How to decrypt a Ubuntu 16.10 encrypted home folder?












0















I have a defunct Ubuntu 16.10 installation* on a separate hard drive. There are files on that drive, in my home directory, that I need access to, but are encrypted using Ubuntu's "encrypt home folder" option.



I am currently on Windows 7 with access to cygwin.



I am using "DiskInternals Linux Reader" to read the ext4 /home diretory.



I am able to get to /home/.encryptfs/joshua/ using DiskInternal's tool.



I see a folder .encryptfs and another .Private.



I have my login password for the defunct Ubuntu installation.



What next steps can I take to get access to the data?





*Defunct because I have since overwritten all of my drive's bootloaders and I am not able to boot into that system. Things were a mess and I am in the process of cleaning things up, and I forgot to copy some important files.










share|improve this question























  • The easy way is to NOT use Windows. Booting from a simple and easy to make Linux USB has all the required tools already and in a native environment.

    – user772515
    Mar 5 '18 at 13:36
















0















I have a defunct Ubuntu 16.10 installation* on a separate hard drive. There are files on that drive, in my home directory, that I need access to, but are encrypted using Ubuntu's "encrypt home folder" option.



I am currently on Windows 7 with access to cygwin.



I am using "DiskInternals Linux Reader" to read the ext4 /home diretory.



I am able to get to /home/.encryptfs/joshua/ using DiskInternal's tool.



I see a folder .encryptfs and another .Private.



I have my login password for the defunct Ubuntu installation.



What next steps can I take to get access to the data?





*Defunct because I have since overwritten all of my drive's bootloaders and I am not able to boot into that system. Things were a mess and I am in the process of cleaning things up, and I forgot to copy some important files.










share|improve this question























  • The easy way is to NOT use Windows. Booting from a simple and easy to make Linux USB has all the required tools already and in a native environment.

    – user772515
    Mar 5 '18 at 13:36














0












0








0








I have a defunct Ubuntu 16.10 installation* on a separate hard drive. There are files on that drive, in my home directory, that I need access to, but are encrypted using Ubuntu's "encrypt home folder" option.



I am currently on Windows 7 with access to cygwin.



I am using "DiskInternals Linux Reader" to read the ext4 /home diretory.



I am able to get to /home/.encryptfs/joshua/ using DiskInternal's tool.



I see a folder .encryptfs and another .Private.



I have my login password for the defunct Ubuntu installation.



What next steps can I take to get access to the data?





*Defunct because I have since overwritten all of my drive's bootloaders and I am not able to boot into that system. Things were a mess and I am in the process of cleaning things up, and I forgot to copy some important files.










share|improve this question














I have a defunct Ubuntu 16.10 installation* on a separate hard drive. There are files on that drive, in my home directory, that I need access to, but are encrypted using Ubuntu's "encrypt home folder" option.



I am currently on Windows 7 with access to cygwin.



I am using "DiskInternals Linux Reader" to read the ext4 /home diretory.



I am able to get to /home/.encryptfs/joshua/ using DiskInternal's tool.



I see a folder .encryptfs and another .Private.



I have my login password for the defunct Ubuntu installation.



What next steps can I take to get access to the data?





*Defunct because I have since overwritten all of my drive's bootloaders and I am not able to boot into that system. Things were a mess and I am in the process of cleaning things up, and I forgot to copy some important files.







linux ubuntu encryption cygwin






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked Mar 4 '18 at 22:12









JoshuaDJoshuaD

2821318




2821318













  • The easy way is to NOT use Windows. Booting from a simple and easy to make Linux USB has all the required tools already and in a native environment.

    – user772515
    Mar 5 '18 at 13:36



















  • The easy way is to NOT use Windows. Booting from a simple and easy to make Linux USB has all the required tools already and in a native environment.

    – user772515
    Mar 5 '18 at 13:36

















The easy way is to NOT use Windows. Booting from a simple and easy to make Linux USB has all the required tools already and in a native environment.

– user772515
Mar 5 '18 at 13:36





The easy way is to NOT use Windows. Booting from a simple and easy to make Linux USB has all the required tools already and in a native environment.

– user772515
Mar 5 '18 at 13:36










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















1














As strongly implied by the .encryptfs file, the files have been stored using the encFS encryption - so you just need software that can read this -



Google came up with




  • https://encfsmp.sourceforge.io/

  • http://members.ferrara.linux.it/freddy77/encfs.html

  • Reading an encfs volume from Windows?






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    .ecryptfs means eCryptFS. That's not the same thing as EncFS.

