Installing Trisquell/Disk Encryption Problem
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When I tried to install Trisquel from a USB drive I had no problems until I tried to start the system. During installation I chose to encrypt my hard drive and I set a password making sure they matched and I wrote it down before I actually typed it. I used 20 characters of a mixture of upper and lowercase case, numbers, and symbols. But when I start Trisquel from GRUB using the Trisquel GNU/Linux option it asks for my passphrase after running through about half a screen to a full screen of commands I'm not familiar with and I have entered it exactly as it is probably a dozen times but every time I'm told:
cryptsetup: cryptsetup failed, bad password or options?
It then asks me again until a third time of unsuccessful login at which point it says the same thing but then, "done." It then says a whole screen full of things that I'm not familiar with until it says, " mdadm: CREATE group disk not found." It will repeat this skipping a line each time as what appears to be forever until I shut down my computer using the power button.
If I then use Ctrl+alt+del it restarts my computer into GRUB. I tried the other two options in GRUB (Advanced options for Trisquel GNU/Linux and System setup) but when it asks for my username and password and I enter it, nothing happens it just takes me back to the GRUB screen.
Can someone give me hope of unlocking my computer again? I don't understand what is going on. Is it possible that the problem lies in my non free hardware?
It also says, "No key available with this passphrase," before the part where it says, "mdadm: CREATE group disk not found." There is also a list of commands before and after those two lines I just mentioned but they don't mean anything to me.
Not sure about that...
..but the trivial answer would be that either you ACTUALLY mistype your password, OR you tricked yourself when writing down the password, and the one you noted down isn't exactly the one you created..
Can you try to reinstall everything with a simpler password, just to make sure it works?
If it does, you can then do a third install with your actual strong password, making sure you actually use the right one..
Also, when reinstalling pay attention that the keyboard layout you provide during the installation actually matches the physical layout of your keyboard!
Sorry, I don't have any other clue in mind..
Unfortunately when I put my USB drive into the computer it doesn't give me any option to do anything with it. Everything just remains the same in GRUB as I described above.
I'm pretty certain that I didn't trick myself or mistype my password. I was very careful and took my time while typing into the computer and I wrote it down carefully as well making sure that there would be no confusion with the font when I wrote it down.
The only thing I can think of is that there is a slight tweak in the keyboard setup but I doubt that even. I tested the keyboard out when selecting the layout and I selected the default English layout. I probably should've tested the password out when I tested the layout but I didn't. I'm almost certain I tried all the numbers and letters on the main part of the keyboard at least but I did not use shift to test out all of the main keys I mentioned. I did try shift with some letters and numbers though and had no problems. Everything seemed fine during the test and my keyboard is set up pretty standard (comparable to most if not all keyboards I have come across).
Hi justinTime
I have the same issue on a Lenovo T400 with Azerty Keyboard, when it boot up the keyboard in my case stays Qwerty.So i reinstalled and chose to make along passphrase with "only the same letters" that one can find on a Azerty & Qwerty Keyboard (meaning same letters at the very same location)
Is there another way to reinstall besides a bootable usb, cd, or dvd? I don't have the option to use cd or dvd and the usb I had no luck with. I don't have a optical drive.
Did you protect grub usb-boot option with a password?
If that's the case, and if you're not able to correctly put the password in, then there's only one chance, and it's to reflash libreboot and its grub payload the hardware way..
If you didn't, then you should be able to boot from usb.
If it doesn't boot, the issue probably lies in the usb itself. Try to burn a new usb iso, maybe on a different stick, and using a different method (e.g. if you used unetbootin, try using the "dd" method).
Or, maybe try a different bootable image, or another distro (debian maybe?)
If still no luck.. I fear hardware flashing is the only way left..
[EDIT]
If grub prompts you for a username and password, and you didn't set up one, maybe it's just the default grub password, which could be one of the combinations below:
user=root, pass=root
user=root, pass=1234[....]
[whatever equally obvious...]
I strongly suggest you ask Leah about this issue, or at least search about the default grub user and password.
Keep in mind that the GRUB user/pass isn't the same as the disk encryption password.
No I didn't use a password to protect grub usb-boot option. I would have no idea how to do that even. I may try another usb stick to see if that works along with using another method. Do you think that the usb being a Sandisk brand rather than say a ThinkPenguin usb could be the problem?
I can ask Leah about this issue but I'm sorry I do not know who Leah is. Can you direct me to her?
Also maybe I should mention, I need my laptop functioning again in less than a week. I have to be very strategic with my time right now to make sure I have a functioning laptop for a class I'm about to begin next Monday. I had no way to predict this would happen otherwise I would have waited to install Trisquel.
Have you tried a long passphrase without ""special charaters & numbers"" ?
just a long series of letters
Have you tried installing without encryption ?
You can always encrypt a folder(s) or your installation later with Luks, Cryptkeeper, Tomb..
No I haven't tried a long passphrase without special characters and numbers.
I have installed without encryption before and was able to use Trisquel but I ran into a lot of problems. So I was attempting to reinstall to see if that would correct some of the issues I was having since the live system on the USB was working better than the installed system. I have been interested in encrypting the hard drive for some time now so I thought I'd give it a try since it asked if I wanted to right in the installation process.
