Unlocking an encrypted Linux disk for offline repair

Article
10/08/2022

This article describes how to unlock an Azure Disk Encryption (ADE)-enabled OS disk for offline repair.

Azure Disk Encryption can be applied to Microsoft endorsed Linux virtual machines (VMs). Here are some basic requirements to enable Azure Disk Encryption in Linux VMs:

Azure Key Vault
Azure CLI or Windows PowerShell cmdlets
Device-mapper (DM)-Crypt

Symptoms

If ADE is enabled on the OS disk, you might receive the following error messages after you try to mount the disk on a repair VM:

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda2, missing codepage or helper program, or other error

mount: unknown filesystem type 'LVM2_member'

Preparation

Before you unlock the encrypted OS disk for offline repair, complete the following tasks:

Confirm that ADE is enabled on the disk.
Determine whether the OS disk uses ADE version 0 (dual-pass encryption) or ADE version 1 (single-pass encryption).
Determine whether the OS disk is managed or unmanaged.
Select the method to unlock the encrypted disk.

Verify that ADE is enabled on the disk

You can do this step in the Azure portal, PowerShell, or the Azure command-line interface (Azure CLI).

Azure portal

View the Overview blade for the failed VM in the Azure portal. Beneath Disk, the Azure disk encryption entry will appear as either Enabled or Not Enabled, as shown in the following screenshot.

PowerShell

You can use the Get-AzVmDiskEncryptionStatus cmdlet to determine whether the OS or data volumes for a VM are encrypted by using ADE. The following example output indicates that ADE encryption is enabled on the OS volume:

Get-AzVmDiskEncryptionStatus -ResourceGroupName "ResourceGroupName" -VMName "VmName"

For more information about the Get-AzureRmDiskEncryptionStatus cmdlet, see Get-AzVMDiskEncryptionStatus (Az.Compute).

Azure CLI

You can use the az vm encryption show command to check whether ADE is enabled on VM disks:

az vm encryption show --name MyVM --resource-group MyResourceGroup --query "disks[].encryptionSettings[].enabled"

For more information about the az vm encryption show command, see az vm encryption show.

Note

If ADE is not enabled on the disk, see the following article to learn how to attach a disk to a repair VM:Troubleshoot a Linux VM by attaching the OS disk to a repair VM.

Determine whether the OS disk uses ADE version 0 (dual-pass encryption) or ADE version 1 (single-pass encryption)

You can identify the ADE version in the Azure portal by opening the properties of the VM, and then selecting Extensions to open the Extensions blade. On the Extensions blade, view the version number of AzureDiskEncryptionForLinux.

If the version number is 0.*, the disk uses dual-pass encryption.
If the version number is 1.* or a later version, the disk uses single-pass encryption.

If your disk uses ADE version 0 (dual-pass encryption), use the Method 3 to unlock the disk.

Determine whether the OS disk is managed or unmanaged

If you don't know whether the OS disk is managed or unmanaged, see Determine if the OS disk is managed or unmanaged.

If the OS disk is an unmanaged disk, follow the steps in Method 3 to unlock the disk.

Select the method to unlock the encrypted disk

Choose one of the following methods to unlock the encrypted disk:

If the disk is managed and encrypted by using ADE version 1, and your infrastructure and company policy allow you to assign a public IP address to a repair VM, use Method 1: Unlock the encrypted disk automatically by using az vm repair command.
If your disk is both managed and encrypted by using ADE version 1, but your infrastructure or company policy prevent you from assigning a public IP address to a repair VM, use Method 2: Unlock the encrypted disk by the Key file in the BEK volume. Another reason to choose this method is if you lack the permissions to create a resource group in Azure.
If either of these methods fails, or if the disk is unmanaged or encrypted by using ADE version 1 (dual-pass encryption), follow the steps in Method 3 to unlock the disk.

Method 1: Unlock the encrypted disk automatically by using az vm repair command

This method relies on az vm repair commands to automatically create a repair VM, attach the OS disk of the failed Linux VM to that repair VM, and then unlock the disk if it's encrypted. This method requires using a public IP address for the repair VM, and it unlocks the encrypted disk regardless of whether the ADE key is unwrapped or wrapped by using a key encryption key (KEK).

To repair the VM by using this automated method, follow the steps in Repair a Linux VM by using the Azure Virtual Machine repair commands.

