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So, I have a fresh install of Windows 8... Here's the issue.

When I first installed W8, the Wubi loader would launch just fine, no issues, no fuss... At the time, I elected to avoid installing through Wubi, and just setting up a dedicated partition, and I think this is where I messed up.

I installed my drivers (no OEM bloatware*), ran truecrypt, set up a dedicated partition.. Everything appeared to be fine, was still able to run my TC bootloader, I couldn't [esc] to grub yet though, I thought to myself "okay, it's just because I haven't encrypted the system yet, but rather only installed the bootloader".

After 8 hours of encrypting, I woke up and thought "awesome, let me reboot & check Ubuntu", which, to my dismay, did not properly install.

Soooo... I booted my 12.10 liveCD to try another installation, and that's when all hell broke loose. Ubuntu refused to identify any partitions within the installer. Gparted threw an error about my hdd when I launched it, showed me 3 partitions, 2 of which were "Unknown" thanks to TrueCrypt, and the one where I attempted to install Ubuntu. The Ubuntu partition was labeled "Extended".

Being too scared to screw around with the partitions, or make any changes to the table, I booted into Windows 8 (YES! Still worked!), attempted to run Wubi, and I got the dreaded error where it refuses to run. I checked my Environment Variables, no python path.. Okay... So I checked my startup folder.. Still there... Check the temp folder for a Wubi log file.. NOPE!

Basically, I have several issues, and each one is only compounded by the next. Any help with this situation can make my day vastly better.

System Specs: Thinkpad Edge e535, AMD APU A4-4300m, 4GB ram, Windows 8, UEFI (THE DEVIL!!!)

and, well, that's about it.

*OEM BLOATWARE: I don't ever install OEM software, and seeing as it's a Thinkpad, I related it to they Python issue, but that's not the case.

**Side note: I did a side-by-side installation with Win8 from the Ubuntu installer AFTER I installed the Truecrypt bootloader, and before I encrypted my drive.

***EDIT: I have Secure Boot disabled with UEFI, and I have it set to UEFI+Legacy booting mode.

**EDIT2: I don't care about encrypting Ubuntu, I only want my windows partition encrypted. My priority is dual-boot.

D'Lano
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2 Answers2

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Okay. I solved this. I'm going to start from the basics.

I found how to simultaneously dual boot Windows 8 (Truecrypt encrypted) & Ubuntu 12.10 (home folder encrypted) while keeping secure boot enabled!!

UEFI/BIOS:

Configuration: Check all settings, confirm that USB is set to secure boot.

Boot settings: Enable UEFI/Legacy, with legacy booting first.

Save & Exit.

Install Windows 8, once installed, restart.

Install Ubuntu using the "Install alongside Windows 8" setting in the installer.

Install Gparted (or your favorite partition manager)

Shrink the Windows 8 partition by 250mb AFTER the data layer.

Make Ext4 filesystem on 250mb partition. (No label necessary, but I labeled mine "/boot" for the sake of memory.

Open Terminal and run "sudo grub-installer /dev/sdxX --force" (where xX is your "/boot" drive letter & partition number)

Return to windows, encrypt system partition using "dual boot" category. Drink a beer, or 12, depending on the size of your disk & wipe mode

*BE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP OF THE REPAIR DISK. IF YOU FUTZ SOMETHING UP, YOU WILL HATE YOUR LIFE*

After encryption, reboot, and backup your MBR/TC boot loader

Run your livedisk: "sudo grub-install /dev/sdx --force" to install GRUB2 to the MBR

Using your favorite partition editor, erase your "/boot" partition, formatting it to either Ext4 or FAT32

Extract your MBR/TC backup to your "/boot" partition

Download & run grub-customizer (or edit it manually, if you prefer) to include the TC bootloader

And there you have it, dual booting Windows 8 and Ubuntu, with Windows encrypted, and chainloading the Truecrypt bootloader from Grub2, on a UEFI system.

D'Lano
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  • This answer is flawed because after ~12 beers you will be too drunk to do the bits after the bold... – Ads20000 Jul 27 '13 at 08:34
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This is something you should probably investigate on the TrueCrypt site... but it seems logical that, if you bypass the special truecrypt bootloader that unlocks your encrypted drive, your drive will remain unencrypted. And when you boot a Wubi install or from a live CD you are bypassing the drive MBR which holds the truecrypt bootloader.

So what you are seeing is the expected behaviour.

If you browse the truecrypt forums you'll see that other people have suggested methods of using dual boot, but it doesn't appear to be supported out of the box by truecrypt. Although some people have posted workarounds, I haven't seen any for Wubi which uses grub4dos to boot.

bcbc
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  • Thanks, I appreciate the advice, that wasn't the question though. Because Wubi is a virtual image within the windows partition, it would be initialized after the Truecrypt bootloader...

    My issue is that Wubi.exe fails to start, or dump a log.

     – D'Lano Nov 13 '12 at 17:51
  • Ah, okay I missed that Wubi wasn't running, but Wubi won't work either, because even though it's a virtual partition, Ubuntu still boots natively via grub4dos, so you'll run into the same problem. – bcbc Nov 13 '12 at 17:56
  • Really? Well thanks for the tip. I could swear I've done it before, but maybe my memory is a one-off here. I appreciate it. I think I've opted to decrypt my drive, do a side-by-side installation, then re-encrypt it. Gonna take about 20 hours, but what can you do. – D'Lano Nov 13 '12 at 18:11
  • I think it works if you have an unencrypted partition and install Wubi on that (making sure wubildr is in the root of that partition). But if you have full disk encryption it won't work. I would recommend a normal dual boot instead - but even that isn't straightforward with truecrypt as I mentioned in my answer. – bcbc Nov 13 '12 at 18:22
  • Nah, It's okay, I'll figure it out. I'm gonna leave this question open to post my results once I do...

    Basically, I think the issue here lies with the fact that I didn't do the grub2/truecrypt bootloader "raindance", (aka, specific /boot partition for grub, and restoring Truecrypt bootloader to the MBR)

     – D'Lano Nov 13 '12 at 18:39