I have a file system on LVM inside LUKS on a 2nd SSD that I’d like to mount at boot time. The OS boots fine on the main (non-LUKS) SSD.

/etc/crypttab contains a line mapping a UUID to a name, with no keyfile.

/etc/fstab contains a line mapping /dev/LVMvg/volume to /home/special

But I’m not asked for the passphrase at boot.

I can do it manually once booted (cryptdisks_start asks for the passphrase, decrypts it, and then LVM picks up the volumes enabling me to mount /home/special.) But I’d like all this to happen early in the boot.

How can I make the early processes ask me for the crypt password?

Thanks!

EDIT: Solved!

Thanks (blush) to man crypttab … Add initramfs to the options field in crypttab does the trick. I was a bit confused though because man crypttab tells me that Systemd’s crypttab is different and doesn’t support the initramfs option… but I’m using systemd and it worked. Anyway, it did work. Phew.

Thanks for answers though!

  • nettie@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Thanks for your post. Yeah I’ve done encrypted OS partitions myself and it’s worked fine - it’s asked for the password. This was a bit different because I was needing something unlocked that - as far as the boot loader was concerned - was not needed for boot. I did find the solution though - see my edit in OP above.

    • printf("%s", name);@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      Ah, my bad. Cool that you got it working! And while it could be the “right” way, I wonder if crypttab is the only way to do this, or if it’s possible to do decryption of a non boot volume as an option in a boot loader entry or in the kernel command line. Just thinking out loud. 🤣