    – grawity
    Mar 7 '18 at 15:27











  • @grawity - I think you are right - I just picked up on the hidden filename - but with hindsite, I think it's probably a Typo in the OP post.

    – davidgo
    Mar 7 '18 at 17:30






  • 1





    It's certainly a typo, but I'm also quite sure that Ubuntu's "stock" homedir encryption is eCryptFS-based.

    – grawity
    Mar 7 '18 at 17:43



















1














You really want to run the eCryptfs utility ecryptfs-recover-private.



It's basically a "fire and forget" script, you can tell it where your encrypted files are or it searches everywhere for them, then it asks for your login passphrase or mount passphrase, then mounts the files in "a temporary directory, in the form of /tmp/ecryptfs.XXXXXXXX" for you to read/copy.



[You can even see exactly what the shell script does if you're so interested with less $(which ecryptfs-recover-private) ]



AFAIK the eCryptfs utilities have not been ported to windows, so you'll have to run a linux. Just about any distribution that supports eCryptfs should work, but Ubuntu 16.10 should still run good enough to just decrypt & read files even though it's no longer supported (16.04 is a LTS and still supported, or a more recent Ubuntu will probably read the older eCryptfs files ok).



I'd either:





  • Boot a live linux ISO and work from there, copying decrypted files to another windows-readable format/drive (or windows readable encryption if desired, TrueCrypt-like, VeraCrypt, maybe even LUKS?).



    Booting from a USB or DVD is easy, or even from hard drive file if you repair or recover the bootloader (grub?) - actually running Boot-Repair from a live linux might get your old Ubuntu bootable again, but there's a chicken-or-egg problem booting another linux first anyway.



  • Use a virtual PC (like VirtualBox) to run a linux ISO, directly reading and decrypting the encrypted files (or if they're relatively small then copying them into the virtual linux PC).



Your folder descriptions sound a little off, there should be a /home/user folder with very little contents, and the /home/.ecryptfs/user folder with the actual encrypted contents, but that shouldn't be important unless your encrypted files have been deleted somehow. The recover script does a good job searching & should work if they're still available.






share|improve this answer


























    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "3"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: true,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: 10,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });














    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1300415%2fhow-to-decrypt-a-ubuntu-16-10-encrypted-home-folder%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    1














    As strongly implied by the .encryptfs file, the files have been stored using the encFS encryption - so you just need software that can read this -



    Google came up with




    • https://encfsmp.sourceforge.io/

    • http://members.ferrara.linux.it/freddy77/encfs.html

    • Reading an encfs volume from Windows?






    share|improve this answer



















    • 1





      .ecryptfs means eCryptFS. That's not the same thing as EncFS.

      – grawity
      Mar 7 '18 at 15:27











    • @grawity - I think you are right - I just picked up on the hidden filename - but with hindsite, I think it's probably a Typo in the OP post.

      – davidgo
      Mar 7 '18 at 17:30






    • 1





      It's certainly a typo, but I'm also quite sure that Ubuntu's "stock" homedir encryption is eCryptFS-based.

      – grawity
      Mar 7 '18 at 17:43
















    1














    As strongly implied by the .encryptfs file, the files have been stored using the encFS encryption - so you just need software that can read this -



    Google came up with




    • https://encfsmp.sourceforge.io/

    • http://members.ferrara.linux.it/freddy77/encfs.html

    • Reading an encfs volume from Windows?






    share|improve this answer



















    • 1





      .ecryptfs means eCryptFS. That's not the same thing as EncFS.

      – grawity
      Mar 7 '18 at 15:27











    • @grawity - I think you are right - I just picked up on the hidden filename - but with hindsite, I think it's probably a Typo in the OP post.

      – davidgo
      Mar 7 '18 at 17:30






    • 1





      It's certainly a typo, but I'm also quite sure that Ubuntu's "stock" homedir encryption is eCryptFS-based.

      – grawity
      Mar 7 '18 at 17:43














    1












    1








    1







    As strongly implied by the .encryptfs file, the files have been stored using the encFS encryption - so you just need software that can read this -



    Google came up with




    • https://encfsmp.sourceforge.io/

    • http://members.ferrara.linux.it/freddy77/encfs.html

    • Reading an encfs volume from Windows?






    share|improve this answer













    As strongly implied by the .encryptfs file, the files have been stored using the encFS encryption - so you just need software that can read this -



    Google came up with




    • https://encfsmp.sourceforge.io/

    • http://members.ferrara.linux.it/freddy77/encfs.html

    • Reading an encfs volume from Windows?







    share|improve this answer












    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer










    answered Mar 5 '18 at 4:45









    davidgodavidgo

    44.5k75292




    44.5k75292








    • 1





      .ecryptfs means eCryptFS. That's not the same thing as EncFS.

