2. Creating the encrypted root filesystem

Fill the target partition with random data:

shred -n 1 -v /dev/hda2

Setup the encrypted loopback device:

losetup -e aes256 -S xxxxxxxxxx /dev/loop0 /dev/hda2 Password:

To prevent optimized dictionary attacks, it is recommended to add the -S xxxxxxxxxx option, where "xxxxxxxxxx" is your randomly chosen seed. Also, in order to avoid boot-time problems with the keyboard map, do not use non-ASCII characters (accents, etc.) in your password.

Now create the ext3 filesystem:

mke2fs -j /dev/loop0

Check that you correctly entered the password:

losetup -d /dev/loop0 losetup -e aes256 -S xxxxxxxxxx /dev/loop0 /dev/hda2 Password:

mkdir /mnt/efs mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/efs

You can compare the encrypted and unencrypted data:

xxd /dev/hda2 | less xxd /dev/loop0 | less

It's time to install your encrypted Linux system. If you use a GNU/Linux distribution (such as Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, Mandrake, RedHat/Fedora, SuSE, etc.), run the following command:

cp -avx / /mnt/efs

If you use the Linux From Scratch book, proceed as described in the manual, with the modifications below:

• Chapter 6 - Installing util-linux:

  Apply the loop-AES patch after unpacking the sources.

• Chapter 8 - Making the LFS system bootable:

  Refer to the next section.