Mounting/unmounting TrueCrypt volumes without opening the program

Question

I used the advice given at the end of this article to mount a TrueCrypt volume by double-clicking it. But I can't unmount it without opening TrueCrypt (umount: /media/truecrypt1 is not in the fstab (and you are not root)) so being able to mount it without opening the program is kind of a moot achievement. Any suggestions?

Solution 1

Suggestion One

You can use a terminal to unmount it.

For example, I have an encrypted file named enc1 that is on /home/desgua/Dropbox/, so to mount it I should use:

truecrypt --mount /home/desgua/Dropbox/enc1 /mnt/mymountpoint/

And to unmount:

truecrypt -d /home/desgua/Dropbox/enc1

or simple:

truecrypt -d (which should unmount every truecrypted mounted files)

.

Suggestion Two

Also you can create a launcher to unmount it:

1) Paste this at terminal: gedit ~/Desktop/unmounttruecrypt.desktop,

2) Then paste this into the file and save:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Unmount Truecrypt
Comment=Unmount all mounted Truecrypt files
Exec=gnome-terminal -e "bash -c \"truecrypt -d ; exit; exec bash\""
Icon=/usr/share/icons/Humanity/actions/48/player_eject.svg
Categories=Application;Accessories;

3) Now look at your desktop and drag the file to the Launcher.

.

Suggestion Three

Make a script to unmount it for you:

1) Paste this at terminal: gedit ~/Desktop/utscript,

2) Then paste this into the file and save:

#!/bin/bash
mnt=$(mountpoint /mnt/mymountpoint/) # See suggestion One

if [[ $mnt == "/mnt/mymountpoint/ is a mountpoint" ]]; then

    truecrypt -d /home/desgua/Dropbox/enc1 | zenity --progress --percentage=40 --auto-close --title="Unmounting" --text="I am umounting it now."
    sleep 2 | zenity --progress --percentage=100 --auto-close --title="Done!" --text="Done unmounting!" 
    else

    sleep 2 | zenity --progress --percentage=100 --auto-close --title="Already done!" --text="It is unmounted already!" 

    fi

exit 0  

4) Paste this at terminal: chmod +x ~/Desktop/utscript

Solution 2

try adding it to the /etc/fstab. That worked for me.

/dev/mapper/truecrypt1 /media/truecrypt1  auto   rw,user 0      0

Comments

[RobotHumans]

Haven't tested it since I use LUKS, but it seems legit.

[H3R3T1K]

I added the line to fstab. I now get this error: umount: only root can unmount /dev/mapper/truecrypt1 from /media/truecrypt1 which is weird since I did enter the root PW (same as admin) before I could mount the volume.

[Ruediger]

If you mount it as root only root can unmount it. Try to mount and unmount it as normal user.

[Ruediger]

Had a look into the user option again ... "Only the user that mounted a filesystem can unmount it again. If any user should be able to unmount, then use users instead of user in the fstab line. " Maybe it works better with the users option for you.

[Ruediger]

OK, I tried again. When I mount the volume the first time via the GUI I need to enter the Admin pwd. Then I can mount and unmount the volume via command line without pwd. I had a look in the truecrypt docu truecrypt.org/docs/?s=security-model and it seems you need admin rights to mount truecrypt volumes (at least initially)

[H3R3T1K]

So it isn't possible to just click the unmount button in Nautilus to unmount the TrueCrypt volume? It does work now but when I open TrueCrypt, the volume is still shown mounted.

[gravitation]

doesnt work for me, it still asks for root.