After new Ubuntu 15.04 installation, startup asks for password even though no disk encryption was set up

Question

I installed a brand new SSD into my laptop and did a fresh install of Ubuntu 15.04, with NO system encryption used (only Home directory encryption). However, it still asks me for a password when booting (I just press Enter to skip):

Additionally, after doing the fresh install, upgrading packages also asks me for a password multiple times, which Enter also bypasses. The program is "systemd-tty-ask-password-agent", so the issue seems to be with systemd.

The relevant message in the terminal:

Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none! 
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)

Broadcast message from root@username-XPS-13-9343 (Thu 2015-04-30 22:06:22 EDT):

Password entry required for 'Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none!' (PID 4027).
Please enter password with the systemd-tty-ask-password-agent tool!

The full output from running the upgrade:

+username@username-XPS-13-9343:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  ca-certificates firefox gir1.2-gudev-1.0 libcurl3 libcurl3-gnutls
  libgudev-1.0-0 libnm-glib-vpn1 libnm-glib4 libnm-util2 liboxideqt-qmlplugin
  liboxideqtcore0 liboxideqtquick0 libpam-systemd libsystemd0 libudev1
  network-manager oxideqt-codecs systemd systemd-sysv tzdata udev
  usb-creator-common usb-creator-gtk wpasupplicant
24 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 47.9 MB/73.2 MB of archives.
After this operation, 2,989 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libudev1 amd64 219-7ubuntu4 [40.8 kB]
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main udev amd64 219-7ubuntu4 [929 kB]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main systemd-sysv amd64 219-7ubuntu4 [14.0 kB]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libpam-systemd amd64 219-7ubuntu4 [108 kB]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libsystemd0 amd64 219-7ubuntu4 [73.8 kB]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main systemd amd64 219-7ubuntu4 [3,531 kB]
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libcurl3-gnutls amd64 7.38.0-3ubuntu2.2 [172 kB]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libcurl3 amd64 7.38.0-3ubuntu2.2 [180 kB]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libgudev-1.0-0 amd64 1:219-7ubuntu4 [14.4 kB]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libnm-util2 amd64 0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1 [134 kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libnm-glib-vpn1 amd64 0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1 [14.4 kB]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main libnm-glib4 amd64 0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1 [84.7 kB]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main tzdata all 2015d-0ubuntu0.15.04 [178 kB]
Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main ca-certificates all 20141019ubuntu0.15.04.1 [191 kB]
Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main firefox amd64 37.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.15.04.1 [40.1 MB]
Get:16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main gir1.2-gudev-1.0 amd64 1:219-7ubuntu4 [5,564 B]
Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main wpasupplicant amd64 2.1-0ubuntu7.1 [768 kB]
Get:18 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main network-manager amd64 0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1 [754 kB]
Get:19 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main usb-creator-gtk amd64 0.2.67ubuntu0.1 [23.4 kB]
Get:20 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main usb-creator-common amd64 0.2.67ubuntu0.1 [23.7 kB]
Get:21 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid-updates/main oxideqt-codecs amd64 1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1 [533 kB]
Fetched 47.9 MB in 1min 18s (613 kB/s)                                         
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 171469 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libudev1_219-7ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libudev1:amd64 (219-7ubuntu4) over (219-7ubuntu3) ...
Setting up libudev1:amd64 (219-7ubuntu4) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.21-0ubuntu4) ...
(Reading database ... 171469 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../udev_219-7ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking udev (219-7ubuntu4) over (219-7ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ...
ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
Processing triggers for systemd (219-7ubuntu3) ...
Setting up udev (219-7ubuntu4) ...
Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none! 
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)

Broadcast message from root@username-XPS-13-9343 (Thu 2015-04-30 22:06:22 EDT):

Password entry required for 'Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none!' (PID 4027).
Please enter password with the systemd-tty-ask-password-agent tool!

Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu15) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-15-generic
(Reading database ... 171469 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../systemd-sysv_219-7ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking systemd-sysv (219-7ubuntu4) over (219-7ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ...
Setting up systemd-sysv (219-7ubuntu4) ...
(Reading database ... 171469 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libpam-systemd_219-7ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libpam-systemd:amd64 (219-7ubuntu4) over (219-7ubuntu3) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libsystemd0_219-7ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libsystemd0:amd64 (219-7ubuntu4) over (219-7ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ...
Setting up libsystemd0:amd64 (219-7ubuntu4) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.21-0ubuntu4) ...
(Reading database ... 171469 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../systemd_219-7ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking systemd (219-7ubuntu4) over (219-7ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.8.12-1ubuntu5) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ...
Setting up systemd (219-7ubuntu4) ...
Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none! 
(Reading database ... 171469 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libcurl3-gnutls_7.38.0-3ubuntu2.2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libcurl3-gnutls:amd64 (7.38.0-3ubuntu2.2) over (7.38.0-3ubuntu2) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libcurl3_7.38.0-3ubuntu2.2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libcurl3:amd64 (7.38.0-3ubuntu2.2) over (7.38.0-3ubuntu2) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libgudev-1.0-0_1%3a219-7ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libgudev-1.0-0:amd64 (1:219-7ubuntu4) over (1:219-7ubuntu3) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libnm-util2_0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libnm-util2:amd64 (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1) over (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libnm-glib-vpn1_0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libnm-glib-vpn1:amd64 (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1) over (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15) ...
Preparing to unpack .../libnm-glib4_0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libnm-glib4:amd64 (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1) over (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15) ...
Preparing to unpack .../tzdata_2015d-0ubuntu0.15.04_all.deb ...
Unpacking tzdata (2015d-0ubuntu0.15.04) over (2015c-1) ...
Setting up tzdata (2015d-0ubuntu0.15.04) ...

Current default time zone: 'America/New_York'
Local time is now:      Thu Apr 30 22:20:06 EDT 2015.
Universal Time is now:  Fri May  1 02:20:06 UTC 2015.
Run 'dpkg-reconfigure tzdata' if you wish to change it.

(Reading database ... 171469 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ca-certificates_20141019ubuntu0.15.04.1_all.deb ...
Unpacking ca-certificates (20141019ubuntu0.15.04.1) over (20141019) ...
Preparing to unpack .../firefox_37.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.15.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking firefox (37.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) over (37.0+build2-0ubuntu1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../gir1.2-gudev-1.0_1%3a219-7ubuntu4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking gir1.2-gudev-1.0 (1:219-7ubuntu4) over (1:219-7ubuntu3) ...
Preparing to unpack .../wpasupplicant_2.1-0ubuntu7.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking wpasupplicant (2.1-0ubuntu7.1) over (2.1-0ubuntu7) ...
Preparing to unpack .../network-manager_0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking network-manager (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1) over (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15) ...

Broadcast message from root@username-XPS-13-9343 (Thu 2015-04-30 22:20:19 EDT):

Password entry required for 'Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none!' (PID 15391).
Please enter password with the systemd-tty-ask-password-agent tool!

Preparing to unpack .../usb-creator-gtk_0.2.67ubuntu0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking usb-creator-gtk (0.2.67ubuntu0.1) over (0.2.67) ...
Preparing to unpack .../usb-creator-common_0.2.67ubuntu0.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking usb-creator-common (0.2.67ubuntu0.1) over (0.2.67) ...
Preparing to unpack .../liboxideqt-qmlplugin_1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking liboxideqt-qmlplugin:amd64 (1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) over (1.5.5-0ubuntu1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../liboxideqtquick0_1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking liboxideqtquick0:amd64 (1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) over (1.5.5-0ubuntu1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../liboxideqtcore0_1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking liboxideqtcore0:amd64 (1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) over (1.5.5-0ubuntu1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../oxideqt-codecs_1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking oxideqt-codecs:amd64 (1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) over (1.5.5-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.10.1-0ubuntu5) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.1+15.04.20150202-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.58ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.8.12-1ubuntu5) ...
Processing triggers for systemd (219-7ubuntu4) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.14-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libpam-systemd:amd64 (219-7ubuntu4) ...
Setting up libcurl3-gnutls:amd64 (7.38.0-3ubuntu2.2) ...
Setting up libcurl3:amd64 (7.38.0-3ubuntu2.2) ...
Setting up libgudev-1.0-0:amd64 (1:219-7ubuntu4) ...
Setting up libnm-util2:amd64 (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1) ...
Setting up libnm-glib-vpn1:amd64 (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1) ...
Setting up libnm-glib4:amd64 (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1) ...
Setting up ca-certificates (20141019ubuntu0.15.04.1) ...
Setting up firefox (37.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) ...
Please restart all running instances of firefox, or you will experience problems.
Setting up gir1.2-gudev-1.0 (1:219-7ubuntu4) ...
Setting up wpasupplicant (2.1-0ubuntu7.1) ...
Setting up network-manager (0.9.10.0-4ubuntu15.1) ...
Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none! 

Broadcast message from root@username-XPS-13-9343 (Thu 2015-04-30 22:20:47 EDT):

Password entry required for 'Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none!' (PID 19822).
Please enter password with the systemd-tty-ask-password-agent tool!

