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I tried to setup ecryptfs on Debian Jessie, but I made an error and I cannot login now. So I took my encrypted files, and placed them in a safe place. How do I decrypt these files? I still remember the password.

I've searched on every page on google, but nothing has worked so far.

peterh
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Satudarah
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1 Answers1

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This is actually pretty simple. If you have ecryptfs installed you can simply use the command

ecryptfs-recover-private

This will find the location of your encrypted files and will mount them decrypted in a temporary location.

Type:

man ecryptfs-recover-private

for more information.

Marco21
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  • It says "ERROR: No private directories found; make sure that your root filesystem is mounted." – Satudarah Apr 22 '17 at 15:56
  • You sad, that you placed your encrypted home in a safe location. Where is that location? What files did you copy to that location? – Marco21 Apr 22 '17 at 15:59
  • The files are on my usb, I copied a file called "Info.txt" with all my information. I also have a .asc file on it with my gpg key. – Satudarah Apr 22 '17 at 16:03
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    Did you copy the files in "/home/.ecryptfs"? This is the location where the Encrypted files are stored. – Marco21 Apr 22 '17 at 16:05
  • No I just added the text file to my usb, that is all I have and my password. – Satudarah Apr 22 '17 at 16:06
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    Sorry but then it is impossible to recover your files. The encrypted files are located at /home/.ecryptfs. If you lost these files there is obviously no chance to get your files back. – Marco21 Apr 22 '17 at 16:21
  • So what would be the point in backupping those files if its not even help me recover? Is there some way I can restore the deleted files to do this? – Satudarah Apr 22 '17 at 16:38
  • I just tried to recover the .ecryptfs folder, but it has never existed, what does this mean? – Satudarah Apr 22 '17 at 17:45
  • The files are usually located in ~/.Private, not in ~/.ecryptfs (but the latter stores the key information and is also important, unless you noted down the 32 character hex passphrase, the wrapped_passphrase file). – crater2150 Nov 05 '18 at 12:53