksOpen /dev/sdc1 sdc1
This will again ask for the same luks password. It will map the physical (encrypted) partition (/dev/sdc1) to the logical (unencrypted) device sdc1. After this the mapped device ( logical device) will be available as /dev/mapper/sdc1. Now a file system is made on this logical device. In fact now it is like any ordinary partition over which file system can be made and later mounted.

(5) Step -5
# mkfs.ext3 -j -L usbdisk -m 1 -O dir_index,filetype,sparse_super /dev/mapper/sdc1
This will create a journaling file system, with volume lebel as "usbdisk".
(6) Step -6
# mount /dev/mapper/sdc1 /mnt/sdc1

In future:
for mounting:
# cryptset luksOpen /dev/sdc1 sdc1
# mount /dev/mapper/sdc1 /mnt/sdc1

and for unmounting:
# umount /mnt/sdc1
# cryptsetup luksClose sdc1

But surprisingly this explicit mounting and unmounting is not required in future. When you insert the drive it automatically asks for a password. With the correct password the drive is automatically mounted (not at /mnt/sdc1 but at /media/usbdisk). Same is the case while umnounting.


prabhat Soni

prabhat Soni,

Thanks for posting your HOW-TO. I didn't mention anything
about setting it up, because I use Slackware and am not
familiar with FC.

Maybe you should write it and post in the Linux Tutorials section.