If your infrastructure and company policy don't allow you to assign a public IP address, or if the az vm repair command doesn't unlock the disk, go to the next method.

Method 2: Unlock the encrypted disk by the key file in the BEK volume

To unlock and mount the encrypted disk manually, follow these steps:

Create a new repair VM, and attach the encrypted disk to this VM during VM creation.
You must attach the encrypted disk when you create the repair VM. This is because the system detects that the attached disk is encrypted. Therefore, it fetches the ADE key from your Azure key vault, and then creates a new volume that's named "BEK VOLUME" to store the key file.
See Also
Device encryption in Windows - Microsoft Support mount command in Linux with Examples - GeeksforGeeks Mounting and unmounting media using Linux How to Encrypt a Linux File System with DM-Crypt - Linux.com
Log in to the repair VM, then unmount any mounted partitions on the encrypted disk.
Identify the ADE key file in the BEK volume.
Identify the header file in the boot partition of the encrypted OS.
Unlock the encrypted disk by using the ADE key file and the header file.
Mount the partition: LVM, RAW or non-LVM.

Create a repair VM

Take a snapshot of the encrypted OS disk.
Create a disk from the snapshot. For the new disk, choose the same location and availability zone as that of the problem VM that you want to repair.
Create a VM that's based on the following guidelines:
- In the Azure Marketplace, choose the same image for the repair VM that was used for the failed VM. (The OS version should be the same.)
- Choose a size that allocates at least 8 GB of memory to the VM.
- Assign this new VM to the same resource group, region, and availability settings that you used for the new disk that you created in step 2.
On the Disks page of the Create a Virtual Machine wizard, attach the new disk (that you just created from the snapshot) as a data disk.

Important

Because the encryption settings are detected only during the VM creation, make sure that you attach the disk when you create the VM. This enables a volume that contains the ADE key file to be added to the VM automatically.

Unmount any mounted partitions on the encrypted disk

After the repair VM is created, SSH to your repair VM, log in by using the appropriate credentials，and then elevate the account to root:
```
sudo -s 
```
List the attached devices by using the lsblk command. In the output, you should see multiple attached disks. These disks include the active OS disk and the encrypted disk. They can appear in any order.
Identify the encrypted disk by using the following information:
- The disk will have multiple partitions
- The disk will not list the root directory ("/") as a mountpoint for any of its partitions.
- The disk will match the size that you noted when you created it from the snapshot.
In the following example, the output indicates that "sdd" is the encrypted disk. This is the only disk that has multiple partitions and that does not list "/" as a mountpoint.
Unmount any partitions on the encrypted data disk that have been mounted in the file system. For example, in the previous example, you would have to unmount both "/boot/efi"* and "/boot".
```
umount /boot/efi umount /boot 
```

Identify the ADE key file

You must have both the key file and the header file to unlock the encrypted disk. The key file is stored in the BEK volume, and the header file is in the boot partition of the encrypted OS disk.

Determine which partition is the BEK volume:
```
lsblk -fs | grep -i bek 
```
The following example output indicates that sdb1 is the BEK volume:
```
>sdb1 vfat BEK VOLUME 04A2-FE67 
```
If no BEK volume exists, re-create the repair VM by having the encrypted disk attached. If the BEK volume still does not attach automatically, try Method 3 to retrieve the BEK volume.
Create a directory that's named "azure_bek_disk" under the "/mnt" folder:
```
mkdir /mnt/azure_bek_disk 
```
Mount the BEK volume in the "/mnt/azure_bek_disk" directory. For example, if sdb1 is the BEK volume, enter the following command:
```
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/azure_bek_disk 
```
List the available devices again:
```
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,LABEL,PARTLABEL,MOUNTPOINT 
```
Note: You'll see that the partition that you determined to be the BEK volume is now mounted in "/mnt/azure_bek_disk."
View the contents in the "/mnt/azure_bek_disk/" directory:
```
ls -l /mnt/azure_bek_disk
```
You should see the following files in the output (the ADE key file is "LinuxPassPhraseFileName"):
```
>total 1 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 148 Aug 4 01:04 CRITICAL_DATA_WARNING_README.txt -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 172 Aug 4 01:04 LinuxPassPhraseFileName
```
You may see multiple "LinuxPassPhraseFileName" if more than one disk is attached to the encrypted VM. The "LinuxPassPhraseFileName" will be enumerated according to the number of disks in the same order as their Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs).
See Also
How To Mount and Unmount Drives on Linux

Identify the header file

The boot partition of the encrypted disk contains the header file. You'll use this file, together with the "LinuxPassPhraseFileName" key file, to unlock the encrypted disk.

