MMGen

December 12, 2022

@DIYprojectz: It should be possible to put the encrypted root filesystem on a different device than the boot partition, though I've never tried it with an SoC or Armbian. Thanks for the idea. I promise to look into it, but don't expect immediate results as I'm busy with other things at the moment.

September 5, 2022

On 5/30/2022 at 9:08 AM, LightJolteon said:

Hello, I've been trying to use the automated script on an Odriod HC4 running Ubuntu Jammy 5.17.5, but it always fails at some point after running APT with some illegal instruction errors. I pasted the output of the script below. I've never really asked for help on one of these forums before and I'm kind of a noob, so if I'm doing something wrong or if more information is needed then let me know.

Sorry for the extreme delay in replying to your post. Since the errors are coming from APT, this could be a distro-specific problem. Have you tried the Bullseye image?

September 5, 2022

On 8/6/2022 at 7:07 AM, mildparanoia said:

Found the problem; the script isn't creating the encrypted partition correctly. If I make the luks partition manually, the script works.

Glad you got it to work. Instead of setting up the LUKS partition manually, erasing everything with the -z option might have solved the problem here.

May 10, 2022

On 4/28/2022 at 4:16 AM, Felix said:
I have Orange Pi Lite. After running the attached script. But, black screen after reboot on LUKS enabled SD Card. I don't see any prompt asking for password to unlock the root partition. I use the following command to run:
sudo ./armbian_rootenc_setup.sh  -R -m -F /dev/sda

Are you able to unlock the device via SSH as per the instructions? Can you ping the device at the expected address?

Note that the script has been updated, so you might clone or pull the new version from Github and try running it again.

May 10, 2022

Updated automated script to support Bullseye and Jammy images, plus minor bugfixes.

August 12, 2021

13 hours ago, Werner said:

Since we have this as open issue do you want to port your tutorial to the documentation and use this thread as support thread?

Thanks for the offer/request. I'll be busy for the next several days, but when I get some free time I'll look into doing this.

July 14, 2021

On 7/4/2021 at 2:29 PM, Bagel said:
Whoop, it works, thanks! I've followed the (non-boot) parts in your tutorial. thus I created a single partition on the SSD, formatted it with LUKS/ext4 and copied the rootfs over to my SSD. I've performed some steps on the original (source) OS as well, such as installing dropbear, copying the authorized keys and editing the crypttab and fstab (basically step 9) + update initramfs.

After rebooting and configuring the new rootfs such as providing new root password etc. I've added two lines to the fstab on the new or target-rootfs:
UUID=old-rootfs-uuid-here /oldfs ext4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=600,errors=remount-ro 0 2
/oldfs/boot /boot none bind 0 0
Now the new system is aware of the boot folder. When I run update-initramfs on the new rootfs, the boot folder is updated accordingly. Not sure if this is the best way to do it, suggestions and improvements are welcome.

When starting the newly copied system for the first time, I noticed that I couldn't use ssh to login for the first time (with root + password "1234"). Is this expected behaviour?

Glad everything worked! However, the bind mount wasn't necessary. Since you're still booting from the SD/eMMC, the old fstab would have worked unmodified. Can't say why you couldn't log in via SSH initially, but in any case this is a minor issue.

June 17, 2021

On 6/7/2021 at 3:30 PM, Bagel said:

Thank you for the comprehensive tutorial!

Instead of installing the encrypted system on an SD/eMMC I'd like to move the rootfs to my SSD and keep the boot partition on the SD-card (I'm using the Odroid HC4, unfortunately can't boot directly from SSD). Is it sufficient to edit the armbianEnv.txt-file in the SD-card's boot-partition? Do you have any suggestions on this?

Yes, this should be doable. Create a LUKS partition and ext4 fs on the SSD, copy the root fs to it, update /etc/crypttab with the new device UUID, mount, chroot and update the initramfs. I haven't tested this myself though, so other steps might be required. But first you should try the tutorial without modification to make sure it works for your board. If it does, please let me know and I'll add the HC4 to the "supported" list.

April 9, 2021

Add serial console disk unlocking instructions at step 9.1. Serial console disk unlocking has been added as an option to the automated script as well.

March 3, 2021

12 hours ago, legogris said:

I guess it should be safe to assume that if `CRYPTROOT_UNLOCK` works, so should this guide?

No, I wouldn't assume that. See the comments by @sunzone above regarding the Orange Pi Zero.