      – grawity
      Mar 7 '18 at 15:27











    • @grawity - I think you are right - I just picked up on the hidden filename - but with hindsite, I think it's probably a Typo in the OP post.

      – davidgo
      Mar 7 '18 at 17:30






    • 1





      It's certainly a typo, but I'm also quite sure that Ubuntu's "stock" homedir encryption is eCryptFS-based.

      – grawity
      Mar 7 '18 at 17:43














    • 1





      .ecryptfs means eCryptFS. That's not the same thing as EncFS.

      – grawity
      Mar 7 '18 at 15:27











    • @grawity - I think you are right - I just picked up on the hidden filename - but with hindsite, I think it's probably a Typo in the OP post.

      – davidgo
      Mar 7 '18 at 17:30






    • 1





      It's certainly a typo, but I'm also quite sure that Ubuntu's "stock" homedir encryption is eCryptFS-based.

      – grawity
      Mar 7 '18 at 17:43








    1




    1





    .ecryptfs means eCryptFS. That's not the same thing as EncFS.

    – grawity
    Mar 7 '18 at 15:27





    .ecryptfs means eCryptFS. That's not the same thing as EncFS.

    – grawity
    Mar 7 '18 at 15:27













    @grawity - I think you are right - I just picked up on the hidden filename - but with hindsite, I think it's probably a Typo in the OP post.

    – davidgo
    Mar 7 '18 at 17:30





    @grawity - I think you are right - I just picked up on the hidden filename - but with hindsite, I think it's probably a Typo in the OP post.

    – davidgo
    Mar 7 '18 at 17:30




    1




    1





    It's certainly a typo, but I'm also quite sure that Ubuntu's "stock" homedir encryption is eCryptFS-based.

    – grawity
    Mar 7 '18 at 17:43





    It's certainly a typo, but I'm also quite sure that Ubuntu's "stock" homedir encryption is eCryptFS-based.

    – grawity
    Mar 7 '18 at 17:43













    1














    You really want to run the eCryptfs utility ecryptfs-recover-private.



    It's basically a "fire and forget" script, you can tell it where your encrypted files are or it searches everywhere for them, then it asks for your login passphrase or mount passphrase, then mounts the files in "a temporary directory, in the form of /tmp/ecryptfs.XXXXXXXX" for you to read/copy.



    [You can even see exactly what the shell script does if you're so interested with less $(which ecryptfs-recover-private) ]



    AFAIK the eCryptfs utilities have not been ported to windows, so you'll have to run a linux. Just about any distribution that supports eCryptfs should work, but Ubuntu 16.10 should still run good enough to just decrypt & read files even though it's no longer supported (16.04 is a LTS and still supported, or a more recent Ubuntu will probably read the older eCryptfs files ok).



    I'd either:





    • Boot a live linux ISO and work from there, copying decrypted files to another windows-readable format/drive (or windows readable encryption if desired, TrueCrypt-like, VeraCrypt, maybe even LUKS?).



      Booting from a USB or DVD is easy, or even from hard drive file if you repair or recover the bootloader (grub?) - actually running Boot-Repair from a live linux might get your old Ubuntu bootable again, but there's a chicken-or-egg problem booting another linux first anyway.



    • Use a virtual PC (like VirtualBox) to run a linux ISO, directly reading and decrypting the encrypted files (or if they're relatively small then copying them into the virtual linux PC).



    Your folder descriptions sound a little off, there should be a /home/user folder with very little contents, and the /home/.ecryptfs/user folder with the actual encrypted contents, but that shouldn't be important unless your encrypted files have been deleted somehow. The recover script does a good job searching & should work if they're still available.






    share|improve this answer






























      1














      You really want to run the eCryptfs utility ecryptfs-recover-private.



      It's basically a "fire and forget" script, you can tell it where your encrypted files are or it searches everywhere for them, then it asks for your login passphrase or mount passphrase, then mounts the files in "a temporary directory, in the form of /tmp/ecryptfs.XXXXXXXX" for you to read/copy.



      [You can even see exactly what the shell script does if you're so interested with less $(which ecryptfs-recover-private) ]



      AFAIK the eCryptfs utilities have not been ported to windows, so you'll have to run a linux. Just about any distribution that supports eCryptfs should work, but Ubuntu 16.10 should still run good enough to just decrypt & read files even though it's no longer supported (16.04 is a LTS and still supported, or a more recent Ubuntu will probably read the older eCryptfs files ok).



