Problems with encrypted home folder after Ubuntu doesn't boot anymore

leonlang · 01-08-2017, 05:02 AM

Hello,

After upgrading from Ubuntu 14.04 to 16.04 I couldn't log in any more. Unfortunately I didn't backup my data so now I'm trying to get access to it again. Since my home directory is encrypted, I tried to follow some instructions I found on the Internet, but it didn't work as expected.

I first tried to retrieve my passphrase, but it resulted in

Code:

ecryptfs-unwrap-passphrase wrapped-passphrase
Passphrase:
Error: Unwrapping passphrase failed [-13]
Info: Check the system log for more information from libecryptfs

Another problem is that when I try

Code:

sudo ecryptfs-recover-private

the encrypted home directory is not found (even though the partition is mounted), but instead I just get

Code:

INFO: Searching for encrypted private directories (this might take a while)...
find: "/run/user/999/gvfs": No permission
find: File system loop detected; "/sys/kernel/debug/pinctrl" is part of the same file system loop as "/sys/kernel/debug".

Do you have any ideas what I could try to solve these problems?
Thank you for helping!

Leon

Edit: We tried to fix it using an Ubuntu 16.04 Live CD

beachboy2 · 01-08-2017, 08:35 AM

leonlang,

Welcome to LQ.

It appears that you have already tried to carry out the operations recommended here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/116297/how-...ory-on-ubuntu/

and had no success.

I am sorry that you are having to learn the hard way because you did not do a backup.

If you have lost your wrapped-passphrase file, and you did not record your mount passphrase, it is impossible to access your encrypted data.