Use the following command to show selected attributes of the available disks and partitions:
```
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,LABEL,PARTLABEL,MOUNTPOINT
```
On the encrypted disk, identify the OS partition (root partition). This is the largest partition on the encrypted disk. In the previous example output, the OS partition is "sda4." This partition must be specified when you run the unlock command.
In the root directory ("/") of the file structure, create a directory to which to mount the root partition of the encrypted disk. You'll use this directory later, after the disk is unlocked. To distinguish it from the active OS partition of the repair VM, give it the name "investigateroot".
```
mkdir /{investigateboot,investigateroot}
```
On the encrypted disk, identify the boot partition, which contains the header file. On the encrypted disk, the boot partition is the second largest partition that shows no value in the LABEL or PARTLABEL column. In the previous example output, the boot partition of the encrypted disk is "sda2."
Mount the boot partition that you identified in step 4 into the /investigateboot/ directory. In the following example, the boot partition of the encrypted disk is sda2. However, the location on your system might differ.
```
mount /dev/sda2 /investigateboot/ 
```
If mounting the partition fails and returns a "wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock" error message, try again by using the mount -o nouuid command, as in the following example:
```
mount -o nouuid /dev/sda2 /investigateboot/ 
```
List the files that are in the /investigateboot/ directory. The "luks" subdirectory contains the header file that you must have to unlock the disk.
List the files that are in the /investigateboot/luks/ directory. The header file is named "osluksheader."
```
ls -l /investigateboot/luks 
```

Use the ADE key file and the header file to unlock the disk

Use the cryptsetup luksOpen command to unlock the root partition on the encrypted disk. For example, if the path to the root partition that contains the encrypted OS is /dev/sda4, and you want to assign the name "osencrypt" to the unlocked partition, run the following command:
```
cryptsetup luksOpen --key-file /mnt/azure_bek_disk/LinuxPassPhraseFileName --header /investigateboot/luks/osluksheader /dev/sda4 osencrypt 
```
Now that you have unlocked the disk, unmount the encrypted disk's boot partition from the /investigateboot/ directory:
```
umount /investigateboot/ 
```
Note: You'll have to mount this partition to another directory later.
The next step is to mount the partition that you have just unlocked. The method that you use to mount the partition depends on the device mapper framework (LVM or non-LVM) that's used by the disk.
List the device information together with the file system type:
```
lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE 
```
You'll see the unlocked partition and the name that you assigned to it (in our example, that name is "osencrypt"):
- For the LVM partition such as "LVM_member", see Mount the LVM partitionRAW or non-LVM.
- For the non-LVM partition, see Mount the non-LVM partition.

Mount the unlocked partition and enter the chroot environment (LVM only)

If the disks use the LVM device mapper framework, you have to take extra steps to mount the disk and enter the chroot environment. To use the chroot tool together with the encrypted disk, the unlocked partition ("osencrypt") and its logical volumes must be recognized as the volume group that's named rootvg. However, by default, the repair VM's OS partition and its logical volumes are already assigned to a volume group that has the name rootvg. We must resolve this conflict before we can continue.

Use the pvs command to display the properties of the LVM physical volumes. You might see warning messages, as in the following example, that indicate that the unlocked partition ("/dev/mapper/osencrypt") and another device are using duplicate universally unique identifiers (UUIDs). Alternatively, you might see two partitions assigned to rootvg.
Note
You want only the unlocked partition ("osencrypt") to be assigned to the rootvg volume group so that you can access its logical volumes through the chroot utility. To fix this problem, you'll temporarily import the partition into a different volume group, and activate that volume group. Next, you'll rename the current rootvg volume group. Only after you enter the chroot environment will you rename the encrypted disk's volume group as "rootvg."

Assigning the unlocked partition (example)

Import the newly unlocked partition into a new volume group. In this example, we are temporarily naming the new volume group "rescuemevg".Import the newly unlocked partition into a new volume group. In this example, we are temporarily naming the new volume group "rescuemevg".