In their case, the problem may be connected with the fact that the OPi Zero requires 'flash-kernel' to set up the boot loader.

I think that boards/images that don't depend on flash-kernel should generally work with this tutorial, but I need more test data to confirm that hypothesis.

February 27, 2021

- Add RockPro64 to supported list

- Add automatic disk unlock prompt (Step 9.10)

October 21, 2020

31 minutes ago, sunzone said:
Also tried with an Opi Zero Plus I had since it is 64bit, following the steps and also using the script.

Boot hangs after
Starting kernel ...

Sorry to hear that. I'm afraid I've run out of options, since I don't have an Opi Zero for testing. If you really need root fs encryption, then you might try building Armbian with the CRYPTROOT_ENABLE option mentioned by @DevShankyin the post above.

October 20, 2020

4 hours ago, sunzone said:

Thanks for the post.
I test the script with Orange Pi zero with the latest Ubuntu Focal image.

Armbian 20.08.1 Focal with Linux 5.8.5-sunxi

After writing to the SD, at booting phase, following error occurs.

...SNIP....

@MMGen anything I need to do additionally to support Orange Pi Zero?

Thanks.

This is not the kind of error I would expect to see. Are you sure you performed all the steps correctly, didn't omit anything? Is the SD card itself in working order? I'll take a look at the Focal Orange Pi Zero image to see if there's anything there that might be causing this error, but I don't have that board to test on, unfortunately.

UPDATE: I looked at your image. Some things you might want to check:

1) Make sure you're editing armbianEnv.txt correctly. After performing the edits, the file should look like this:

verbosity=1
bootlogo=false
console=display
disp_mode=1920x1080p60
overlay_prefix=sun8i-h3
overlays=usbhost2 usbhost3
rootdev=/dev/mapper/rootfs
rootfstype=ext4

2) In boot.cmd there are two lines beginning with 'setenv rootdev'. Make sure you're deleting the first one.

If that doesn't work, there are other things you might try and see whether you get the same or similar error at bootup:

1) Use the automated script instead of the tutorial.

2) Try the Buster image instead of Focal.

October 20, 2020

9 hours ago, DevShanky said:

I am wondering if this script would break nand-sata-install since the base Armbian images are single partition while the new encrypted image on SD card is having a separate Boot and Root partition.

If this is the case then how can we move the image to eMMC from SD?

-R

You don't need nand-sata-install, because the tutorial (and script) create the encrypted system directly on the eMMC. This has been tested successfully on the RockPi 4. Would like to hear from users how it works on other boards.

October 18, 2020

Thanks for pointing that out!

As far as overlap goes, I think this tutorial (and the automated script) has a clear use case, as it creates encrypted Armbian systems without building or compiling anything, which is much easier for most users (the automated script can create a fully configured system on your SD card or eMMC in a matter of minutes).

Secondly, the tutorial can be a valuable learning experience for those interested in better understanding disk partitioning, loop devices, LUKS encryption, uBoot, the Linux bootup process, basic administrative commands, etc.

October 18, 2020

This tutorial is now replaced by https://forum.armbian.com/topic/15618-full-root-filesystem encryption on-an-armbian-system-new-replaces-2017-tutorial-on-this-topic/

October 18, 2020

Full root filesystem encryption on an Armbian system

(new, fully rewritten, replaces my earlier tutorial on this topic)

MMGen (https://github.com/mmgen)

This tutorial provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for setting up full root filesystem encryption on an Armbian system. The disk can be unlocked remotely via SSH or the serial console, permitting unattended bootup.

An automated script that performs the same steps, saving you much time and effort, can be found at https://github.com/mmgen/mmgen-geek-tools

Note that unlike my earlier tutorial all steps are performed within a running Armbian system.

The tutorial is known to work with the following board/image combinations:

Orange Pi PC2	Debian Buster mainline / Ubuntu Bionic and Focal legacy
RockPi 4	Debian Buster mainline / Ubuntu Bionic and Focal legacy
RockPro 64	Ubuntu Focal mainline
Odroid HC4	Debian Buster mainline / Ubuntu Focal mainline

You may have success with other boards/images too. If so, please post the details below (or open an issue in the mmgen-geek-tools Github repository), and I’ll add your board to the list.

Requirements:

A SoC with a running, upgradeable and Internet-connected Armbian system
A blank Micro-SD card and USB card reader, or, alternatively, a blank eMMC installed on the board
The ability to edit text files and do simple administrative tasks on the Linux command line

Step 1 - Preliminaries

All steps in this tutorial are performed as root user on a running Armbian system (the “host”).

