HOWTO: Encrypted directory with EncFS

[remmelt]

This guide describes how to create encrypted directories. These can come in handy for laptop users, password lists and the like.

1. Install the software

sudo apt-get install encfs fuse-utils
sudo modprobe fuse

And since we don't want to modprobe each time we reboot, add "fuse" to /etc/modules (without quotes, on a line of its own)

2. Add yourself to the fuse group
The installer creates a fuse group and to use fusermount you need to be in this group. You can do this with your favourite GUI admin tool or command line:

sudo adduser <your username> fuse

3. Create a directory where your encrypted stuff will be stored
I put mine in my home dir, but you can put it anywhere you like.

mkdir ~/encrypted

4. Create a mountpoint
This is the directory where you will mount the encrypted directory. Through this path you can access the encrypted files.

mkdir ~/temp_encr

5. Create the encrypted system and mount it
The first time you try to mount the directory, encfs will create the encrypted filesystem. It works like the regular mount:

encfs <folder to mount> <mount point>

So for this example:

encfs /home/<your username>/encrypted /home/<your username>/temp_encr

Note that encfs wants absolute paths, i.e. starting with a /

6. Do the work
Put some files in your ~/temp_encr folder and look in the ~/encrypted one: they will show up there, encrypted.

7. Unmount the encrypted filesystem
Unmounting is as easy as

fusermount -u /home/<your username>/temp_encr

8. Goto step 5
Repeat! EncFS will only create the filesystem once, after that first time it will ask for a password and mount your directory.


Remember to keep the two directories apart: in this example the "encrypted" folder holds your encrypted data and should not be used directly. The gateway to access this data is "temp_encr" or whatever you want to call it.


Sites used:
http://arg0.net/wiki/encfs - the main EncFS site
how-to-mount-a-remote-ssh-filesystem-using-sshfs