Activate the new volume group:

vgimportclone -n rescuemevg /dev/mapper/osencryptvgchange -a y rescuemevg

Rename the old rootvg volume group. In this example, we will use the name "oldvg."
```
vgrename rootvg oldvg 
```
Run lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,LABEL,PARTLABEL,MOUNTPOINT to review the available devices. You should now see both volume groups listed by the names that you assigned to them.
Mount the rescuemevg/rootlv logical volume to the /investigateroot/ directory without using the duplicate UUIDs:
```
umount /investigatebootmount -o nouuid /dev/rescuemevg/rootlv /investigateroot/ 
```
Now, the root partition of the failed VM is unlocked and mounted, and you should be able to access the root partition to troubleshoot the issues. For more information, see Troubleshoot Linux virtual machine boot issues due to filesystem errors.
However, if you want to use the chroot utility for troubleshooting, continue by using the following steps.
Mount the encrypted disk's boot partition to the directory /investigateroot/boot/ without using the duplicate UUIDs. (Remember that the encrypted disk's boot partition is the second largest that's assigned no partition label.) In our current example, the encrypted disk's boot partition is sda2.
```
mount -o nouuid /dev/sda2 /investigateroot/boot
```
Mount the encrypted disk's EFI system partition to the /investigateroot/boot/efi directory. You can identify this partition by its label. In our current example, the EFI system partition is sda1.
```
mount /dev/sda1 /investigateroot/boot/efi
```

Mount the remaining unmounted logical volumes in the encrypted disk's volume group to subdirectories of "/investigateroot/":

mount -o nouuid /dev/mapper/rescuemevg-varlv /investigateroot/varmount -o nouuid /dev/mapper/rescuemevg-homelv /investigateroot/homemount -o nouuid /dev/mapper/rescuemevg-usrlv /investigateroot/usrmount -o nouuid /dev/mapper/rescuemevg-tmplv /investigateroot/tmpmount -o nouuid /dev/mapper/rescuemevg-optlv /investigateroot/opt

Change the active directory to the mounted root partition on the encrypted disk:
```
cd /investigateroot
```

Enter the following commands to prepare the chroot environment:

mount -t proc proc procmount -t sysfs sys sys/mount -o bind /dev dev/mount -o bind /dev/pts dev/pts/mount -o bind /run run/

Enter the chroot environment:
```
chroot /investigateroot/
```
Rename the rescuemevg volume group to "rootvg" to avoid conflicts or possible issues with grub and initramfs. Keep the same naming convention when you regenerate initramfs. Because of the vg name changes, work on the rescue VM. It will no longer be useful if you restart it. The rescue VM should be considered to be a temporary VM.
```
vgrename rescuemevg rootvg
```
Troubleshoot issues in the chroot environment. For example, you can read logs or run a script. For more information, see Perform fixes in the chroot environment.
Exit chroot and swap the OS disk.

Mount the unlocked disk, and enter the chroot environment (RAW/non-LVM)

In the root directory ("/") of the file structure, create a directory into which to mount the root partition of the encrypted disk. You'll use this directory later, after the disk is unlocked. To distinguish it from the active OS partition of the repair VM, name it to "investigateroot".
```
mkdir /{investigateboot,investigateroot}
```
Mount the newly unlocked partition ("osencrypt") to the /investigateroot/ directory:
```
mount /dev/mapper/osencrypt /investigateroot/ 
```
If mounting the partition fails and returns a "wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock" error message, try again by using the mount -o nouuid command:
```
mount -o nouuid /dev/mapper/osencrypt /investigateroot/ 
```
Try to display the contents of the /investigateroot/ directory to verify that the mounted partition is now unlocked:
```
ls /investigateroot/ 
```
Now the root partition of the failed VM is unlocked and mounted, you can access the root partition to troubleshoot the issues. For more information, see Troubleshoot Linux virtual machine boot issues due to filesystem errors..
However, if you want to use the chroot utility for troubleshooting, go to the next step.
Use the command lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,LABEL,PARTLABEL,MOUNTPOINT to review the available devices. Identify the boot partition on the encrypted disk as the second largest partition that's assigned no label.
Mount the boot partition on the encrypted disk to the "/investigateroot/boot/" directory, as in the following example:
```
mount /dev/sdc2 /investigateroot/boot/ 
```
Change the active directory to the mounted root partition on the encrypted disk:
```
cd /investigateroot 
```

Enter the following commands to prepare the chroot environment:

mount -t proc proc proc mount -t sysfs sys sys/ mount -o bind /dev dev/ mount -o bind /dev/pts dev/pts/ mount -o bind /run run/

Enter the chroot environment:
```
chroot /investigateroot/ 
```
Troubleshoot issues in the chroot environment. You can read logs or run a script. For more information, see Perform fixes in the chroot environment.
Exit chroot and swap the OS disk.

