I know this question is old, but comes up when searching for the small boot partition problem and using disk encryption.
Ubuntu installer ubiquity
uses partman
for partitioning. When "Use the entire disk" option is selected, the partition configurations come from partman recipe files in /lib/partman/recipes-[arch]/*
and /lib/partman/recipes/*
on the live CD. Find the recipe used by the installer, and modify the maximum size for /boot
partition. On my system, the default recipe used is /lib/partman/recipes/30atomic
. Open the Terminal:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo nano /lib/partman/recipes/30atomic
Go to the section for the boot partition and change the third number (256 below) to the size you want (I'd recommend at least 512):
128 512 256 ext2
$defaultignore{ }
method{ format }
format{ }
use_filesystem{ }
filesystem{ ext2 }
mountpoint{ /boot }
This section says size is going to be between 128M and 256M with a priority of 512, which determines how important the size of this partition with respect to others.
Save it with Ctrl+O, Enter. Then start the installer, install as usual.
Canonical implemented this feature (full disk encryption) in Ubuntu installer edition from 12.10 because Alternate CDs are dropped. From QQ Alternate CD are no longer available.
"Encrypting full disk" stands for creating encrypted volumes (luks) and it uses full disk, not only /home folder. Encrypting full disk is more secure and with that option you can uncheck "Encrypt my home folder". There is no need to use two kinds of encryption. If you want just to encrypting your home folder (without encrypted / and swap partition) use only the second option.
Best Answer
This works on Mint 17.2 as well. It's hard to believe this still hasn't been fixed.
Partitioning
Boot to install disk, and open terminal. Assuming you want to use GPT, without UEFI, partition your disk with gdisk.
In gdisk:
Now create the LUKS container on the partition you just created, and call it "lvm" (or whatever you want):
Create the physical volume for LVM in the LUKS container, and then the volume group:
Create your logical volumes (your sizes may vary):
Install Ubuntu/Mint
Now start the installer, leaving the terminal open. At the partitioning step, select "Something Else". Set the mount points for the following, checking the "format" box where applicable:
Now continue installation, but at the end of the installation click "Continue trying."
Before Rebooting
Back in your terminal, mount your new system in a chroot:
Run
blkid
to get the UUID of the LUKS container (/dev/sda3).Edit or create /etc/crypttab, with the following line:
your UUID will be different, of course. This will cause the system to try to open the LUKS container at boot, with the name "lvm".
It's the initial RAM image that will actually do this, so we need to update it:
This will read from the crypttab file and make the necessary changes to the initram image. Now you'll get a prompt to enter your passphrase at boot.
Unmount everything, just to be safe:
Now reboot, and remove the install disk.
Explanation
So here's what happens at boot:
Here's a good reference.