How to Encrypt Your Laptopwith TrueCrypt

Ed LachgarLegal Services of Northern California

1. Download TrueCrypt.

http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads

2. Accept the licensing agreement.

3. Begin the install process…

4. Select your setup options.

5. Click “OK” to acknowledge that TrueCrypt is installed.

6. You will see an option to view a beginner’s tutorial. It’s your call…

7. Click “Finish” to complete the install process.

8. Double-click the TrueCrypt icon to start the program.

9. To encrypt the whole system hard drive, click “Create Volume”.

10. Select “Encrypt the system partition or entire system drive” and then click “Next”.

11. Select “Normal” and then click “Next”.

12. Select “Encrypt the whole drive” and then click “Next”.

13. Select “No” (so you don’t encrypt hidden areas) and then click “Next”.

14. Most commonly you will want to select “Single boot” for your system; then click “Next”.

15. Accept the default encryption options (“AES” is just dandy) and then click “Next”.

16. Type in your password and then confirm it. (Leave “Use key files” unchecked.) Click “Next”.

Since we are on the topic of passwords…

… be sure to read what TrueCrypt recommends for creating a good password.

… whatever password you use, make sure to write it down and put it somewhere you can find it later.

17. Despite the warning message, if you think your password is strong enough, just click “Yes”.

18. This next screen just shows the cryptographic strength of your encryption. Click “Next”.

19. This screen confirms your encryption keys have been generated. Click “Next”.

20. You need to create a Rescue Disk so you can restore your drive if things go awry. Click “Next”.

21. Be sure you insert a blank recordable CD/DVD into your CD/DVD drive. Click “OK”.

22. The “Windows Disc Image Burner” displays an initial message that the process has started…

23. …then a message that it is finalizing the disc image…

24. …then a message that it is actually burning the disc image to the recordable disc…

25. …and then a message that the disc image has been successfully burned. Click “Close”.

26. Since you already burned the image to a disc, you don’t need to do it again. Click “Next” .

27. The TrueCrypt Rescue Disk is now verified. Remove the disc and then click “Next”.

28. Select “3 pass (US DoD 5220.22-M)” at this screen, then click “Next”.

29. This screen shows the System Encryption Pretest. Click “Test”.

30. Read or print the notes, as you wish, and then click “OK”.

31. TrueCrypt is now ready to do the actual the encryption. Click “Yes” to restart your computer.

32. After the restart, this message confirms the Pretest is completed. Click “Encrypt” to begin…

33. …but first you get instructions about how to use the TrueCrypt Rescue Disk! Click “OK”.

34. At this screen, click “Encrypt” (yes, again!) and let the process run.

This may take a long time, possibly overnight, so make sure your laptop is plugged into a power outlet so that it doesn’t lose power during the encryption.

35. Eventually you see a message confirming the hard drive has been encrypted. Click “OK”.

36. Once done, click “Finish”.

Voila! Your system is now fully encrypted. Make sure you know your password or where you wrote it down, otherwise you won’t be able to get in to your system. Be assured no one else will, for that matter, unless they have the correct password.