Method 3: Re-encrypt the disk to retrieve the key file, and unlock the encrypted disk

Create the repair VM, and attach a copy of the locked disk to a repair VM:
- For a managed disk, see Troubleshoot a Linux VM by attaching the managed OS disk to a repair VM.
- For an unmanaged disk, use the Storage Explorer to create a copy of the affected VM's OS disk. For more information, see Attach an unmanaged disk to a VM for offline repair.

After you attach the encrypted disk as the data disk to the repair VM, use the Key Vault and Key Encrypted key (KEK) that used for the original VM to re-encrypt this data disk. This process will automatically generate and mount a BEK volume by using a BKE key file in the repair VM. You must not use the EncryptFormatAll option because the ADE extension could encrypt the boot sector on the data disk.

If the original VM is encrypted by wrapped BEK, run the following command.

 az vm encryption enable -g "resource group" --name "VMName" --disk-encryption-keyvault "keyvault" --key-encryption-key "kek" --volume-type "data"

If the original VM is encrypted by BEK, run the following command:

az vm encryption enable -g "resource group" --name "VMName" --disk-encryption-keyvault "keyvault" --volume-type "data"

To determine the values for disk-encryption-keyvault and key-encryption-key, run the following command:

az vm encryption show --name "OriginalVmName" --resource-group "ResourceGroupName"

In the following table, find the values in the output. If the keyEncryptionKey value is blank, your VM is encrypted by BEK.

Parameter	Value in the output	example
disk-encryption-keyvault	diskEncryptionKey:id	/subscriptions/deb73ff9-0000-0000-0000-0000c7a96d37/resourceGroups/Thomas/providers/Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/ContosoKeyvault
key-encryption-key	keyEncryptionKey:KeyURI	`https://ContosoKeyvault.vault.azure.net/keys/mykey/00000000987145a3b79b0ed415fa0000`

Run the following command to check whether a new disk is attached:
```
lsblk -f
```
If a new disk is attached, go to Identify the ADE key file in the BEK volume, and then continue following the provided steps to unlock the disk.

Next steps

If you're having problems connecting to your VM, see Troubleshoot SSH connections to an Azure VM.

If you have questions or need help, create a support request, or ask Azure community support. You can also submit product feedback to Azure community support.

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Jan 18, 2018

Can hackers decrypt encrypted data? ›

No, hackers cannot see encrypted data, as it is scrambled and unreadable until the encryption key (or passphrase) is used to decrypt it. However, if a hacker manages to obtain the encryption key or crack the encryption algorithm, then they can gain access to the data.

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How do I unlock my VM machine? ›

Command : lock Locking VM 'MyVM01' Press Ctrl-C to unlock. The lock command will sleep until you press Ctrl+C to release the lock.

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How to unlock VM in VMware? ›

On a physical computer using the VMware View access, if the screen says “Press CTRL + ALT + DELETE to unlock this computer,” and the virtual desktop toolbar is visible at the top of the screen, click “Send Ctrl-Alt-Delete” on the virtual desktop toolbar instead of actually pressing those keys.

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How to bypass VMware password? ›

How to Reset your VMware ESX Server root password

Shutdown and Reboot your VMware ESX Server. ...
Press “a” to modify the kernel arguments. ...
Enter single user mode. ...
Change the root password. ...
Reboot the ESX Server. ...
Verify the new password. ...
In Summary.

Jan 8, 2009

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What is the difference between a virtual hard disk and a virtual machine disk? ›

A virtual hard disk (VHD) is a disk image file format for storing the entire contents of a computer's hard drive. The disk image, sometimes called a virtual machine (VM), replicates an existing hard drive, including all data and structural elements.

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How to detect external hard drive in virtual machine? ›

How to connect external hard drive to VM

Verify the USB controller is present. ...
Plug the USB device into the USB port of the physical computer.
Access to VMware Workstation and click VM >> Removable devices >> your external hard drive, then click Connect.