The encrypted system (the “target”) will be created on a blank micro-SD card. If your board has an eMMC not currently in use, the system can be created on it instead.

Architecture of host and target (e.g. 64-bit or 32-bit ARM) must be the same.

For best results, the host and target hardware should also be identical or similar. Building on a host with more memory than the target, for example, may lead to disk unlocking failure on the target.

If you’re building the target system for the currently running board and with the currently running image, which is the recommended approach, the two preceding points will be a non-issue.

Packages will be installed using APT, so the host machine must be Internet-connected and its clock correctly set.

Step 2 - Upgrade your system and install the cryptsetup-bin package

# apt update && apt upgrade
# apt install cryptsetup-bin

Step 3 - Get and unpack the latest Armbian image for your board

Create your build directory:

# mkdir armbenc-build && cd armbenc-build

Download the Armbian image of your choice for your board, place it in this directory and unpack:

# xz -dv *.img.xz

Step 4 - Create mount directories and set up the loop mount

Create the mount directories:

# mkdir -p mnt boot root

Determine your first free loop device:

# losetup -f

Associate the image file with the loop device name displayed by the previous command. This will be '/dev/loop0' in most cases, but if your output was different, substitute that for '/dev/loop0' in the following steps.

# losetup -P /dev/loop0 *.img

Examine the disk image using fdisk on the loop device:

# fdisk -l /dev/loop0

The output should look something like this:

Device       Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/loop0p1      32768 3489791 3457024  1.7G 83 Linux

Make a note of the start sector (32768 in this case). You’ll need this value in the steps below.

Now mount the loop device:

# mount /dev/loop0p1 mnt

Step 5 - Copy the boot loader to the SD card

Insert the blank micro-SD card and card reader into a USB port.

Determine the SD card’s device name using 'dmesg' or 'lsblk'. We’ll assume it to be '/dev/sda', since that’s the most likely case. If your device name is different, substitute it for '/dev/sda' in the the following steps. For an eMMC, the device name will probably be '/dev/mmcblk1'.

WARNING: if '/dev/sda' refers to some other storage device, running the following commands unchanged will destroy data on that device, so always remember to substitute the correct device name!!! The best way to eliminate this danger is to disconnect all unused storage devices on the board before proceeding further.

Copy the image’s boot loader to the SD card, using the Start sector value from Step 4 as the argument for 'count':

# dd if=$(echo *.img) of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=32768

Step 6 - Partition the SD card

# fdisk /dev/sda

At the fdisk prompt, create a new DOS disk label with the 'o' command. Use the 'n' command to create a primary partition of size +200M beginning at the same Start sector as the disk image. Type 'p' to view the partition table, which should now look something like this:

Device      Boot  Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1         32768   442367   409600  200M 83 Linux

Use 'n' again to create another primary partition beginning one sector after the first partition’s end sector and filling the remainder of the card. Type 'p' once more to view the partition table:

Device      Boot  Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1         32768   442367   409600  200M 83 Linux
/dev/sda2        442368 30636031 30193664 14.4G 83 Linux

Ensure that the first partition’s Start sector matches that of the disk image (32768 in this example) and that the second partition’s Start sector is one greater than the End sector of the first (442368 and 442367, respectively, in this example). If you’ve made a mistake, use 'd' to delete a partition and start again.

Once everything looks correct, type 'w' to write the partition table to disk.

Step 7 - Copy the system to the SD card

The following commands will create a filesystem on the SD card’s boot partition and copy the boot partition data from the image file to it. Don’t forget to substitute the correct device name if necessary. If you’re building the system on an eMMC, the boot partition device is likely to be '/dev/mmcblk1p1' instead of '/dev/sda1'.

 # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1            # or '/dev/mmcblk1p1', for an eMMC target
 # e2label /dev/sda1 CRYPTO_BOOT
 # mount /dev/sda1 boot
 # cp -av mnt/boot/* boot
 # (cd boot; ln -s . boot)

Create the encrypted root partition. When prompted for a passphrase, it’s advisable to choose an easy one like 'abc' for now. The passphrase can be changed later with the 'cryptsetup luksChangeKey' command (type 'man cryptsetup' for details) once your encrypted system is up and running.

# cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda2 # or '/dev/mmcblk1p2', for an eMMC target

Activate the encrypted root partition and create a filesystem on it:

# cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda2 rootfs  # enter your passphrase from above
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/rootfs

Mount the encrypted root partition and copy the system to it:

# mount /dev/mapper/rootfs root
# (cd mnt && rsync -a --info=progress2 --exclude=boot * ../root)
# sync # be patient, this could take a while
# mkdir root/boot
# touch root/root/.no_rootfs_resize

Unmount the boot partition and image and free the loop device:

# umount mnt boot
# losetup -d /dev/loop0

Step 8 - Prepare the target system chroot

# BOOT_PART=($(lsblk -l -o NAME,LABEL | grep CRYPTO_BOOT))
# ROOT_PART=${BOOT_PART%1}2
# ROOT_UUID="$(lsblk --nodeps --noheadings --output=UUID /dev/$ROOT_PART)"
# BOOT_UUID="$(lsblk --noheadings --output=UUID /dev/$BOOT_PART)"

# cd root
# mount /dev/$BOOT_PART boot
# mount -o rbind /dev dev
# mount -t proc proc proc
# mount -t sysfs sys sys

Copy '/etc/resolv.conf' and '/etc/hosts' so you’ll have a working Internet connection within the chroot:

# cat /etc/resolv.conf > etc/resolv.conf
# cat /etc/hosts > etc/hosts

If you’re using non-default APT repositories, you may need to copy their configuration files as well so that 'apt update' and 'apt install' will use them inside the chroot. Note that you can only do this if the host and target systems have the same distro/version. If that’s not the case, you’ll have to edit the target files by hand.

# cat /etc/apt/sources.list > etc/apt/sources.list
# cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/armbian.list > etc/apt/sources.list.d/armbian.list

If you’re using an apt proxy, then copy its configuration file too:

# cp /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/*proxy etc/apt/apt.conf.d/

Step 9 - Edit or create required configuration files in the target system

Perform the editing steps below using a text editor of your choice:

Edit 'boot/armbianEnv.txt' so that the 'rootdev', 'console' and 'bootlogo' lines read as follows. If you’ll be unlocking the disk via the serial console, then use 'console=serial' instead of 'console=display'. Note that enabling the serial console will make it impossible to unlock the disk from the keyboard and monitor, though unlocking via SSH will still work:
```
rootdev=/dev/mapper/rootfs
console=display
bootlogo=false
```
Edit 'etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf'. If your board will have a statically configured IP, add the following line to the end of the file, substituting the correct IP in place of 192.168.0.88:
```
IP=192.168.0.88:::255.255.255.0::eth0:off
```
If the board will be configured via DHCP, then edit the DEVICE line as follows:
```
DEVICE=eth0
```
If host and target systems are both Debian buster, you may wish add some key modules to the initramfs to avoid a blank display at bootup time. The easiest way to do this is to add all currently loaded modules as follows:
```
# lsmod | cut -d ' ' -f1 | tail -n+2 > etc/initramfs-tools/modules
```
Retrieve the SSH public key from the remote unlocking host and copy it to the target:
```
# mkdir -p etc/dropbear-initramfs
# rsync yourusername@remote_machine:.ssh/id_*.pub etc/dropbear-initramfs/authorized_keys
```
If you want to unlock the disk from more than one host, then edit the authorized_keys file by hand, adding the required additional keys.

Create 'etc/crypttab':

# echo "rootfs UUID=$ROOT_UUID none initramfs,luks" > etc/crypttab

Create 'etc/fstab':

# echo '/dev/mapper/rootfs / ext4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=600,errors=remount-ro 0 1' > etc/fstab
# echo "UUID=$BOOT_UUID /boot ext4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime,commit=600,errors=remount-ro 0 2" >> etc/fstab
# echo 'tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,nosuid 0 0' >> etc/fstab

Create the dropbear configuration file:

# echo 'DROPBEAR_OPTIONS="-p 2222"' > etc/dropbear-initramfs/config
# echo 'DROPBEAR=y' >> etc/dropbear-initramfs/config

If the target is Ubuntu bionic, then a deprecated environment variable must be set as follows:
```
# echo 'export CRYPTSETUP=y' > etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/cryptsetup
```

Set up automatic disk unlock prompt. Performing this optional step will cause the disk password prompt to appear automatically when you log in remotely via SSH to unlock the disk. Using your text editor, create the file 'etc/initramfs-tools/hooks/cryptroot-unlock.sh' with the following contents:

