How can I access volumes encrypted with LUKS/dm-crypt from Windows?

Question

The answer to this question used to be FreeOTFE (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeOTFE); sadly, the project has not been updated for three years and its website (http://www.freeotfe.org) is no longer online.

Is there any software available now that can be used to access LUKS/dm-crypt volumes from Windows, now that FreeOTFE is no longer maintained/available?

Could you use a VM with Linux installed and mount the entire parition in the VM? I know it's not strictly accessing it directly in Windows, but would allow you to access it on an existing computer with Windows installed, to recover the files and put them in a more windows friendly format like TruCrypt. — Kibbee, Aug 01 '13 at 14:12
Yes, it works well. This is the way to go for me. No cluttering Windows with buggy and unstable third-party drivers. Just set up a Linux VM, mount the encrypted volume on a Samba share, then access the contents from the Windows host system. — Martin Hansen, Jun 30 '15 at 11:04

score 17 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 04 '15 at 13:16

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LibreCrypt (formerly DoxBox, itself formerly FreeOTFE) offers LUKS-compatible disk encryption for Windows. It will also open legacy FreeOTFE volumes.

answered Jul 04 '15 at 13:16

nitrl

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LibreCrypt has unfortunately been abandoned :-( – Chetan Bhargava Dec 01 '17 at 01:39
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FreeOTFE -> DoxBox -> LibreCrypt -> is there a 2018 successor? – flith Mar 19 '18 at 11:04
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@flith, Veracrypt also see https://alternativeto.net/software/doxbox/ – adam Oct 21 '18 at 03:27
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afaik Veracrypt is not compatible with LUKS containers – eadmaster Dec 14 '19 at 13:16

abu_bua · Answer 2 · 2021-04-10T20:20:21.677

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WSL 2 on Windows10

Windows allows now to mount physical disks using the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL).

For people who are not familiar with WSL2:

... Windows Subsystem for Linux is a compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables natively on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019. In May 2019, WSL 2 was announced, introducing important changes such as a real Linux kernel, through a subset of Hyper-V features. ...

find more on Wikipedia

The Windows 10 WSL2 now supports a mount command for linux filesystems called wsl.

First of all you have to install WSL2 on your windows10+ release. I recommend to simply follow the microsoft installation guide.

Now you can use apt commands as common on ubuntu/debian systems

sudo apt install cryptsetup

and use thecryptsetup luksOpen command.

Previous WSL didn't support CRYPT, and you had to recompile the kernel. To check if DM_CRYPT is supported on your system, open a wsl2 terminal and type the following command:

cat /proc/config.gz | gunzip | grep CONFIG_DM_CRYPT

The output should be CONFIG_DM_CRYPT=y without a hash (# ), and =y should be set.

edited Apr 10 '21 at 20:20

answered Mar 03 '21 at 13:18

abu_bua

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This is only available in Insider Preview builds: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/access-linux-filesystems-in-windows-and-wsl-2/ – Dr. Koutheir Attouchi Jun 21 '21 at 20:53
Why don't I see any `/proc/config.gz`. – KalEl Mar 11 '22 at 02:18
How I can mount a USB Drive Stick in WSL ? I can not see the media by entering `df` – Walter Schrabmair Feb 03 '23 at 13:42
To see the device using `df` it is necessary to wsl-mount it first. USB-Sticks are currently not supported by WSL 2. I wasn't able to mount usb sticks with the wsl mount command. – UNIQUEorn Apr 27 '23 at 09:31

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 06 '21 at 22:52

As other commentors have mentioned, one approach is to use a VM running linux and copy the files out. For the sake of this process being easier to run for others, and for me when I want to do this again. These are the steps I followed:

Install VirtualBox
If you are mounting from USB you probably need to add the USB3 extension pack from here https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
Download debian linux from osboxes https://www.osboxes.org/debian/ and add a virtualbox image from this
Add a usb device from the preferences for this device
Install cryptsetup apt-get install cryptsetup
Run cryptsetup open /dev/$BLAH encrypted
You should then be able to mount /dev/mapper/encrypted and read files.

Why is this answer downvoted? It looks like a pretty straight-forward solution which should work. — StaNov, May 02 '23 at 15:31

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 03 '13 at 04:38

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FreeOTFE from 2010, although abandonware, is still available for download from here.

However, while as far as I know it is the only solution of its kind, there were still reports of problems and bugs with this product. Therefore @Kibbee's comment of using in Windows a Linux virtual machine might be the safest way to go.

I don't know of any successors to FreeOTFE.

I remark that Truecrypt is an excellent alternative to LUKS/dm-crypt, available on both Linux and Windows and still under development.

answered Aug 03 '13 at 04:38

harrymc

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As of 5-28-14 Truecrypt is no longer under active development. – CountMurphy May 30 '14 at 23:33
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[DoxBox](https://github.com/t-d-k/doxbox) is the assumed successor of FreeOTFE. – Naftuli Kay Jan 12 '15 at 04:47
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VeraCrypt may be considered the sucessor of Truecrypt. – Pedro Polonia Jul 06 '17 at 13:19
More details in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_disk_encryption_software – Pedro Polonia Jul 06 '17 at 13:19
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LibreCrypt is inactive at this day (2017-11-02) – Zulgrib Nov 02 '17 at 07:55
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@Zulgrib: Truecrypt itself is no longer under development. Its successors are VeraCrypt and CipherShed, as well as numerous other commercial and open-source products. – harrymc Nov 02 '17 at 09:04
They do not work the same way even if valid alternative. – Zulgrib Nov 05 '17 at 14:09
They're forks of it. – harrymc Nov 05 '17 at 14:30
Not of FreeOTFE. – TJJ Mar 23 '22 at 15:26

How can I access volumes encrypted with LUKS/dm-crypt from Windows?

4 Answers4

WSL 2 on Windows10

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