# Encrypted Virtual Disk in Linux

**URL:** https://discussion.scottibyte.com/t/encrypted-virtual-disk-in-linux/123
**Category:** Uncategorized
**Created:** [August 20, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://discussion.scottibyte.com/t/encrypted-virtual-disk-in-linux/123 "2022-08-20T18:19:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![scott](https://discussion.scottibyte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@scott](https://discussion.scottibyte.com/u/scott)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://discussion.scottibyte.com/t/encrypted-virtual-disk-in-linux/123/1 "2022-08-20T18:19:44Z")

</div>

In the last couple presentations we discussed how to create and mount virtual disks in Linux. Virtual disks can emulate a block based storage device inside of a single file. You can also create an encrypted virtual disk in Linux. We can use the Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) to create and access encrypted storage inside of a virtual disk.

Make sure that cryptsetup is installed on your system:

```auto
sudo apt install cryptsetup

```

Create a blank file to host the disk. In this example I create a 50MB file in the media folder.

```auto
sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/media/encrypted-disk.img bs=1M count=50

```

Set up encryption on the disk image file. There are other choices for the hash, key size and cipher that you can read about in the documentaiton:

```auto
sudo cryptsetup luksFormat --type=luks2 --hash=sha512 --key-size=512 --cipher=aes-xts-plain64 /media/encrypted-disk.img

```

Check to see that the disk image file is encrypted:

```auto
file /media/encrypted-disk.img

```

Connect/open the encrypted image file to be able to use it:

```auto
sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /media/encrypted-disk.img encrypted-disk

```

Check the status of the encrypted image now that we are connected to it:

```auto
sudo cryptsetup -v status encrypted-disk

```

Format the disk:

```auto
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/encrypted-disk

```

See that there is a file system on the disk:

```auto
ls -l /dev/mapper/encrypted-disk

```

Create a mount point for the disk:

```auto
sudo mkdir /mnt/encrypted-disk

```

Mount the disk using the mount point:

```auto
sudo mount /dev/mapper/encrypted-disk /mnt/encrypted-disk

```

I changed the file ownership to my account in order to be able to access the disk without sudo privilege:

```auto
sudo chown scott:scott /mnt/encrypted-disk

```

I moved to the mount point and created files inside the encrypted disk:

```auto
cd /mnt/encrypted-disk
mkdir test
touch a-file-test

```

To dismount the disk and disconnect from the encrypted access:

```auto
cd ~
sudo umount /mnt/encrypted-disk
sudo cryptsetup luksClose encrypted-disk

```

I demonstrated also that you cannot mount the disk directly without connecting it encrypted. This command fails:

```auto
sudo mount -o loop /media/encrypted-disk.img /mnt/encrypted-disk

```

To mount the existing encrypted disk:

```auto
sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /media/encrypted-disk.img encrypted-disk
sudo mount /dev/mapper/encrypted-disk /mnt/encrypted-disk

```

If you want to delete your encrypted disk and all the data in it including the mount point folder:

```auto
sudo umount /mnt/encrypted-disk
sudo cryptsetup luksClose encrypted-disk
sudo rm /media/encrypted-disk.img
sudo rmdir /mnt/encrypted-disk

```