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Old 09-17-2012, 08:20 PM   #1
imayneed
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How to encrypt Mint 13 KDE (which runs from USB Flash) without reinstall


First of all, I am a beginner.
I am running Mint 13 KDE from a 32 GB USB Flash and I want to encrypt the operating system.
I just learned that TrueCrypt cannot encrypt linux operating systems.
How can I encrypt my operating system without reinstalling it?
Thanks.

P.S.: There is only one operating system in the drive (30GB) and a swap partition (2GB).

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Last edited by imayneed; 09-17-2012 at 09:32 PM.
 
Old 09-18-2012, 12:56 PM   #2
TobiSGD
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You will need a computer running Linux for that.
It basically comes down to this:
1. Make a copy of all files to a different device wit Linux filesystem.
2. Repartition the USB device, you need a separate /boot partition.
3. Create an encrypted partition using cryptsetup for the system partition, format it, create a /boot directory on it and mount the /boot partition on it
4. Copy back all the files to the encrypted partition
5. Chroot into that system, create the needed initrd and change /etc/fstab and your bootloader configuration accordingly
6. Re-install the bootloader
7. Hope that it works

This is not a trivial task and since you state that you are a beginner I would think that it is much easier to make a clean reinstall and use the encryption option during the install.
 
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Old 09-18-2012, 03:20 PM   #3
jefro
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In most cases, you don't need to encrypt the entire OS. Would encrypting your home directory work?

I think truecrypt does work on linux.
 
Old 09-18-2012, 08:12 PM   #4
NyteOwl
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Trucrypt does work on linux but can't be used for full disk encryption like it can on Windows, only containers and non-boot partitions.

Unless you really need/want the entire drive encrypted, it's much easier to just encrypt the home directory.
 
Old 09-19-2012, 01:10 AM   #5
imayneed
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Thanks for the replies.
I am trying the home folder encryption (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...fs-4175427822/).
 
  


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