Possible installer bug ref. encrypted home partitions [Solved]

[Innuendo]

Hello,
This might be a bug, or perhaps a feature request, or(hopefully not) I did something wrong.

My laptop has a MX23.1 KDE install with an encrypted partition for /home. I did another install of MX23.1 XFCE and wanted to share the same /home partition. In the live boot environment i unlocked the encrypted /home partition and the installer let me choose to use that as /home. Upon reboot however the instance was unaware of what to do with the /home partition and did not let me enter.

I fixed this manually by copying over relevant data from the KDE installation in these files
/etc/crypttab
/etc/fstab

I'm not sure if this scenario is fully supported but may be something to look at in the installer.

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20231215_1232
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-16-amd64 [6.1.67-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-16-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23.1_x64 Libretto December 15  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Pavilion 17 Notebook PC
    v: 0883100000305B10000620100 serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 1977 v: 96.33 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Insyde v: F.27
    date: 07/13/2016
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 41.5 Wh (100.0%) condition: 41.5/41.5 Wh (100.0%) volts: 12.3 min: 10.8
    model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: full
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M325 serial: <filter>
    charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i3-4000M bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Haswell gen: core 4 level: v3
    note: check built: 2013-15 process: Intel 22nm family: 6 model-id: 0x3C (60) stepping: 3
    microcode: 0x28
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache: L1: 128 KiB
    desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1090 high: 1197 min/max: 800/2400 scaling: driver: intel_cpufreq
    governor: ondemand cores: 1: 1197 2: 1100 3: 1068 4: 995 bogomips: 19155
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB
    filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-7.5 process: Intel 22nm built: 2013 ports: active: VGA-1,eDP-1
    empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0416 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Chicony HP Truevision HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 2-9:3 chip-ID: 04f2:b3a6
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2680x1920 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 709x508mm (27.91x20.00") s-diag: 872mm (34.34")
  Monitor-1: VGA-1 pos: top-right model: Dell U2211H serial: <filter> built: 2011 res: 1080x1920
    hz: 60 dpi: 103 gamma: 1.2 size: 267x475mm (10.51x18.7") diag: 545mm (21.5") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: eDP-1 pos: bottom-l model: LG Display 0x0372 built: 2012 res: 1600x900 hz: 60
    dpi: 106 gamma: 1.2 size: 382x215mm (15.04x8.46") diag: 438mm (17.3") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1600x900
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4600 (HSW GT2)
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:03.0 chip-ID: 8086:0c0c class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard 8
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:8c20 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-16-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: rtl8188ee
    v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 5000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8179 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 4000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 698.64 GiB used: 8.39 GiB (1.2%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD075 size: 698.64 GiB block-size:
    physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 1C
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 29.3 GiB size: 28.67 GiB (97.86%) used: 7.33 GiB (25.6%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda11 maj-min: 8:11
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 260 MiB size: 256 MiB (98.46%) used: 104.4 MiB (40.8%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 39.05 GiB size: 38.14 GiB (97.67%) used: 978.3 MiB (2.5%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 253:0 mapped: luks-<filter>
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 4 GiB used: 2 MiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda13
    maj-min: 8:13
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2064 libs: 1044 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 232 Uptime: 22m wakeups: 4 Memory: 3.74 GiB used: 1.92 GiB (51.5%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

[CharlesV]

There are a few posts here that discuss encrypted home installs, I am not familiar enough with them to offer advice, but possibly some others can. I would start by looking through some of these:

search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&keyw ... l&start=10

[Charlie Brown]

... fixed this manually by copying ...

You did well. (That's also the way how I re-used an encrypted home for a new installation)

But that's a bit normal cause you select the home partition when it's decrypted and when encryption checkbox is not checked it (normally) creates no such entry in crypttab .

(Otherwise if you check that, the partition will be reformatted (re-encrypted) and the existing home will be gone forever ... )

[fehlix]

Hello,
This might be a bug, or perhaps a feature request, or(hopefully not) I did something wrong.

My laptop has a MX23.1 KDE install with an encrypted partition for /home. I did another install of MX23.1 XFCE and wanted to share the same /home partition. In the live boot environment i unlocked the encrypted /home partition and the installer let me choose to use that as /home. Upon reboot however the instance was unaware of what to do with the /home partition and did not let me enter.

I fixed this manually by copying over relevant data from the KDE installation in these files
/etc/crypttab
/etc/fstab

I'm not sure if this scenario is fully supported but may be something to look at in the installer.

Maybe an "operator error" during install.

This way it works here:
* get/install latest Installer from mx repos, just in case
Within the installer
* select root, esp etc
* And right click on the luks-encryped home partition -> unlock
Enter password to unlock, also it will ask to add to cryptotab.
After unlocking/decrypting you see a new virtual-device listed
On this device select the encrypted home partition to use for /home
and keep "preserve" enabled.

Proceed with the installation.
At a later step you will be informed an existing home was detected:
Select keep for the installation. Make sure you have chosen the identical username
as in the other install.
Thats it.
Now you can boot into both systems, where you have to unlock the luks-encrypted
home-partition during boot-up.
HTH

[Innuendo]

Hello,
This might be a bug, or perhaps a feature request, or(hopefully not) I did something wrong.

My laptop has a MX23.1 KDE install with an encrypted partition for /home. I did another install of MX23.1 XFCE and wanted to share the same /home partition. In the live boot environment i unlocked the encrypted /home partition and the installer let me choose to use that as /home. Upon reboot however the instance was unaware of what to do with the /home partition and did not let me enter.

I fixed this manually by copying over relevant data from the KDE installation in these files
/etc/crypttab
/etc/fstab

I'm not sure if this scenario is fully supported but may be something to look at in the installer.

Maybe an "operator error" during install.


Within the installer
* select root, esp etc
* And right click on the luks-encryped home partition -> unlock
Enter password to unlock, also it will ask to add to cryptotab.
After unlocking/decrypting you see a new virtual-device listed
On this device select the encrypted home partition to use for /home
and keep "preserve" enabled.


HTH

Definitely operator error then. I did not realize about right clicking the home partition and unlocking in the installer vs having it unlocked before hand as I did. Thanks for the correct procedure.