Linux – How to encrypt a dual boot system with Veracrypt

bootencryptionlinuxpartitioningwindows 10

I want to dual boot Windows 10 alongside Arch Linux on 1 SSD. The SSD is 465GB and I want to use Veracrypt to encrypt the hard drive and enable pre-boot authentication.

I haven't attempted to do this as of yet as I cannot find any information about this on the Veracrypt website.

Would I have to wipe the drive, split it in to two partitions then install the respective operating systems on to their partitions? What about after that? I can encrypt the system using Veracrypt when I'm logged in to my Windows OS for example but would this encrypt the Linux partition as well?

Would they use the same pre-boot password and would I be able to choose which operating system to boot in to from Veracrypt's boot loader?

Furthermore, if I encrypt a non-system partition that is part of a different hard drive than which the operating systems are installed on, would I be able to access the encrypted partition from both operating systems without any trouble?

Best Answer

No wipe needed. OSes are always on their own partition. Veracrypt can only encrypt a Windows system and only if using BIOS vs UEFI. The dev has stated that there are no plans for *nix systems support. If you want your Linux system encrypted, look into dm-crypt and LUKS. Also, you seem to misunderstand Veracrypt's system encryption capability. It doesn't support full-disk encryption; only the Windows system partition itself. The restore and recovery partitions are not encrypted.

If you have multiple Windows partitions (normal or hidden and normal), the bootloader should only show a password input field. It's your responsibility to remember the password and know which OS it unlocks. Each bootable partition would use it's own password. No idea what happens if you choose to put the same password for different systems.

As long as you have Veracrypt installed on both, you will be able to access Veracrypt-encrypted partitions on any drive connected.

Related Solutions

Linux – Dual boot Windows + Linux with encryption

I'm quite sure it is possible to achieve a dual-boot system with Windows and Linux where both are encrypted on only one hard drive, unfortunately, I did not achieve it.

As a solution, I bought a second hard drive, installed Windows on it with BitLocker. Unplug it, plug the second hard drive, installed Linux with cryptsetup on the whole hard drive. Shutdown, plugged both, boot in Linux (configurable in your BIOS to know which one to boot), update grub, something like "sudo update-grub", it will automatically detect the other hard drive as Windows. Then when you reboot, you will have the GRUB interface, no password asked but after you select Windows or Linux, you will be asked for the password of the encryption. It's a perfect solution but you do need 2 hard drives.

Linux – Dual boot Arch and Windows 10 with GRUB

As described here, you need to do the following (The following must be done as root on your Arch OS):

As I can assume from your Output /dev/sdb2 seems to be your Windows-Bootloader so the First step will be:

$ mkdir /mnt/windows
$ mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/windows
$ grub-probe --target=fs_uuid /mnt/windows/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

Copy the Output of the last Command to a File and proceed with this:

$ grub-probe --target=hints_string /mnt/windows/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

Also copy the output to the File. After that run the following to unmount the Partition

$ umount /mnt/windows
$ rmdir /mnt/windows

After that open the File /boot/grub/custom.cfg with your preferred editor and add the Following Lines:

if [ "${grub_platform}" == "efi" ]; then
    menuentry "Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8/8.1 UEFI/GPT" {
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod fat
        insmod search_fs_uuid
        insmod chain
        search --fs-uuid --set=root $hints_string $fs_uuid
        chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
    }
fi

Where $hints_string is the second Output and $fs_uuid is the first one.

At least run this to update your Grub:

$ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

After reboot your Grub should contain the Entry for Windows, for more information about how to configure your Grub see this Page

Best Answer

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Linux – Dual boot Windows + Linux with encryption

Linux – Dual boot Arch and Windows 10 with GRUB

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