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Mar 8, 2023

Do VMs get their own IP? ›

VM interfaces are assigned IP addresses from the subnet that they are connected to. Each VM interface has one primary internal IPv4 address, which is assigned from the subnet's primary IPv4 range. If the subnet has an internal IPv6 range, the VM interface can optionally be configured with an internal IPv6 address.

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Are VMware VMs encrypted? ›

VM encryption supports the encryption of virtual machine files, virtual disk files, and core dump files. Some of the files associated with a virtual machine like log files, VM configuration files, and virtual disk descriptor files are not encrypted.

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Are VMware disks encrypted? ›

Two types of keys are used for VM encryption: Data encryption key (DEK): The ESXi host generates and uses internal keys to encrypt VMs and disks . These XTS-AES-256 keys are used as DEKs .

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How to enable vTPM in VMware? ›

Deploying vTPM (Virtual TPM Modules) on VMware vSphere ESXi

Log on to your vCenter Server.
Select your vCenter Server from the Inventory List.
Select “Key Providers”
Click on “Add”, and select “Add Native Key Provider”
Give the new NKP a friendly name.

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Jul 17, 2022

How to recover Linux VM? ›

Recovery process overview

Stop the affected VM.
Take a snapshot for the OS disk of the VM.
Create a virtual hard disk from the snapshot.
Attach and mount the virtual hard disk to another Linux VM for troubleshooting purposes.
Connect to the troubleshooting VM.

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Oct 7, 2022

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How to recover password to Linux in VM? ›

To reset the name and password of the user account with sudo privileges or the SSH public key in the Azure portal, click Browse > Virtual machines > your Linux virtual machine > All settings > Password reset.

How to reinstall VM in Linux? ›

2.1. Creating a Linux Virtual Machine

Click the Virtual Machines tab.
Click the New VM button to open the New Virtual Machine window. ...
Select a Linux variant from the Operating System drop-down list.
Enter a Name for the virtual machine.
Add storage to the virtual machine. ...
Connect the virtual machine to the network.

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How do I recover a corrupted virtual machine? ›

If a VM's OS is corrupted, you can retrieve the boot disk data to recover the VM.
...
Recovering a corrupted VM

Add the disk name.
For Source type, select the Snapshot tab.
In the Source snapshot drop-down menu, select the snapshot of the source VM that you created earlier in these steps.
Click Done.

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How to recover data from corrupted virtual machine? ›

a. Go to Computers, click VM to open Virtual Machine. b. Click Select Files > Restore Files.

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How to repair a virtual machine disk? ›

Repair process overview

Launch Azure Cloud Shell.
Run az extension add/update.
Run az vm repair create.
Run az vm repair run, or perform mitigation steps.
Run az vm repair restore.

Oct 7, 2022

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How do I reset my virtual machine operating system? ›

Procedure. Press the Option key and click Virtual Machine > Force Restart, the hard power option, to reset the operating system in your virtual machine.

How do I reset a Linux machine? ›

Linux system restart

To reboot the Linux system from a terminal session, sign in or “su”/”sudo” to the “root” account. Then type “ sudo reboot ” to reboot the box.

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How do I restore Azure VM with managed disks? ›

In the Azure portal, go to Backup center. Select Backup instances under the Manage section. From the list of backup instances, select the disk backup instance for which you want to perform the restore operation. Alternately, you can perform this operation from the Backup vault you used to configure backup for the disk.

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How do I decrypt a drive in Linux? ›

Right-click the BitLocker encrypted drive you want to decrypt in main window, then click "Turn off BitLocker".

Enter the password or recovery key, then click "Next".
Hasleo BitLocker Anywhere For Linux will now decrypt the contents of the selected drive using BitLocker drive encryption.

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Oct 18, 2019

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How to decrypt encrypted data in Linux? ›

In order to decrypt an encrypted file on Linux, you have to use the “gpg” command with the “-d” option for “decrypt” and specify the “. gpg” file that you want to decrypt. Again, you will be probably be prompted with a window (or directly in the terminal) for the passphrase.

How do I unencrypt a file in Linux? ›

That's it.

Open a terminal window and generate a GPG key. ...
Change into the directory housing the file. ...
Encrypt the file. ...
Configure the password cache agent. ...
Install the required software. ...
Open the Nautilus file manager. ...
Select your encryption method. ...
Decrypt the file.

