ecryptfs doesn't decrypt /home/.ecryptfs/User/.Private files

Asked by robmietto

Hello.

[I'm using Ubuntu 9.10]

Well, all it began when I wanted do not use ecryptfs. I deleted:
/home/rob/.ecryptfs and
/home/.Private (totally empty).
(/home/rob/Private didn't exist. I did it following some information on the net -- and right now I know that the bug is beetwen the chair and the display :-p )

I reboot, and ubuntu, thru rob user simply don't start up.

I found some help in the net (including Dustin blog text to recovery data from liveCD, and his article at linux-mag), but until now nothing happen. After all these proccess, I have a Private mounted, but it shows up only encrypted directories and files!!

My machine:
dev/sda1
dev/sda2 <-- here is my home
dev/sda3 (extended)
dev/sda5 (swap)

If someone could help...

Thanks a lot.

robm

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robmietto
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robmietto (robmietto) said :
#1
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robmietto (robmietto) said :
#2

... but now I using a liveCD, and just can access files as root. How can I manipulate them as user?, because I need put all of them in my /home/rob folder, and if I do it as root I will have problems with permissions... or not???

Thanks

robm

Revision history for this message
robmietto (robmietto) said :
#3

... Well, well, well... everything was going ok, but... but... the content of a folder -- called Photos -- is lost. So weird, what's going wrong?

thanks

robm

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Ted_Smith (tedsmith28) said :
#4

Robm

I'm not sure if I have mis-understood your entry, so excuse me if I sound like I am being ignorant.

If you selected the "Make my home directory private" option during Step 5 (I think it is) of the setup wizard (or whatever the exact wording is - I forget now), then Ubuntu has encrypted your home directory and all the files within it using eCryptfs. So simply copying your files off your disk using a Live Recovery CD will not recover the actual data in plain text, unless you remount them on another Linux machine, using eCryptfs, and giving it your mount passphrase when prompted to do so:

sudo mount -t ecryptfs -o rw /media/disk1/EncryptedFilesDir /home/rob/RobsFiles etc etc

Your mount passphrase will be a 32 character randomly generated value that would have been shown to you when you first logged in after installation. You would have been told to make a note of it or write it down.

If you don't have it, you can execute ecryptfs-unwrap-passphrase pointing that to your mount-passphrase file (that would have been stored in the ~/.ecryptfs directory by default, unless you moved it) and giving it your login password. If you're able to do that, your files will be mounted on your secondary system and decrypted, providing you pass it all of the correct options (AES algorithm, etc).

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robmietto (robmietto) said :
#5

Hi Ted. Thanks for your reply! Excuse ME by my english, it isn't my native language.

Well, Ted, first of all that step of ubuntu instalation, when it says about encrypt (or not) directory is not clear. If linux, including Ubuntu, wants to put facilities to users I think that would may some information of there -- what kind of encrypt?, what is eCryptfs?, why is that really relevant?, Do you really need it?, and better: what differences in the flies and the functioning of eCryptfs. This is a point number one. But no problem, I learned this of the skill most difficult.

When I installed Ubuntu 9.10 here in my machine, in the installation it did not give passphrase to me! Then, I didn't have nothing what to write down and to keep in safe place. Other small confusion.

I have to say that eCryptfs is an excellent program. This everything that I passed with during it last month made me to learn as it functions -- I will suggest it to some customers mine to use that, not problems, but functionalities!

Now it is everything ok here. About my folder " Photos" , I see that it really was empty, therefore everything was decrypted. All these my informations and tips are for improving the program. Also I am translating into the Portuguese.

That's it!

Thanks! ;-) Regards!

robm