Cryptkeeper removed from Ubuntu 18.04

Question

I had installed Cryptkeeper in Ubuntu 16.04 lts.
I have upgraded Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04.

After I upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 , I completely lost my file which were encrypted through Cryptkeeper in Ubuntu 16.04. There are only folders where I kept my files.

Now when I try to install Cryptkeeper in Ubuntu 18.04 through terminal it says

E: Package 'cryptkeeper' has no installation candidate

Does anyone know how to bring back my files without degrading Ubuntu to 16.04 LTS?
Or, does anyone know of another file encryption program, as easy to install and use as Cryptkeeper, that will work reliably on Ubuntu 18.04 ?

Solution 1

You can use GNOME EncFS Manager as an alternative, it lets you import your old encrypted folders.

To install it from PPA , first run

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gencfsm/ppa
sudo apt-get update

Then install GNOME EncFS Manager by running

sudo apt install gnome-encfs-manager

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Statutory warning: EncFS is not a very secure way to encrypt files, you may consider alternative methods.

Solution 2

Cryptkeeper's just a front-end for EncFS, so you could at least install & use EncFS directly in a terminal to read your old encrypted files.

The package is called encfs so install that (you'll have to enable the universe repository if it's not enabled already) and basically just run

encfs ~/encrypted-folder ~/mount-point

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Or you could attempt to install the older version of cryptkeeper, by downloading it's .deb file from Ubuntu's packages webpage for xenial here https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/cryptkeeper then attempting to install it with

dpkg -i file.deb

But it's not at all guaranteed to work correctly, or at all, or even install.

Comments

[Jack M]

On Ubuntu 20, after installing I ran it from the terminal. Window shows up, I close it. Try running it from the launcher to make sure it works. Windows doesn't show up. Process manager says it's still running, kill it. Try running it again. Doesn't work from either terminal or launcher. This is all within thirty seconds of installing it. This software seems to be buggy beyond the point of usability.

[pomsky]

Have you rebooted your system at least once after installing the application? My guess is that the issue not with the application per se, but something to do with a missing app-indicator. Sounds like the application is minimised to tray at startup, but somehow the DE is failing to show the indicator.

[Jack M]

Sadly yes - no sign of the tray icon even after a full reboot.

[pomsky]

Issues with (missing) tray indicators is quite common since GNOME doesn't officially supports them. Try using one of Tray Icons or Tray Icons: Reloaded extensions.