#!/bin/sh

if [ "$1" = 'prereqs' ]; then echo 'dropbear-initramfs'; exit 0; fi

. /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions

source='/tmp/cryptroot-unlock-profile'

root_home=$(echo $DESTDIR/root-*)
root_home=${root_home#$DESTDIR}

echo 'if [ "$SSH_CLIENT" ]; then /usr/bin/cryptroot-unlock; fi' > $source

copy_file ssh_login_profile $source $root_home/.profile

exit 0

Save the file and execute the command:

chmod 755 'etc/initramfs-tools/hooks/cryptroot-unlock.sh'

Step 10 - Chroot into the target system, install packages and configure

Now chroot into the encrypted system. All remaining steps will be performed inside the chroot:

# chroot .

Install the cryptsetup package and the dropbear SSH server:

# apt update
# echo 'force-confdef' > /root/.dpkg.cfg
# apt --yes install cryptsetup-initramfs dropbear-initramfs # for a buster or focal image
# apt --yes install cryptsetup dropbear-initramfs           # for a bionic image
# rm /root/.dpkg.cfg

Make sure everything was included in the initramfs (all three commands should produce output):

# lsinitramfs /boot/initrd.img* | grep 'usr.*cryptsetup'
# lsinitramfs /boot/initrd.img* | grep dropbear
# lsinitramfs /boot/initrd.img* | grep authorized_keys

Your work is finished! Exit the chroot and shut down the board:

# exit
# halt -p

Insert your freshly written SD card into the board’s main SD slot (or, if the target is an eMMC, just remove the SD card from that slot) and reboot.

Unlock the disk by executing the following command on your remote unlocking machine, substituting the correct IP address if necessary:

$ ssh -p 2222 root@192.168.0.88

If you performed step 9.10 above, the disk password prompt should appear automatically after login. If not, you must enter the command 'cryptroot-unlock'.

You may also unlock the disk from the target board’s console if you wish. Note, however, that certain disk images (RockPi 4 buster mainline, for example) might give you a blank display at startup, so you’ll have to enter your disk password “blindly”. This bug will hopefully be fixed in the future.

If all went well, your root-filesystem encrypted Armbian system is now up and running!

October 17, 2020

Fixed boot sector size, luksFormat command. Removed outdated image downloading and unpacking instructions.

Tested on SD and eMMC; Orange Pi PC2 and RockPi 4; Bionic legacy, Focal legacy and Buster mainline images.

Instead of this tutorial, users are now encouraged to use my automated script, which does things in a better, more up-to-date way:

git clone https://github.com/mmgen/mmgen-geek-tools

October 13, 2020

post deleted

February 10, 2019

Fixed some errors with dropbear installation.

February 8, 2019

Tutorial revised, improved and updated for current Ubuntu Bionic images.

January 30, 2018

5 hours ago, Tido said:

In the intro it would be nice read about potential usecases.

Do updates still work as usually.

Are you able to install new software as usually.

Simply because I don't know anything about this and I am always afraid of losing the key

Everything works as usual. If you're worried about forgetting the key, start out with a simple disk password like 'abc'. The password is all you need.

Use case: if your machine ever falls into the wrong hands, any sensitive information on your disk is inaccessible to the attacker (but then you'll need a better password than 'abc').

January 30, 2018

Re-tested tutorial with current server image. Minor updates and revisions.

Advanced users - Development · October 13, 2017

1 hour ago, martinayotte said:

Yes, power is the green one !

This is nothing related to Armbian, it is the board manufacturer that probably decided that, or it was a manufacturing mistake in the pick-and-place machine ...

(Same thing appended with OPiPrime vs OPiWin, the colors differ ... EDIT : For Prime, it is explicitly describe as a decision, For PC2, it seems to be pick-and-place error ...)

Thanks! It's sort of like the mix-up with USB slots on computers. Some are upside-down, others right side up. And it's a constant source of annoyance. Hardware manufacturers are horrible when it comes to observing standards.

Advanced users - Development · October 13, 2017

23 minutes ago, martinayotte said:

As said earlier, the ORANGE_PI-PC2-V1_2_schematic.pdf shows erroneously PA15 in the Pin Grid Summary, but is correct in the wiring itself, showing clearly that it is on PA20, and Yes it is the RED LED that is connected there.

So power green, status red is OK? This is the standard for Armbian? Just wanted to clarify that.

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