/home folder encryption: post install

[user2635]

Hi all, some of you may be familiar with Ubuntu's install process.

As part of the setup, you can select to encrypt your home folder seamlessly using the pwd you picked for you user account.

Is there a way I can do this similarly on Debian? If there isn't, I will be happy with just general direction to encrypt home folder.

[Doggybag]

The short answer is yes, there is. Here's a guide:

https://xo.tc/setting-up-full-disk-encr ... retch.html

That's for wiping the whole disk and installing debian as the only os, but the procedure is similar for a multi-os system.

EDIT: Could you clarify whether you want to encrypt at install time (with the installer), or post install? That guide is for at install time.

[kedaha]

I don't bother to encrypt my home partition because there's nothing worth encrypting. But I do use KeePass2 to store all my passwords.
It isn't necessary to reinstall to encrypt the home partition.
I think it'd be enough, if necessary, just to encrypt certain directories, which can be done with ecryptfs-utils; for example, see this old link: encrypt-directory-in-linux.

[user2635]

The short answer is yes, there is. Here's a guide:

https://xo.tc/setting-up-full-disk-encr ... retch.html

That's for wiping the whole disk and installing debian as the only os, but the procedure is similar for a multi-os system.

EDIT: Could you clarify whether you want to encrypt at install time (with the installer), or post install? That guide is for at install time.

Hi doggybag, I put in the subject but probably isn't clear enough. I need instructions to do it post install, thanks!

[user2635]

I don't bother to encrypt my home partition because there's nothing worth encrypting. But I do use KeePass2 to store all my passwords.
It isn't necessary to reinstall to encrypt the home partition.
I think it'd be enough, if necessary, just to encrypt certain directories, which can be done with ecryptfs-utils; for example, see this old link: encrypt-directory-in-linux.

Thanks for the find, I will read it later on today!

[Doggybag]

Ecryptfs is probably the best way to go in that case (though there are others). This tutorial is basically the same but slightly cleaner and also includes instructions for putting the keyfile on a usb stick, if you want that extra step:
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how ... on-debian/