this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
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Encrypt whole system? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 months ago by UnRelatedBurner@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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My laptop isn't under my supervision most of the time. And I'd hate it if someone were to steal my SSD, or whole laptop even, when I'm not around. Is there a way to encrypt everything, but still keep the device in sleep, and unclock it without much delay. It's a very slow laptop. So decryption on login isn't viable, takes too long. While booting up also takes forever, so it needs to be in a "safe" state when simply logged out. Maybe a way that's decrypt-on-demand?

I'm on Arch with KDE.

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[–] thepiguy@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Maybe systemd-homed is the solution you are looking for. The arch wiki has a page for it. And this can be better for your use case because only your home folder needs decryption and not the whole drive.

There is this to keep in mind since you are using KDE, but can be easily fixed: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-homed#Home_directory_remains_active_after_logging_out_of_Plasma

[–] UnRelatedBurner@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sounds perfect. I'll need more sources to understand what it's doing and how to config it. Thanks!

[–] thepiguy@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Systemd has a good guide on how to use it https://systemd.io/HOME_DIRECTORY/

And they also have a guide on migrating a traditional user home to this. Do remember to take backups if going this route https://systemd.io/CONVERTING_TO_HOMED/

I personally used the arch wiki when I set it up https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-homed

There is not much config.

I think the command I used for my laptop was:

homectl create <name> --storage=luks --shell=/usr/bin/fish --member-of=wheel

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-homed#Creation

Gnome is working on a gui for this, but it will probably be a while until that is out. I feel like it is pretty safe to use the cli for this one.

[–] UnRelatedBurner@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Hehe, Thank you. But by the time I'm reading this I've already done it. Got stuck on a couple or roadblocks, but figured it out. I got scared when I didn't "enable" the service just "start" it. I'm not safe(-ish enough). :D

edit: well not the plasma fix. wiki said if it's a problem I need to start something, and that something should be on by default. So I didn't do anything, maybe that's a problem

[–] UnRelatedBurner@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Okay I just had a bit of freetime to test it: doesn't work.. if I log out or sleep, my home dir is still mounted. Meaning it's as good as nothing. Looked at the plasma fix, didn't work. I have a pretty good lead, that I need the topmost template from some wiki:

[Unit]
PartOf=graphical-session.target

Problem is, where in the world should I write this? I really don't expect you to know, but maybe I'm talking to a genius. The internet didn't help, or I used it wrong.

[–] thepiguy@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The template is supposed to be something that you put in your own systemd services. plasma-kwin_x11.service and plasma-kwin_wayland.service both already have it.

If I have to guess, it is probably a bug that will get fixed sometime in the future, meaning this is not a viable solution until then. Sorry for that.

Just as a last bit of troubleshooting, check if cat ~/.config/startkderc shows systemBoot = true. If it does not, run kwriteconfig6 --file startkderc --group General --key systemdBoot true. I doubt this will change much, but still worth trying.

If I get some free time, I will do some testing and let you know here

[–] UnRelatedBurner@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

cat ~/.config/startkderc returns systemdBoot=true. I'm guessing you made a typo and this is correct. In this case I guess it just doesn't work on KDE, my next idea is LUKS on /home and hibernating instead of sleeping. Or I always wanted to try a tiling window manager... hm

[–] thepiguy@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

systemdBoot is supposed to be true, not a typo. But yeah, I don't use plasma much so I don't really know how to solve the issue... Sorry for that!

[–] UnRelatedBurner@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

No problem, thanks for the help. Also I got news is that I don't have to trust anyone with my laptop, I can keep it by my side after all. Still it's a security mesure, that I didn't solve in time. fun fact: LUKS on /home only breaks KDE. I really don't want to give up kde tho, I put on sway, realised that I needed to memorise console commands to change my fking volumes, so no thank you. I got spoiled by sweet UIs. it's so comfortable that everything is at one place.