Howto: Hidden Truecrypt volume Linux

That is  more complicated than just creating a normal volume, especially if you do not know the correct commands, so I will give them to you here:

The first command(we will do all in one step, therefore the &&):

truecrypt –type normal -c volume.tc && truecrypt –type hidden -c volume.tc

As usual, you have to give the path to the volume, so an example could be:

truecrypt –type normal -c /home/usr/volume.tc && truecrypt –type hidden -c voulme.tc

Now a normal truecrypt volume will be created:

If you never did this before, have a look at my other howtos…

Filesystem:
1) FAT
2) None
Select [1]:

Enter volume size (bytes – size/sizeK/sizeM/sizeG): 5M

Hash algorithm:
1) RIPEMD-160
2) SHA-1
3) Whirlpool
Select [1]:

Encryption algorithm:
1) AES
2) Blowfish
3) CAST5
4) Serpent
5) Triple DES
6) Twofish
7) AES-Twofish
AES-Twofish-Serpent
9) Serpent-AES
10) Serpent-Twofish-AES
11) Twofish-Serpent
Select [1]:

Enter password for new volume ‘/home/philipp/voulme.tc’:
Re-enter password:

Enter keyfile path [none]:

TrueCrypt will now collect random data.

To enable mouse movements to be used as a source of random data,
please do one of the following:
- Run TrueCrypt under administrator (root) account.
- Add read permission for your user to device /dev/input/mice.

Please type at least 320 randomly chosen characters and then press Enter:
…(use strong random data, so RTzi*ZE$§E§Jghde and not gggggg!!!!)

Done: 5.00 MB  Speed: 2.05 MB/s  Left: 0:00:00
Volume created.

And after that, a hidden volume, using the same scheme, be aware that the hidden volume has to be smaller than the normal volume!

Filesystem:
1) FAT
2) None
Select [1]:

Enter volume size (bytes – size/sizeK/sizeM/sizeG): 3M

Hash algorithm:
1) RIPEMD-160
2) SHA-1
3) Whirlpool
Select [1]:

Encryption algorithm:
1) AES
2) Blowfish
3) CAST5
4) Serpent
5) Triple DES
6) Twofish
7) AES-Twofish
AES-Twofish-Serpent
9) Serpent-AES
10) Serpent-Twofish-AES
11) Twofish-Serpent
Select [1]:

Enter password for new volume ‘/home/philipp/volume.tc’:
Re-enter password:

Enter keyfile path [none]:

TrueCrypt will now collect random data.

To enable mouse movements to be used as a source of random data,
please do one of the following:
- Run TrueCrypt under administrator (root) account.
- Add read permission for your user to device /dev/input/mice.

Please type at least 320 randomly chosen characters and then press Enter:
…

Done: 3.00 MB  Speed: 2.92 MB/s  Left: 0:00:00

Now you have a hidden volume inside a normal volume and it depends on the password you give, which volume will be mounted:

truecrypt -M “rw,sync,utf8,uid=$UID,umask=0007″ /home/usr/volume /home/usr/5MB

Now you will be asked for your volume password (or, at first for your root password and then for your volume password):

Enter password for ‘/home/usr/volume.tc’:

If you now give the password for the normal volume, the normal volume will be mounted, if you give the hidden volume’s password, the hidden one will be mounted

Creating a Truecrypt-volume ( Linux )

Precondition: Truecrypt is installed

1.Open your terminal, then type in

truecrypt -c

or

truecrypt –create

2.Truecrypt will now ask you whether you want a normal or a hidden volume:

Volume type:
1) Normal
2) Hidden
Select [1]:

Normal is fine for a beginner so just press “Enter”.

3.Now the path for the voulme is asked:

Enter file or device path for new volume:

Just t ype in any path you want: For example: /home/usr/tcvolume

tcvolume then would be the name of the volume:

4.Now the filesystem:

Filesystem:
1) FAT
2) None
Select [1]:

Just press “Enter”, nowadays FAT is also works quite fine under a linux-os,…

5.Now the size of the volume:

Enter volume size (bytes – size/sizeK/sizeM/sizeG):

If you want a 30 megabyte-container you type in 30M, if you want one GB, just type in 1G,…,of course there should be enough space on the harddrive…

6.Hash algorithm:

Hash algorithm:
1) RIPEMD-160
2) SHA-1
3) Whirlpool
Select [1]:

Pressing “Enter” is all you have to do…

7. Encryption algorithm:

Encryption algorithm:
1) AES
2) Blowfish
3) CAST5
4) Serpent
5) Triple DES
6) Twofish
7) AES-Twofish
AES-Twofish-Serpent
9) Serpent-AES
10) Serpent-Twofish-AES
11) Twofish-Serpent
Select [1]:

AES is a very secure and very fast encryption algorithm, so just take,…, it should provide more than enough security!

8. The password:

Enter password for new volume ‘/home/usr/tcvolume:

Is should be long and secure, a nonsense-sense is usually the best idea:

For example:

375 Dwarfs walk on the beach all day, playing volleyball, swimming and drinking beer. That is all they want to do.

375Dwotbad,pv,sadb.Tiatwtd.

Just make a bit more difficult:

375!Dwotbad,*pv,%sadb./Tiatwtd.§

This is a very complex password, but still quite easy to remember!

After entering the password a second time you will be asked for keyfiles, just press “Enter”

9.Truecrypt now wants to collect random data to make the key:

TrueCrypt will now collect random data.

To enable mouse movements to be used as a source of random data,
please do one of the following:
- Run TrueCrypt under administrator (root) account.
- Add read permission for your user to device /dev/input/mice.

Please type at least 320 randomly chosen characters and then press Enter:

Type in the 320 character and press “Enter”

Important: You should type in random data, so do not enter something like “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”, but “b$&/hnZgcj=3hJHGgöohfe44GJK”, “good random data” => “good key”, otherwise your key is worthless!!!

10.

Volume created.

Congratulations! You made it!

How to mount a truecrypt-volume in linux/ubuntu

That’s quite easy:

truecrypt -M “rw,sync,utf8,uid=$UID,umask=0007″
This is the command to mount your truecrypt-container/volume giving you the right to read and to write data!

After that follows the path to your truecrypt-container, for example /home/usr/tcvolume

and then the place where you want the truecrypt-container to be mounted. In Linux this can be any ordinary folder, so for example, just create a folder “truecryptvolume”, no you type in the whole path (e.g. /home/usr/truecryptvolume ), so that the whole command looks like that:

truecrypt -M “rw,sync,utf8,uid=$UID,umask=0007 /home/usr/tcvolume

/home/usr/truecryptvolume

(one line!)

Now you will be aksed for your user-or administratorpassword(sudo) and then for the volume password, if both are given correctly truecrypt will now mount your container.

By opening the folder “truecryptvolume” you will now be able to store your data encrypted.