;-) ok
Try just a long nosensical phrase of about 20 to 25 letters (or less)
catrockhubzerytghelpwhatever
A (strong) passphrase you can remember and not have to note down on a notebook
Ok I will next time if I'm able to get back to the installation stage
Do you think that the usb being a Sandisk brand rather than say a ThinkPenguin usb could be the problem?
I really don't think so. It COULD be a faulty stick, regardless of its brand, or it COULD be that the "bootable" part of the iso image on that drive is somehow corrupted..
Anyway:
I can ask Leah about this issue but I'm sorry I do not know who Leah is. Can you direct me to her?
I misread your first post, so I was thinking you installed Trisquel with full-disk encryption upon a libreboot firmware, that's why I was pointing you to Leah Rowe, libreboot's main developer.
But that's clearly not the case, so:
forget about all the "hardware flashing" part in my last comment, that won't be needed.
If grub doesn't present you with a "boot from usb" option, then you just need to boot from your usb BEFORE grub.
You can do that by simply entering the "booting device" option in your proprietary bios, and selecting the usb stick.
Differen BIOSes have different keys to enter the boot menu, but you can find plenty of info on how to do that around the web. Common keys are ESC, F1, F9, F10.
I don't have any options before GRUB, as soon as I turn my computer on it starts in GRUB. This wasn't the case in the last installation I performed. I did have the booting device option you're speaking of before GRUB every time I turned my computer on after the last installation but I no longer do with the new installation attempt.
The only options I have now are the ones I mentioned above in my first comment of the forum. Those were: Trisquel GNU/Linux, Advanced options for Trisquel GNU/Linux, and System setup. I'm unable to do anything with the last two options except enter my username and password but nothing happens it just takes me back to the GRUB screen with all three options.
I also tried to type 'e' to edit and 'c' for command line but that prompts me for the username and password as well only to take me back to the main GRUB screen. It's possible that there is a default GRUB username and password and that's why it takes me back to the GRUB main screen. I've just been trying my username and password I use to unlock my computer from sleep and the username and password suggestions you had that were very obvious logins.
I am a translator!
You should be able to reinstall. Restart your computer and as soon as the monitor turns on press the keyboard key to enter the BIOS (usually del, cancel or f2). Look for "boot order" or "boot preference" or something and select either the USB (if your Trisquel ISO is on the USB) or DVD (if you burned the ISO on the DVD). If the USB option doesn't work, try the DVD option.
That should work.
I restarted my computer then tried del, f2, and esc (is that what you meant by cancel?) in the GRUB main screen but nothing happened.
I had similar problems when I re-flashed with Libreboot to add a
GRUB password. I talked about them here:
The shorter and thorough guide to updating Libreboot on an X200 |
Trisquel GNU/Linux - ¡Va por libre!
https://trisquel.info/es/forum/shorter-and-thorough-guide-updating-libreboot-x200#comment-103741
In short, adding a GRUB password screwed my keyboard layout to the
point I couldn't enter any password... so the computer wouldn't boot. I
had to use a bootable USB to boot, then re-flash the BIOS with no GRUB
password.
--
Ignacio Agulló · name at domain
Ok I don't think I have a problem with the keyboard layout because when I just tried to enter my encryption key for my hard drive in the GRUB username field (just to see if it was working properly) I had no problems with the keyboard for the entire encryption key.
What is strange is I don't believe I ever created a GRUB password. Unless you're able to in the installation process, I think in my case it just made one up by default. Problem with this is I have no idea what that would be since I didn't create one.
Trisquel sets up a (random) useless GRUB password by default (whereas the default user always is "grub"). When I write that the GRUB password is useless, I am actually repeating what GRUB's developers state in their documentation:
By default, the boot loader interface is accessible to anyone with physical access to the console: anyone can select and edit any menu entry, and anyone can get direct access to a GRUB shell prompt. For most systems, this is reasonable since anyone with direct physical access has a variety of other ways to gain full access, and requiring authentication at the boot loader level would only serve to make it difficult to recover broken systems.
https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#Security
The password is at the end of /etc/grub.d/01_PASSWORD. Just read it from a live system (thus proving the uselessness of the password).
Alright do they plan to remove it at some point?
I'll try booting the same usb stick on a different computer and go to the folder you're speaking of for the password.
6.5 years ago, Ruben (Trisquel's leader) argued here that the GRUB password was real security: https://trisquel.info/forum/how-come-trisquel-dont-have-recovery-mode
I do not know if he has changed his mind since the release of Trisquel 7. I have not tested Trisquel 8 either. To those who have: is there still a GRUB password?
Having trouble booting into the live system from another computer and don't want to mess up someone's computer taking guesses at it. How do you test out the live system on the usb if you don't have trisquel installed on the computer? I don't have the GRUB option obviously so is there a folder I should be clicking on in my usb?
You must boot the live system (typically on a USB key), i.e., the BIOS must be configured to give the USB priority over the disk (some computer also have a F[1-12] key to choose the peripheral to boot). This has nothing to do with GRUB. Running the live system does not alter the installed system either. Whatever it is. Well, unless you want to.
I am a translator!
If you tell us the model of your laptop (the brand should be enough) we can maybe find the relevant key to the BIOS doors.. or use a search engine.. like this -> Asus C41x how to BIOS.
Once you enter the BIOS you will find the way.
>canc
It's like 'del', stands for 'cancel' depending on your keyboard, that is where in the world you are located. All laptops I had so far either have del, canc, esc or f2. You press that key repeatedly as soon as your pc starts.
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