Need access to deceased nephew's Mint 19
 

Hello,

My nephew recently passed away and his mother is frantic about accessing his computer. He has Mint 19 , and he chose to encypt it. Is there any work around to create a new passwors, discover the password, or disable it?

Thanks

Need access to deceased nephew's Mint 19
 

If the system is using standard hard disk encryption like most other Linux flavors, you need the password. Encryption like that is designed to be very difficult to break without the password.

I'm sorry for you loss.

We can't help you if you do not have the password and discussing cracking is against the forum rules.

Someone astute enough to use encryption may also be astute enough to know access to his data may be required after his decease, and may have written passwords in a secure place, such as where a life insurance policy, last will and testament and/or birth certificate are kept.

Might be possible to take this to a local service for access or a second opinion.

Check notebooks, address books, etc.
Over the years I've known some otherwise very intelligent people who kept a paper record of their passwords.

Something like a laptop is likely subject to a dictionary attack. Most casual users will use a guessable password - girlfriends name, or the dog maybe, favourite rapper ...
Depends a little in the type of encryption selected at install - "Encrypt my /home" is ecryptfs and uses the logon password. So called "Full disk encryption" uses luks and so has a separate, potentially less guessable, passphrase.

As it happens I wrote down my master password - it's with my will at a lawyers office.

A long shot, but also check to see if there are backups somewhere - safe deposit box, etc. Often people will encrypt a drive, religiously back it up to some external location and fail to encrypt the backup.

Any recommendations for a great Denver based Linux IT who might be able to help? My sister can provide necessary documentation showing permissision to access this computer (COD, ID).

I'd think there would be some shop in Denver that may. I'd start calling places there that offer data recovery. Explain the issue instead of driving all over town.


As above, it is possible that no common person can access it.
It is possible to use other clues in his life.

Some folks don't change passwords.

Thank you. I will recommend she search his personal effects for a possible password.

The "art" of password cracking is well developed - there are lists of common passwords (dictionaries - as per my previous comment) that can be tried quickly. Millions of them. These dictionaries are commonly available.
On the dark web lists of cracked passwords are similarly available for a price - these are valuable as people typically re-use passwords or variants there-of. As suggested above maybe try a "data recovery" service - they need to employ similar tactics even if they don't publicise it.

It is possible that there is a Denver Linux Users Group where someone could look at it. I think that someone needs to have physical access to decide.

Can't hurt to boot to a live dvd/usb to see if you can access it.

We don't know the circumstances of his death, but if he went to the trouble of encrypting it he absolutely didn't want people to access it.

Unless there is a very, very good reason to want to access his computer, it might be best to respect his wishes and leave it alone.

I am also agreed with @Lysander666