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I been having problems with ubuntu, in that I can reach the login screen, but when I enter my password it comes up with a black screen with some text and takes me back to the login screen - I can login in terminal mode. After trying several fixes posted on the Internet I decided to just reinstall Ubuntu, since I don't have anything important on. However I did want to backup my Home folder. This folder was encrypted on installation. When I try to access it from the LiveCD version of Ubuntu, it displays a readme.txt file that tells me to run ecryptfs-mount-private. I run this and it displays the error 'Encrypted private directory is not setup properly'. Any solutions to both of these problems would be appreciated.

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I have tried all the methods listed in those posts, and I still can't access my files. I don't have my mount passphrase, and when I try to get it using ecryptfs-unwrap-passphrase /home/daniel/.ecryptfs/wrapped-passphrase but it comes up with the error:

Error: Unwrapping passphrase failed [-5]
Info: Check the system log for more information from libecryptfs

However, sudo ecryptfs-recover-private worked.

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I was just about to chime in and recommend ecryptfs-recover-private. That's definitely the right way to go! – Dustin Kirkland Feb 23 '12 at 18:19
What did the system log have to say with regard to libecryptfs? – waltinator Jan 15 at 19:52

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