Apr 4, 2023

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How to remove encryption from hard drive Linux? ›

Cleaning up Persistent entries

Remove the Luks Key from partition or Disk. Once done with removing entries remove the added key using “luksRemoveKey“. ...
Remove the Crypt password stored in a file. ...
Close the Luks Device: ...
Remove the Logical volume used as the encrypted disk.

Feb 7, 2018

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Can encrypted drives be recovered? ›

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How do I access an encrypted disk? ›

1 - Decrypt EFS (encrypted) hard drive partition

Step 1: Open Run dialogue (Windows + R keys), type certmgr.msc and hit Enter.
Step 2: Open Certificate Manager > Click Personal folder in the left pane;
Step 3: Select Action > All Tasks > Import and follow the Certificate Import Wizard.

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Feb 22, 2023

How to remove LUKS encryption in Linux? ›

Convert the device from LUKS2 to LUKS1: sudo cryptsetup convert --type luks1 device_path. Decrypt the (now) LUKS1 device: sudo cryptsetup-reencrypt --decrypt device_path.

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How to decrypt private key Linux? ›

How to Decrypt an RSA Private Key Using OpenSSL

Open terminal.
Run the open ssl command to decrypt the file $ openssl rsa -in <encrypted_private.key> -out <decrypted_private.key> Enter pass phrase for encrypted_private.key: <enter the password> writing RSA key.

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Feb 22, 2021

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How do I convert an encrypted file to decrypt? ›

To decrypt a file or folder:

From the Start menu, select Programs or All Programs, then Accessories, and then Windows Explorer.
Right-click the file or folder you want to decrypt, and then click Properties.
On the General tab, click Advanced.
Clear the Encrypt contents to secure data checkbox, and then click OK.

Jan 18, 2018

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How to decrypt a file with PGP key in Linux? ›

Decrypt a file:

gpg --decrypt filename.txt.gpg.
gpg filename.txt.gpg.
gpg --decrypt filename.txt.gpg > filename-copy.txt.

How to encrypt decrypt password in Linux? ›

Decrypting database passwords (Unix/Linux)

Stop Sterling B2B Integrator.
Open the /<install_dir>/properties directory.
Open the sandbox. ...
Copy the encrypted password from the database_PASS property. ...
Open the /<install_dir>/bin directory.
Enter the command ./decrypt_string.sh <encrypted_password> .

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How do you check if a file is encrypted or not in Linux? ›

Basic Operation: If (File X in Directory Y is created), and soon-after (File Z in Directory Y is deleted.) Scan File X and try to determine if it is an encrypted file.

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Does wiping a drive remove encryption? ›

For system drives

Using external media, like a Linux Live CD or Windows 10 installation media, delete all the partitions/format the system drive. The encryption keys will be deleted through this process and the data will be unrecoverable.

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Should I use LUKS1 or LUKS2? ›

You should definitely use LUKS2 whenever possible. It is the newer header format and overcomes the limits of the (legacy) LUKS1 header. It is the default since cryptsetup version 2.1, but this alone doesn't say much. The Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) is the big change.

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Unlocking an encrypted Linux disk for offline repair - Virtual Machines (2024)

Symptoms

Preparation

Verify that ADE is enabled on the disk

Azure portal

PowerShell

Azure CLI

Determine whether the OS disk uses ADE version 0 (dual-pass encryption) or ADE version 1 (single-pass encryption)

Determine whether the OS disk is managed or unmanaged

Select the method to unlock the encrypted disk

Method 1: Unlock the encrypted disk automatically by using az vm repair command

Method 2: Unlock the encrypted disk by the key file in the BEK volume

Create a repair VM

Unmount any mounted partitions on the encrypted disk

Identify the ADE key file

Identify the header file

Use the ADE key file and the header file to unlock the disk

Mount the unlocked partition and enter the chroot environment (LVM only)

Assigning the unlocked partition (example)

Mount the unlocked disk, and enter the chroot environment (RAW/non-LVM)

Method 3: Re-encrypt the disk to retrieve the key file, and unlock the encrypted disk

Next steps

FAQs

Unlocking an encrypted Linux disk for offline repair - Virtual Machines? ›

Do VMs ever directly access a physical hard disk? ›

Where is the lost 48 digit BitLocker recovery key? ›

How do I unlock my VM machine? ›

How to recover password to Linux in VM? ›

How do I unencrypt a file in Linux? ›

Does wiping a drive remove encryption? ›