Can I access an encrypted OS X home directory from Linux?

[bedouin]

I know that OS X has no problem mounting a FileVault directory over the LAN from another Mac, but what about accessing a FileVault volume from Linux? So far I'm not having any luck. If it is of any use I'm running Snow Leopard; the client is a TouchPad (don't worry I have an iPad too), which is Linux-based and uses a fairly standard implementation of Samba.

Non-encrypted volumes mount flawlessly. It's not the most important thing in the world, but one of many little challenges that linger inside my head.

[SirDice]

Accessing it over a LAN using Samba or AFP works because the files are available unencrypted. It really doesn't matter what the underlying filesystem is. It's unclear if you are trying to mount this filesystem over the network using Samba or AFP or if you're trying to mount it locally.

[bedouin]

I'm trying to mount my OS X, encrypted home directory from a non-OS X device through Samba. Ordinarily the share point would be x.x.x.x/username. That doesn't seem to be working however. Is there a different syntax when the home directory is encrypted?

[SirDice]

Samba is completely unaware the filesystem is encrypted. If the files are available and accessible locally samba will be able to share them.

Not entirely sure how FileVault works but it's possible the user needs to be logged in locally for the files to become available.

[bedouin]

He doesn't need to be logged in locally, but there is a slightly different syntax for a user directory share when it is encrypted, since it's mounted from a sparse image. The syntax for that share, which is not just the username, is what I need to know. OS X clients are already privy to this difference, but not Linux clients (and maybe Windows, I'm not sure) are not necessarily.

[hayne]

Look into the facilities provided by the various OS X command-line utilities regarding disks. E.g. start by reading 'man diskutil'

[camxe]

Quote: Originally Posted by bedouin He doesn't need to be logged in locally, but there is a slightly different syntax for a user directory share when it is encrypted, since it's mounted from a sparse image. The syntax for that share, which is not just the username, is what I need to know. OS X clients are already privy to this difference, but not Linux clients (and maybe Windows, I'm not sure) are not necessarily.

If the user isn't logged in locally, then the client has to be able to decrypt the Mac sparse image/bundle. That's how Macs do it and it's something another Mac can do but Linux may not be able to (at least without installing something). Ignoring the remote aspect for now, and assuming you have installed software that understands hfs+, are you able to open encrypted Mac disk images on the Linux machine?

[rccharles]

The organization of the filevault home directory is different from how it is normally.

This may help.
Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: FileVault - How to verify or repair a home directory image ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2631?viewlocale=en_US

The organization may vary with the newest versions of X. ( FileVault 2 )

Here is what I see on 10.4.11. I'd think if Linux machine was organized this way & X could change directory structure like ( correct permissions ), it would work.

*How filevault saves your home directory* When you are not logged in, the sparse image is not hidden. It is: /Users/yourshortusername/yourshortusername.sparseimage In the finder, you click on Go then click on Go to folder. then type in the path. example /Users
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
# To find out the users on the system type, use the list command. The l is a lower case L:
mac $ ls -l /Users
total 0
drwxrwx---    3 root      admin      102 May 10  2004 Deleted Users/
drwxr-xr-x   11 filevaul  a          374 Aug 10  2008 a (Deleted)/
drwxr-xr-x   12 filev     filev      408 Jun 21  2009 filev/
dr-x------    3 filevaul  filevaul   102 Jan 23 15:55 filevault/
drwxr-xr-x    5 root      wheel      170 Jul 22  2008 ftp/
... clipped ...
 

### User filevault is not logged in
Your administration password when typed will not appear.

 
mac $ sudo ls -la  /Users/filevault/
Password:
total 98560
dr-x------    3 filevaul  filevaul       102 Jan 23 15:55 .
drwxrwxr-t   23 root      admin          782 Jan 23 16:13 ..
-rw-------    1 filevaul  filevaul  50458624 Jan 23 16:13 filevault.sparseimage
mac $ 
 
### User filevault has logged in
Mac OS moves the sparseimage to a hidden file in the users directory.


sudo ls -la /Users

total 32
drwxrwxr-t   24 root      admin       816 Jan 25 13:59 ./
drwxrwxr-t   50 root      admin      1802 Dec 31  1969 ../
-rwxrwxr-x    1 mac       admin     12292 Jan 23 20:13 .DS_Store*
dr-x------    3 filevaul  filevaul    102 Jan 23 15:55 .filevault/
dr-x------    3 fv        fv          102 Nov 15 20:01 .fv/
-rw-r--r--    1 root      wheel         0 Mar 20  2005 .localized
... clipped ...
mac $sudo cd .filevault 
mac $pwd
/Users/.filevault
mac $sudo ls -la
total 100608
dr-x------    3 filevaul  filevaul       102 Aug 31 12:41 ./
drwxrwxr-t   25 root      admin          850 Aug 31 12:41 ../
-rw-------    1 filevaul  filevaul  51507200 Aug 31 12:43 filevault.sparseimage
mac $ 


 
mac $ sudo ls -la  /Users/filevault/
total 24
drwx------   15 filevaul  filevaul   612 Jan 23 16:03 .
drwxrwxr-t   24 root      admin      816 Jan 23 16:03 ..
-rw-r--r--    1 filevaul  filevaul     3 Jan 23 15:50 .CFUserTextEncoding
-rw-r--r--    1 filevaul  filevaul  6148 Jan 23 15:54 .DS_Store
drw-------    7 root      filevaul   238 Jan 23 16:03 .Spotlight-V100
drwx------    2 filevaul  filevaul    68 Jan 23 16:03 .Trash
d-wx-wx-wt    2 root      admin       68 Jan 23 15:55 .Trashes
drwx------    5 filevaul  filevaul   170 Jan 23 15:55 Desktop
drwx------    3 filevaul  filevaul   102 Jan 23 15:50 Documents
drwx------   20 filevaul  filevaul   680 Jan 23 15:54 Library
drwx------    3 filevaul  filevaul   102 Jan 23 15:50 Movies
drwx------    3 filevaul  filevaul   102 Jan 23 15:50 Music
drwx------    4 filevaul  filevaul   136 Jan 23 15:50 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x    4 filevaul  filevaul   136 Jan 23 15:50 Public
drwxr-xr-x    5 filevaul  filevaul   170 Jan 23 15:50 Sites
mac $