Please enter passphrase for disk Crucial_CT250MX200SSD4 (cryptswap1) on none! 
Setting up usb-creator-common (0.2.67ubuntu0.1) ...
Setting up usb-creator-gtk (0.2.67ubuntu0.1) ...
Setting up oxideqt-codecs:amd64 (1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) ...
Setting up liboxideqtcore0:amd64 (1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) ...
Setting up liboxideqtquick0:amd64 (1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) ...
Setting up liboxideqt-qmlplugin:amd64 (1.6.5-0ubuntu0.15.04.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.21-0ubuntu4) ...
Processing triggers for ca-certificates (20141019ubuntu0.15.04.1) ...
Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs... 0 added, 0 removed; done.
Running hooks in /etc/ca-certificates/update.d....done.
username@username-XPS-13-9343:~$ 

Somebody posted a similar issue here, but that seems to be related to OpenVPN, which I am not using. I don't have the /etc/default/openvpn file anyway.

How do I fix this issue?

Answer 1

It's a known issue, should be fixed soon:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ecryptfs-utils/+bug/1447282

In short: Under certain circumstances, systemd does not recognize encrpyted swap correctly and prompts for a password which has never been set. Swap is always encrypted in case encryption for home was activated as userdata might be swapped out and then become unencrypted.

Answer 2

This is not the correct solution and as Christian says in the comments bellow it will make it less secure. But if the encryption is not a priority for you you could use this workaround.

First find the partition that has the swap

sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for kempe: 

Disk /dev/sda: 233,8 GiB, 251000193024 bytes, 490234752 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: B59D4149-AC8E-4B71-B51F-8926B2E82C14

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048    409599    407552   199M EFI System
/dev/sda2     409640 253319775 252910136 120,6G Apple HFS/HFS+
/dev/sda3  253321216 269320191  15998976   7,6G Linux swap
/dev/sda4  269320192 490233855 220913664 105,3G Linux filesystem

In my case swap is on /dev/sda3

then turn off swap

sudo swapoff -a

disable cryptswap

sudo cryptsetup remove /dev/mapper/cryptswap1

Remove the corresponding line in /etc/crypttab. I only had one line in there but you might have more so be sure that you remove the correct on

sudo vim /etc/crypttab 

Setup new swap area (remember fstab output)

sudo /sbin/mkswap /dev/sda3
sudo swapon /dev/sda3

and finally fix fstab line

sudo vim /etc/fstab

replace /dev/mapper/cryptswap1 with /dev/sda3

Enable and disable encrypted swap - Ubuntu

Answer 3

I was able to solve this issue with the following steps:

From a command prompt, run gnome-disks

Find which device is your swap drive. Mine was /dev/sda3

ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/

Find the ID that is symlinked to your swap partition

sudo vim /etc/crypttab

On the line beginning with cryptswap1, change the UUID=… portion to /dev/disk/by-id/ID-HERE. Save and reboot.

If you are still prompted for a password, run:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdaX bs=512 count=20480

Reboot again.

Answer 4

Run sudo fdisk -l to find swap partition (i.e. /dev/sda6)

Grab UUID in /etc/crypttab or sudo blkid for /dev/sda6 (replace device with your swap)

Run sudo swapoff /dev/sda6

Run sudo mkswap -U UUID /dev/sda6 (replace UUID and device with your swap)

Append ,offset=1024 to the end of cryptswap line in /etc/crypttab

Add "/dev/mapper/cryptswap1 none swap sw 0 0" to /etc/fstab

Run sudo update-initramfs -u

Run sudo swapon -a

Check swap is active with sudo systemctl status /dev/mapper/cryptswap

Answer 5

This problem still exists even on Ubuntu 15.10. I've made temporarily solution - turned off encryption for the swap partition (home is still encrypted). This guide worked for me in this case. This passphrase request is no longer warring me on booting system and updating software.

Maybe, later I will turn on the encryption of the swap partition back (using the same guide), when I will know, that this bug is fixed.

Answer 6

The best solution is to deactivate (uncomment) the classic swap line in fstab(not the mapper). if you then reboot and type sudo swapon --summary you should get a swap partition on /dev/dm-X (usually 0). If yes, be happy cryptswap is working well.

Answer 7

As an alternative to solve the bug, the init process may be switched to upstart, since this is a bug related with systemd. Here is stated that upstart may be used as a workaround.

To do so, the easiest way is to install the corresponding package:

sudo apt-get install upstart-sysv

After the installation, you still are able to start the system with systemd in the grub "Advanced options for Ubuntu" sub-menu, with an option called “Ubuntu, with Linux … (systemd).”