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I am considering encrypting my /home directory (I always have it in a separate drive partition) while I do a fresh install of upcoming 12.04 release. I have some concerns in this regard:

  1. Now I am running Ubuntu 11.10. Can I encrypt my present home while installing Ubuntu 12.04. Will it work fine if I do it while installing beta release?
  2. What precautions do I need to take while going for a fresh Ubuntu install later on? Is something like retaining the same password necessary for accessing the directory after the install process (I will be maintaining same home directory)?
  3. What would be the situation if I forget my password? If I do a password reset at startup will I continue to have access to encrypted directory?
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  • This is nearly a duplicate of this question. On your first question, you can't encrypt your existing /home while installing. You choose to either format /home or leave it untouched. On #3, if you forget your password your data is gone, unless you keep a backup somewhere else (which answers part of #2).
    – Tom Brossman
    Feb 19, 2012 at 13:51
  • Just to clarify, do you want /home on its own partition formatted and encrypted using dm-crypt, or do you want to use Ubuntu's native Encrypted Home Directory feature? If the latter, its just a matter of clicking the checkbox in the graphical desktop installer.
    – Dustin Kirkland
    Feb 24, 2012 at 17:20
  • My initial intention was to use Ubuntu's native encryption technology. If dm-crypt provides better security I can opt for that..
    – Chethan S.
    Feb 25, 2012 at 13:41

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