2025-12-19 03:40 UTC
Replies (28)
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@crowgirl@hachyderm.io 2025-12-19 19:47
Problem solved! Thank you for your help, everyone! -- Everyone, learning Chown saved me! Problem over. Now I have backed up my crucial files, I will reinstall Kubuntu on my internal disk. I have learned: Chown! Backup my documents to an external USB thumb drive. 😖 And... Be very careful playing around with NVIDIA drivers in Linux! But... An automatic update broke Vulkan, made me unable to play my Steam games! Hopefully fresh install, default up to date NVIDIA driver based on my graphics card model, will mean I can eventually enjoy Steam for Linux again.
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@D_J_Nathanson@esq.social 2025-12-19 03:52
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io Adding a hashtag Linux to the post might help visibility. It’s worked for me when I was stuck. Good luck!
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@90sScriptKiddiw@kolektiva.social 2025-12-19 04:03
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io having been in this position before, I would say the first thing to do, before anything, is image that drive. Use dd or something to make a copy of it before doing anything. That way you can try risky things without worrying.
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@earthshine@masto.hackers.town 2025-12-19 04:05
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io encrypted but *not* LUKS? Do you know what your keys are? Sorry if I can't help much on this but will boost.
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@BR549@infosec.exchange 2025-12-19 04:10
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io @drwho@masto.hackers.town Before taking any action make an image backup of the storage device to another storage device. Buy an external hard drive if needed to store the copy. Make the image using dd or ddrescue running from the LiveCD. After making the backup remove the original storage device and store it in a safe place. Get a new storage device of the same size or larger and restore the image to it with ddrescue. Now you can try to recover using the new copy. Never write to the original until you have recovered the data from the copy.
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@mikka@mastodon.ml 2025-12-19 04:17
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io use `file` cli program from livecd on the block device to check what it is, it is going to tell you what that partition actually is.
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@aud@fire.asta.lgbt 2025-12-19 04:24
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io hi hiiii; let's see if I can maybe help a little? You mentioned neither Crypsetup nor LUKs is working; you have the password, you're using ext4. Definitely do not reinstall Linux at this time because yeah, if you wipe that partition, it's probably all lost. Do you have any details about the computer itself? Are you using a desktop or a laptop, and how new is it? If you have a TPM module, I'm seeing that maaaybe ubuntu 24.04 (and maybe kubuntu) has an option for using the TPM for disk encryption. I'm still reading into it, but in that case, it might be that the keys you've mentioned that you don't have are stored in there. I'll keep reading here, but if you get a chance would you mind letting me know about the computer age / make / model?
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@utf_7@mastodon.social 2025-12-19 04:30
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io are we talking about full disk encryption or an encrypted home directory?
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@erik@puget.social 2025-12-19 04:43
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io A possibly helpful page on full disk encryption on Ubuntu, especially the way TPM could be used. https://documentation.ubuntu.com/security/security-features/storage/encryption-full-disk/
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@ddelemeny@mastodon.xyz 2025-12-19 04:45
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io what do you mean by "I can't boot into my OS" ? Describe what happens as precisely as you can, maybe the failure happens in a stage where the system can still be operated and a working state recovered. Also, describe how you messed up driver packages, it seems unlikely that fiddling with a video driver would completely cripple the system.
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@JebelKrong@social.linux.pizza 2025-12-19 04:51
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io Is there someone you trust that’s knowledgeable enough to work on this with you in person or with a screen share? When I’ve gotten myself in situations like this, anxiety kicks in and I miss things. A second head can be helpful. Agree with imaging the drive, it’s a good first move. Good luck. If you feel ok with it, shout out a general location, maybe someone can suggest a local group.
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@TommyTorty10@infosec.exchange 2025-12-19 04:52
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io Ive been there before but didn't have encryption to contend with. Take a breath. It'll be ok, one step at a time. I'll second all the people suggesting to make a backup with dd or whatever. You can't go wrong making a backup as long as you're comfortable with the tools you're using to create it. I dont know your level of experience, so I'm gonna throw some questions and suggestions at the metaphorical wall to see what sticks. Feel free to ask questions or disregard if Im just not helpful. We'll start easy, what do you see when you turn on the computer? BIOS splash? OS loading screen? Login screen? If it's just desktop and graphics drivers that are screwed up, you might see nothing, just black, or maybe a login screen that just doesn't work. Press Ctrl-Alt and any one of the F keys. This should take you to a terminal only interface where you can log in. Usually F7 is the default for a normal desktop, but that varies depending on distro.
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@hexanol@mastodon.social 2025-12-19 04:55
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io are you sure it's actually encrypted? it doesn't seem like it, what happens if you just cd into the mount point?
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@utf_7@mastodon.social 2025-12-19 04:58
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io just another thing: luks uses en_us keymap.
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@gantua@pleroma.marchera-pas.fr 2025-12-19 06:41
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io Your 20.04 LiveCD is quite old. It is possible that your 24.04 installation uses more recent cryptography not supported by 20.04's kernel or cryptsetup (i'm assuming it is cryptsetup). Try with a 24.04 LiveCD.
