Still being an Ubuntu newbie and learning, today I was looking  for instructions to install the latest version of truecrypt.  http://www.truecrypt.org   

I mentioned in my previous blogpost that I installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my Dell Mini 9.   

This is a guide for beginners such as myself so please forgive me for being long-winded. 

In order to install truecrypt, you will need:     

  • to have admin right (i.e. you have permission to install software) to the Ubuntu PC, and
  • to find out whether your Ubuntu is 32 bit or 64 bit. (thanks to this post here.) You can do this by using the terminal  (Application>Accessories>Terminal), once you get the command prompt, you type:

uname -m   

Terminal Screenshot

If your computer returns i686 (see above) then your Ubuntu is 32 bit.   

If your computer returns x86-64 then your Ubuntu is 64 bit.   

Once you have ascertained the above, then goto truecrypt download site. The linux version is near the bottom of the download page.   

TrueCrype Download - Linux
TrueCrypt Download – Linux version

Select the correct version that matches your version of Ubuntu (Standard – not Console). In my example I chose the 32 bit version.  

   

Press the “Download” button and save it to a location on your hard disk that you can find it. (I usually save it on the Desktop)   

   

When the downloaded is completed, you can right click on the truecrypt  tar .gz file., and select “Open the Containing Folder”   

   

The file browser will open up and you should see the downloaded file ending tar.gz.  What you have downloaded is like a zip file which is compressed, and you need to extract it by right click once on the tar.gz file and select “Extract Here”

  

Once extracted, you should ended up with the installation file next to the tar.gz that looks like below.   

   

Double click on the setup file to begin the installation.   

Press “Run” to proceed with the installation. You will later be asked for admin password, and then just go through the installation. A command window will pop up and show you the progress of the installation, and it should complete in less than 10 seconds.  

If all goes well during the install, you can then find the truecrypt program in Accessories. Just fire this up and you can then mount your truecrypt partition on your USB thumbdrives, or to create a truecrypt partition on your host drive.

(I use truecrypt in windows and now I can access my files in both Ubuntu and Windows securely!)