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I'm running Ubuntu 14.10 with the system disk encrypted with luks. When I start the computer, it shows the Ubuntu logo and asks to enter the password to unlock the disk. However, I cannot enter the password. Nothing happens if I type the password and hit Enter. However, I can hit Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart the computer. The only way to start the computer at the moment is to use the recovery mode.

Any ideas?

Hizqeel
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user254173
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    You mean you can not enter your pw, it says the pw is wrong or it behaves as if the pw was right (no warnings etc.) but does not proceed? – Byte Commander Jan 16 '15 at 07:34
  • I mean no other keyboard input has any effect than Ctrl + Alt + Del. If I type in the password and hit Enter, nothing happens as if the keyboard is not connected. – user254173 Jun 03 '15 at 07:05

4 Answers4

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I have the same problem. It seems to be an issue with Plymouth not capturing keyboard input, at this step in the boot process

Work Around: update boot parameters in /etc/default/grub and change splash to nosplash. After that you can run update-grub and you will get a console based password prompt instead of the Plymouth one. Not as pretty, but it's doesn't require gyrations to boot.

Diagnostic Synopsis: If I hit Ctrl + Alt + F1 then Ctrl + Alt + F7, the Plymouth graphic screen disappears and it brings me back to a black screen where I can see the text I type echoed, but it doesn't accept the input to unlock the drive.

Hizqeel
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Cannon Fodder
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  • Omg, thank you so much. I know this is a little old, but after months of troubleshooting this finally resolved my issue. You are a godsend. – Camway Feb 13 '17 at 16:23
  • is there a bug report for this? – Qsiris Feb 23 '17 at 13:03
  • I had exactly the same problem with one of my PCs and that fixes it ! – Philippe Gaucher Apr 30 '17 at 03:11
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    Thanks, this was extremely useful. Extra thanks for adding the diagnostic synopsis. By the way, has this still not been fixed in Plymouth, 2+ years on? – st01 Nov 11 '17 at 23:56
  • While the workaround works, on my system (Kubuntu 17.10) it makes all the graphics extremely slow as if everything is now using the fb rendering, and since after a failed reboot I get a fall-back dialog that works. So every 2nd reboot I can login. I would like to find a way to trigger this fall-back every time. – Chen Levy Mar 21 '18 at 10:06
  • Answering myself: I found a solution that do just that. – Chen Levy Mar 21 '18 at 14:56
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I share the same problem.

I found the following solution: At splash screen it is not possible to enter the password. If I type ESC to display textual console, it is possible to unlock the disk with the password.

Matthias
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Here is my solution: http://realtechtalk.com/LUKS_unable_to_type_password_to_unlock_during_boot_on_Debian_Ubuntu_and_Mint-2226-articles

What I found is that after a kernel update that I couldn't type the LUKS password. In my experience it is usually caused by not having the "extra" kernel modules installed. Even if you use quietboot or Esc to enter the password, you may find your system is still broken after booting due to missing other "extra" modules that you were using.

Areeb Soo Yasir
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I had the same problem.

The solution I found was to add nomodeset to the kernel parameters. My kernel parameters ended up looking like ro quiet splash nomodeset $vt_handoff

After booting normally, I used Grub Customizer to change the parameters for every boot.

TwentyCharMax
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