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[ISSUE] Unlock encrypted external drive from another system

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starseed-pl
Posts: 4
Joined: 2018-09-06 15:51

[ISSUE] Unlock encrypted external drive from another system

#1 Post by starseed-pl »

Hello everyone I'm a newbie and glad to be here. Thank you for this great resource.

I've been using Ubuntu for about 1.5 year and I'm really liking the GNU/Linux experience. What I don't like about Ubuntu is as it develops more and more, it seems to get easier and makes me more lazy and dependent on GUI. I do enjoy playing games with friends and family so Ubuntu is my go-to gaming system. I also use Blender and Krita or Gimp to produce 3D and 2D game assets. I am learning python programming, trying to learn more BASH, and learning web development as well. So Debian is very desirable to me for 'work' related stuff. I don't really want to use my system like Windows, so this is why Debian has always been very appealing to me. I like to learn and I learn to do things the way I want to do them much faster with Debian.

So I have 2 hard drives and an external one for backup. Debian is on the 128GB SSD, Ubuntu 18.04 on the 1TB HDD, and a lot of files and backups on this 4TB WD MyBook external drive that it the subject matter. I formatted the external drive in ext4 in gnome-disk app in my Ubuntu system. I encrypted the drive and when I boot into Ubuntu I must enter the pass phrase which it remembers until I log out. This is desirable to me, but I think it is causing issues with my ability to unlock the device from my Debian system.

In Debian when I attempt to unlock the drive I am greeted with this message:

Code: Select all

Error unlocking /dev/sdc1: Error spawning command-line 'cryptsetup luksOpen "/dev/sdc1" "luks-jarblejarblejarble" ': Failed to execute child process "cryptsetup" (No such file or directory) (g-exec-error-quark, 8)
Is there some sort of file stored in a directory I can retrieve from my Ubuntu system so I can unlock the drive? There is no way the password is incorrect, as I can unlock it from Ubuntu still.
Thanks for the help.

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bw123
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Re: [ISSUE] Unlock encrypted external drive from another sys

#2 Post by bw123 »

I really think you should search the interwebs for one of the error msgs:

Error spawning command-line 'cryptsetup luksOpen'
-or-
Failed to execute child process "cryptsetup"
resigned by AI ChatGPT

starseed-pl
Posts: 4
Joined: 2018-09-06 15:51

Re: [ISSUE] Unlock encrypted external drive from another sys

#3 Post by starseed-pl »

Dude, thank you so much for the slap in the face reality check. Sometimes I assume stuff is more complicated than it is. Wow super embarrassing but you are cool and thank you.
I am a firm believer in reality checks and harsh discipline

solved with:

Code: Select all

apt install cryptsetup
Question is, why is this not a default package?

Segfault
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Re: [ISSUE] Unlock encrypted external drive from another sys

#4 Post by Segfault »

Default? For who? For people who may never need it, just to take up disk space? I can recommend another thousand packages then to be "default".

CwF
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Re: [ISSUE] Unlock encrypted external drive from another sys

#5 Post by CwF »

..or cryptmount for a single package.

millpond
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Re: [ISSUE] Unlock encrypted external drive from another sys

#6 Post by millpond »

You are in for a world of hurt with drive encryption, especially on an external, espcially if a controller or driver gets a bit wonky and wipes a few boot/decrypt files.

You want security for your *valuable* data?
Keep them unencrypted on an external, and shut off when not being used.
100% secure.

There are enough horror stories around to show that encryption does more damage than malicious hackers.

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