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@RealGene@hachyderm.io 2025-12-19 06:45
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io Here's the content from your Reddit post, for convenience: Linux partition crisis, I need data recovery, help! I was using Kubuntu 24.04 without problems for well over a year. Then some update messed with my NVIDIA drivers and I couldn't launch any of my Steam Linux games, Vulkan errors. After messing around with various NVIDIA driver packages, I lost my ability to boot into my operating system. I am now running Kubuntu 20.04 from a LiveCD. Help me! I tried all kinds of things with truecrypt, veracrypt, cryptsetup. No success. LiveCD OS does see the Kubuntu 24.04 partition. It's /dev/nvme1n1p2, mounted on /media/kubuntu/kubuntu_2404 I know the password to that partition. But it doesn't seem to use LUKS encryption. Cryptsetup and LuksOpen doesn't work because I get "/media/kubuntu/kubuntu_2404 is not compatible" and "/dev/nvme1n1p2 is not compatible" Trying to install from LiveCD is a scary risk because when I tried the installer, there was no indication that it would preserve my documents in the old /dev/nvme1n1p2 24.04 partition. So I'm not trying that. A book that I owe Kickstarter backers is on that partition. I know the password for whatever encryption is on there! And it is ext4. But it doesn't seem to be LUKS encryption. And I can't figure out what it used for encryption. Or how to use the OS sudo password I was using to log into 24.04 to decrypt it so I can recover it. Help! I am in a crisis. 😭😭😭
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@WinNT4@mastodon.social 2025-12-19 06:46
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io Have you tried taking a look at the partition using a GUI utility of some sort? Kubuntu comes with the KDE Partition Manager, that should be able to auto-recognize it and AFAIK unlock and mount it.
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@hansvschoot@mastodon.social 2025-12-19 07:00
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io if you cannot afford to lose the data, start with creating a full disk image. Get yourself an external (or internal in case of a desktop) HDD (fast enough for a backup, no need to break the bank) that is big enough. Boot into the live cd/usb. The dd command should look something like (make sure to replace sdX with the correct letter for the target drive): dd if=/dev/nvme1n1 of=/dev/sdX statusprogress bs=1M Try to find a local linux group, hands-on support is a lot easier!
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@freya@chaosfem.tw 2025-12-19 07:14
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io heya, from the live cd, what happens if you run: file -s /dev/nvme0n1p[2
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@pantaRhei@freiburg.social 2025-12-19 07:23
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io maybe as a starting point: lsblk --output vendor,model,name,label,size,fstype,fsused,uuid should give you a first overview on the storage, partition and partition types found. From there you can hopefully narrow down the issue. 🤞
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@IceWolf@masto.brightfur.net 2025-12-19 07:23
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io Putting the comment I just put there here as well: I wrote up a whole thing about "yeah try the file command on the partition" before realizing... wait, it's mounted? Check out the contents of that partition, /media/kubuntu/kubuntu_2404. It might be home encryption with, um, ecryptfs? I think it's called? It's file-based encryption, your files stored as encrypted files instead of a whole encrypted block device.
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@trashwizard@mastodon.social 2025-12-19 07:33
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io @_L1vY_@mstdn.social Whatever you do, be extremely cautious of ANY instructions around (g)parted or dd. You could lose the whole thing very easily if you’re not familiar with how these tools work and mix up, swap or typo the syntax. I would recommend hiring an expert if you have an entire book on the line, if that’s an option.
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@lilahglitch@babka.social 2025-12-19 08:02
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io Oh! This is actually straightforward to fix, especially if getting access to the data read-only is the primary goal -- don't panic, don't try to reinstall. Boot into a shell with a livecd and see what lsblk tells you -- does it recognize the disk as `crypt`? Are you able to read the LUKS header?
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@thebluehunter@infosec.exchange 2025-12-19 08:31
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io I wrote you this in Reddit but I put it here also for visibility here's what I think is happening: The home directory is probably encrypted with ecryptfs (file-based encryption), not the whole disk with LUKS. This is a common Ubuntu setup option. Try this: Open a terminal and run: ls /media/kubuntu/kubuntu_2404/home Can you see your username folder? Can you see files inside it, or does it look like gibberish/encrypted filenames? If it looks encrypted, you need to decrypt your home folder: sudo apt install ecryptfs-utils sudo ecryptfs-recover-private /media/kubuntu/kubuntu_2404/home/.ecryptfs It'll ask for your login password (the one you used to log into 24.04).
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@mahadevank@mastodon.social 2025-12-19 08:54
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io i can hop on a call and try to help if you like. I have a calendar link on my mastodon profile so you can schedule from there. Firstly though, try to make a clone of your storage so that you can experiment without the fear of losing your data
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@EineMeh@mastodon.social 2025-12-19 12:13
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io I recommend the English-language Linux support from LinuxGuides, which is subject to a fee. Nevertheless, the quality is very good. And to my knowledge, you do not have to pay/will receive a refund if the support team is unable to find a solution. https://linuxort.com/linux-support/
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@DaleHagglund@hachyderm.io 2025-12-19 13:22
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io I haven't read all the comments here or on Reddit, and the focus is clearly on lvm issues which I can't comment on, but here are some thoughts: - Is the nvme device removable? (I presume so, but who knows.) If so, you might consider removing it until you get your computer back up and running with no risk of the install process messing up the nvme drive. The following seem to me less likely to be relevant, but I thought I'd mention them. - Also, you can get m.2 nvme enclosures from ugreen on Amazon for not too much money that with allow you to plug in the drive via usb at up to 10Gb/s. I mention this because it would avoid having to open up your machine to install the nvme drive during the recovery process, so just a but less messing around. - I suggest making a full block level copy of the nvme drive that way if something goes wrong during recovery you should be able to recreate it and try again. The nvme enclosure mentioned above could make that slightly more convenient.
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@esoteric_programmer@social.stealthy.club 2025-12-19 13:57
@crowgirl@hachyderm.io I could barely load that page because of the js and stuff like that, but from what I'm reading there, you have issues with losing the key to an encrypted partition? are you sure you have the correct partition type for what the issue is? what does the file command say when you point it at the encrypted partition?