[ENCRYPTION] Installer still crashes when trying to set up multiple encrypted partitions

[suplero]

Ever since 14.04 (or earlier, that was the first one I remember), the installer is unable to set up multiple encrypted partitions.

Full disk encryption works, but trying to set up multiple encrypted partitions always hangs or crashes the installer.

The need for multiple encrypted partitions is so common that a whole set of posts have recently copied this same theme/tutorial:

https://annadodson.co.uk/blog/2019/0...ing-in-ubuntu/

What part of the kubuntu (and ubuntu) installer has issues with multiple encrypted partitions? I assume the tutorial steps work, I haven't tried them yet, but they are so convoluted and seemingly unnecessary when the *installer* offers the option to set up multiple partitions with encryption.

[claydoh]

IIRC, the installer simply is not designed/intended to do what you want (even if it seems like it?), but manually setting it up outside the installer should work. Unfortunately, Ubuntu don't seem keen to make the installer any more complex than it is.

Where does the installer offer to encrypt multiple partitions? (I am not seeing it ,but it could be right under my nose)
Have you looked for any bug reports on it (ubiquity)?

Here is another detailed setup that seems a bit more thorough, with images.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fu...ion_Howto_2019
This is more graphical, and seems to be accurate as far as I can see.
I am sure it can be modified to add any extra partitions you may have.
And another (overly verbose and detailed) how to:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ma...level_overview

Personally, I have only ever used the encrypted /home (16.04 and earlier) and the 'full disk' encryption (18.04 and newer).

[suplero]

Thanks for the reply.

The option to encrypt multiple partitions isn't offered as a single option, but is accomplished by selecting manual install, creating partitions, and for each partition type selecting LVM or encrypted partition. For example creating sda3 and sda4 both as encrypted type, and the setup (12.04 was the last one that worked that I remember) will ask for passwords for each, and then format them. After this, the installer then asks for the mount point - and successfully sets up the fstab to know they are encrypted and asks for passwords for each partition on boot.

This process is exactly the same as the "encrypt whole disk" option, but should (used to?) work independently for each encrypted partition created.

This process may still work on the server version, which is how I installed 16.04 onto multiple partitions. My 16.04 server install is a little buggy because I installed the server then installed KDE on top of that, but some little things must be missing because there are little bugs that standard kubuntu doesn't have.

I also think I was able to do this for another community version of ubuntu - lubuntu? I can't remember which.

Thanks

[suplero]

After going through the install, here are the steps to reproduce:

In Disk Setup, select "Manual"

In the drive partitioner select type as "physical volume for encryption" on any partition. In the past, this would set up a password dialog and then the crypto partition could be set up as a mount point.

Since 14.04 (or earlier) the install barfs at this step. Here is the error I get in Kubuntu 16.04.2 install. The error happens in any configuration of partitions when any "physical volume for encryption" is selected.

Traceback (most recent call last):
file "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/kde_components/PartMan.py",
line 453, in on_edit_clicked
self.partman_edit_dialog(devpart, partion)
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/kde_components/PartMan.py",
line 367, in partman_edit_dialog
self.ctrlr.dbfileter.edit_pantition(devpart, **edits)
File "/usr/lib/ubiqity/plugins/ubi-partman.py", line 3289, in edit_partition
assert self.current_question == 'partman/choose_partition"
Assertion Error

When the installer worked, all the steps of setting up the fstab and crypttab were done by the installer and it worked flawlessly. A completely seamless way to add encrypted partitions without worrying about uuid or mount points for fstab.