      I'd either:





      • Boot a live linux ISO and work from there, copying decrypted files to another windows-readable format/drive (or windows readable encryption if desired, TrueCrypt-like, VeraCrypt, maybe even LUKS?).



        Booting from a USB or DVD is easy, or even from hard drive file if you repair or recover the bootloader (grub?) - actually running Boot-Repair from a live linux might get your old Ubuntu bootable again, but there's a chicken-or-egg problem booting another linux first anyway.



      • Use a virtual PC (like VirtualBox) to run a linux ISO, directly reading and decrypting the encrypted files (or if they're relatively small then copying them into the virtual linux PC).



      Your folder descriptions sound a little off, there should be a /home/user folder with very little contents, and the /home/.ecryptfs/user folder with the actual encrypted contents, but that shouldn't be important unless your encrypted files have been deleted somehow. The recover script does a good job searching & should work if they're still available.






      share|improve this answer




























        1












        1








        1







        You really want to run the eCryptfs utility ecryptfs-recover-private.



        It's basically a "fire and forget" script, you can tell it where your encrypted files are or it searches everywhere for them, then it asks for your login passphrase or mount passphrase, then mounts the files in "a temporary directory, in the form of /tmp/ecryptfs.XXXXXXXX" for you to read/copy.



        [You can even see exactly what the shell script does if you're so interested with less $(which ecryptfs-recover-private) ]



        AFAIK the eCryptfs utilities have not been ported to windows, so you'll have to run a linux. Just about any distribution that supports eCryptfs should work, but Ubuntu 16.10 should still run good enough to just decrypt & read files even though it's no longer supported (16.04 is a LTS and still supported, or a more recent Ubuntu will probably read the older eCryptfs files ok).



        I'd either:





        • Boot a live linux ISO and work from there, copying decrypted files to another windows-readable format/drive (or windows readable encryption if desired, TrueCrypt-like, VeraCrypt, maybe even LUKS?).



          Booting from a USB or DVD is easy, or even from hard drive file if you repair or recover the bootloader (grub?) - actually running Boot-Repair from a live linux might get your old Ubuntu bootable again, but there's a chicken-or-egg problem booting another linux first anyway.



        • Use a virtual PC (like VirtualBox) to run a linux ISO, directly reading and decrypting the encrypted files (or if they're relatively small then copying them into the virtual linux PC).



        Your folder descriptions sound a little off, there should be a /home/user folder with very little contents, and the /home/.ecryptfs/user folder with the actual encrypted contents, but that shouldn't be important unless your encrypted files have been deleted somehow. The recover script does a good job searching & should work if they're still available.






        share|improve this answer















        You really want to run the eCryptfs utility ecryptfs-recover-private.



        It's basically a "fire and forget" script, you can tell it where your encrypted files are or it searches everywhere for them, then it asks for your login passphrase or mount passphrase, then mounts the files in "a temporary directory, in the form of /tmp/ecryptfs.XXXXXXXX" for you to read/copy.



        [You can even see exactly what the shell script does if you're so interested with less $(which ecryptfs-recover-private) ]



        AFAIK the eCryptfs utilities have not been ported to windows, so you'll have to run a linux. Just about any distribution that supports eCryptfs should work, but Ubuntu 16.10 should still run good enough to just decrypt & read files even though it's no longer supported (16.04 is a LTS and still supported, or a more recent Ubuntu will probably read the older eCryptfs files ok).



        I'd either:





        • Boot a live linux ISO and work from there, copying decrypted files to another windows-readable format/drive (or windows readable encryption if desired, TrueCrypt-like, VeraCrypt, maybe even LUKS?).



          Booting from a USB or DVD is easy, or even from hard drive file if you repair or recover the bootloader (grub?) - actually running Boot-Repair from a live linux might get your old Ubuntu bootable again, but there's a chicken-or-egg problem booting another linux first anyway.



        • Use a virtual PC (like VirtualBox) to run a linux ISO, directly reading and decrypting the encrypted files (or if they're relatively small then copying them into the virtual linux PC).



        Your folder descriptions sound a little off, there should be a /home/user folder with very little contents, and the /home/.ecryptfs/user folder with the actual encrypted contents, but that shouldn't be important unless your encrypted files have been deleted somehow. The recover script does a good job searching & should work if they're still available.







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited Mar 10 '18 at 2:59

























        answered Mar 10 '18 at 2:54









        Xen2050Xen2050

        11.3k31637




        11.3k31637






























            draft saved

            draft discarded




















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1300415%2fhow-to-decrypt-a-ubuntu-16-10-encrypted-home-folder%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            Probability when a professor distributes a quiz and homework assignment to a class of n students.

            Aardman Animations

            Are they similar matrix