[RESOLVED] Question about LUKS + Grub

[nulltheliteralnothing]

Hi Everyone,

I have setup LUKS on a Micros**t Surface Pro 3.

I wanted a Gentoo box in a tablet form.

Works pretty decently.

I wanted to encrypt the box as it is portable.

The boot sequence has me entering in the pass phrase twice.

Machine starts, GRUB requests the passphrase.

Initramfs starts, Initramfs requests the passphrase again.

Is this common?

It isn’t a big deal outside of the fact that I cannot use the device vertically.

*scenario 1*

If I take off the dedicated keyboard then an on-display keyboard will appear.

The on-display keyboard works for GRUB but not for the Initramfs request.

*scenario 2*

If I take off the dedicated keyboard and plug-in a USB keyboard then GRUB won’t work.

*scenario 3*

If I use the on-display keyboard and then plug in a USB keyboard then Initramfs throws an error saying the Initramfs needs to load first.

[grknight]

[nulltheliteralnothing]

[nulltheliteralnothing]

Is there any method of getting a USB keyboard running for the passphrase for the initramfs? Interestingly enough, when I plug in the USB keyboard and the initramfs passphrase is no longer requested, I see a lot of output about a USB device connecting before it tells me "initramfs" needs to be loaded first. I will work towards clarifying that information. I will also test a separate USB keyboard to see if it is just that model.

[Hu]

Yes, a USB keyboard can be used to enter the passphrase. I remember using a USB keyboard in this way because of one unfortunate kernel upgrade when a kernel developer moved the Kconfig symbol for the keyboard I was using to a different name, causing the newer kernel not to support that keyboard. Once I figured out what had happened and enabled the appropriate new Kconfig symbol, the keyboard worked again. As with all early boot hardware support, you need the appropriate kernel support either built-in or you need to embed the module for it in the initramfs. Personally, I would choose built-in for any hardware that I expect to be supported for the entire time the system is up (keyboard, mouse (if desktop), primary network card, etc.). Reserve modules for things you might go an extended time without using.

[nulltheliteralnothing]

Weirdly, the mechanical keyboard seems to drop into "echo" showing the USB keyboard connecting to the system, but then immediately followed by an error. I am using the USB keyboard from my multimedia system and I didn't encounter any issues.