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I already know how to create a Kubuntu/Win7 dual boot. What I would like to do is to encrypt both operating systems.

I use Kubuntu as my main OS, and Windows 7 for casual gaming or prolonged Visual Studio programming as gaming is impossible in a VM.

I have looked at TrueCrypt, but it only allows Windows system partition encryption. It also does funny things with GRUB.

BitLocker is out of the equation as I cannot access my Windows files from Kubuntu and I only have Windows 7 Home Premium.

My planned setup is the following: 500GB Hard Drive (Dell Studio Laptop)

~50GB Kubuntu

~100GB Windows

~350GB Shared Media Files(Maybe TrueCrypt normal encrypted partition,unsure on filesystem)

Would it be possible to use TrueCrypt(and its bootloader for Win7 and the shared partition, and somehow chainload GRUB for Kubuntu with encrypted partitions?

I am currently experimenting with a dual-booting VirtualBox machine, but no luck so far and it takes a long time to encrypt,despite giving 3 cores and 1536 RAM to the VM.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

UPDATE: I installed Win7 and encrypted it with TrueCrypt. I also encrypted my SHARED partition. Then I installed Kubuntu,installing GRUB to the /boot partition. Now I have an encrypted Kubuntu,with access to Win7 and SHARED, but I CANNOT boot into win7. The TrueCrypt Boot Loader appears,asks for password and redirects me to GRUB. I also tried booting from the TrueCrypt Rescue CD, but with no luck.

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  • 1
    it only allows Windows system partition encryption truecrypt.org/downloads - maybe, but download for Linux, and encrypt what you want...
    – antivirtel
    May 25, 2011 at 15:43
  • 1
    I have, but this only allows me to encrypt/decrypt Windows and my shared files from Kubuntu. TrueCrypt does NOT offer a Linux system encryption,only file containers and other partitions. I also want to encrypt my Kubuntu install and choose which one to run at boot-time.
    – Vivo
    May 25, 2011 at 16:16
  • 3
    Please put the sollution in as an answer and accept it yourself.It will get you some reputation and that way the question will not get kicked back to the top page.
    – Rinzwind
    May 25, 2011 at 19:37

1 Answer 1

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5

I fixed the above issue and now I have what I want. The issue was caused because I gave my /boot partition the "boot" flag. After giving the "boot" flag back to the encrypted Win7 partition, everything worked as intended by the developers.

Here are my exact steps, if anyone wants to create a similar setup:

  1. Create 4 partitions with GParted (500GB Hard Drive)
    • 100GB NTFS - Windows - Must have the "boot" flag
    • 1GB ext4 - /boot
    • 50GB empty - Kubuntu, LVM inside encrypted partition
    • 349GB NTFS - SHARED
  2. Install Windows 7 to the first partition
  3. Encrypt the system partition with TrueCrypt, burn the Recovery Disk(not needed,but good for recovery)
  4. Install Kubuntu 11.04 from ALTERNATE CD/ or Desktop DVD(Text Mode)
    • Make an encrypted volume in the 50GB partition.
    • Setup a LVM in the encrypted volume.
    • Make 2 logical volumes inside a logical group - 2/4GB swap, and remaining for /
    • Set the 1GB partition as /boot, DO NOT GIVE IT the "boot" flag
    • Install GRUB to /boot partition (/dev/sda2 in this case) DO NOT OVERWRITE the MBR.
  5. When installation is done, restart the computer
  6. On boot, TrueCrypt bootloader will load, enter password to boot into Windows.
  7. Press Esc and the GRUB menu will be shown, passphrase will be required to unlock the Kubuntu partition.

To mount the SHARED partition: In Windows: Open TrueCrypt as Administrator and add the SHARED partition as a "System Favorite" - the partition must use the same password as the Windows partition. This will auto-mount the partition on Windows start-up FOR ALL USERS!!!

In Kubuntu: Open TrueCrypt and mount the SHARED partition. It will appear under /media/truecrypt* where * is the slot number in TrueCrypt. I am using NTFS for my SHARED partition and it works just fine under Kubuntu.

I hope this is helpful to someone...

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