Installing Truecrypt 4.2 on Ubuntu 6.06

[bandoba]

I don't believe a truecrypt file can be mounted using fstab, but you can write a quick bash script and call it on boot or user startup to mount the drive automatically and achieve the same end effect.

I was planning put /home folder on truecrypt volume. So as per your comment, the only way I can do it is mount it from script at boot time. Is that correct?

[igb]

Thanks for the guide, I managed to get it all up and running on Edgy AMD64 by compiling from source.

Here's a few additions to your guide:

• When compiling from source don't forget to change the permissions on truecrypt to allow normal users to mount drives:

chmod u+s /usr/bin/truecrypt

• To make an ext3 container, rather than FAT:

• Set the format type to None when creating the container.
• Mount the container:

truecrypt /home/ian/encrypted_files.tc

• Check which device your container is mounted as:

ian@hannah:/var/home/ian$ truecrypt -vl
/dev/mapper/truecrypt0:
 Volume: /home/ian/encrypted_files.tc
 Type: Normal
 Size: 1073741312 bytes
 Encryption algorithm: AES
 Mode of operation: LRW
 Read-only: No
 Hidden volume protected: No

• Now format the device:

sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/truecrypt0

• You can now mount the formatted container as per usual:

sudo truecrypt /home/ian/encrypted_files.tc /home/ian/encrypted

Note do NOT use the -u option for ext3 drives.

• You will now have to change the permissions of the mount point. You only need to do this once (it survives a reboot):

sudo chmod ian.users -R /home/ian/encrypt

Ian.

[flyingbrass]

Good info, Ian. There is a problem creating large ext2/3 containers. Anything over a few GB will hard lock the system. According to posts at the Truecrypt forum this is a kernel issue. The workaround is to:

export MKE2FS_SYNC=10

Then create filesystem normally.

See http://forums.truecrypt.org/viewtopic.php?t=4205

[lex1]

is it possible to open a container created under linux on a windows machine?

lex1

[TheWizzard]

is it possible to open a container created under linux on a windows machine?

lex1

yes

[edgimar]

In case it is of interest to any of you, I have written a small shell script which can be used to automatically mount/unmount a truecrypt volume with a GUI-like interface... I have attached it to this message.

I realized that if you're not logged in, you can't access the attachment, so for those of you who don't want to log in...

#!/bin/bash
# script to mount/unmount a truecrypt volume under GNOME

# this script assumes that it will be run by a user, and that the truecrypt binary has had its
# permissions set to SUID root.  (i.e. from a root shell, type "chmod u+s /usr/bin/truecrypt")

# A launcher should be created which runs this script from an icon on the desktop or panel.
# Make sure to specify the script's absolute path in the launcher

# Using this script could be a security hazard -- someone could maliciously modify the script
#  to get your encrypted-volume password.  Use it at your own risk...

# ------------- CHANGE THE FOLLOWING VARIABLES AS NEEDED -----------------
# location of truecrypt binary
TC=/usr/bin/truecrypt

# file containing an encrypted volume
ENCRYPTEDFILE=/home/johndoe/secretvolume.tc

# where to mount the volume
MOUNTPOINT=/media/truecrypt
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------

function update_volismounted {
VOLISMOUNTED=`$TC -l|grep $ENCRYPTEDFILE`
}

update_volismounted
if [ "$VOLISMOUNTED" ]; then
  # unmount the volume
  $TC -d $ENCRYPTEDFILE
  update_volismounted
  if [ "$VOLISMOUNTED" ]; then
    # open file-browser
    zenity --error --text="truecrypt volume mounted at $MOUNTPOINT could not be unmounted."
  else
    zenity --info --text="Successfully unmounted truecrypt volume $ENCRYPTEDFILE"
  fi
else
  # mount the volume
  gksu -p --message "Please enter your truecrypt password for $ENCRYPTEDFILE" | $TC -u $ENCRYPTEDFILE $MOUNTPOINT
  update_volismounted
  if [ "$VOLISMOUNTED" ]; then
    # open file-browser
    nautilus $MOUNTPOINT
  else
    zenity --error --text="Mounting of truecrypt volume failed."
  fi
fi

[bandoba]

Good info, Ian. There is a problem creating large ext2/3 containers. Anything over a few GB will hard lock the system. According to posts at the Truecrypt forum this is a kernel issue. The workaround is to:

export MKE2FS_SYNC=10

Then create filesystem normally.

See http://forums.truecrypt.org/viewtopic.php?t=4205

I have used truecrypt to create ext3 contains as big as 250GB and never saw this issue. Maybe I am just lucky! Thanks for the info though.

[TDK800]

If the only reason TrueCrypt won't be included in Ubuntu is that it's not GPL, lets start mailing the makers of TrueCrypt to publish it under GPL. With enough requests from people and also donations I'm confident they'd change to GPL.

[daz23]

Thanks for the guide. I was able to finally figure out how to mount my NTFS partition created in WinXP.

truecrypt --filesystem ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /home/daz/tcmnt

[kabronkline]

If the only reason TrueCrypt won't be included in Ubuntu is that it's not GPL, lets start mailing the makers of TrueCrypt to publish it under GPL. With enough requests from people and also donations I'm confident they'd change to GPL.

This sounds like a great idea. Maybe somebody could create a template for an email everybody interested could send over to the good people at Truecrypt?